http://realmilk.com/where08.html#sc

Alison

I looked into Milky Way and spoke with the farmer myself. He said he does feed them grain and its local. He had no idea if the grain was GMO or not, he admitted that himself to me on the phone.

I'm REALLY interested in hooking up with a Charleston raw milk farmer who has year round supply and is TRULY 100% grass fed. I have a 1.5 year old and a 4 year old who love milk and i feel so much better giving them healthy, raw (and as close to organic) milk.

Any help is appreciated!
Alison

Ladies, if interested in raw milk, then you know that raw milk is illegal in north carolina. Due to its illegality, I will not disclose on an internet forum who our source was. I will lead you to the Weston A. Price chapter leader in the area. Please do look her up and contact her and she will be able to help you.

Also, once you do find a source in North Carolina, I would urge you to be discreet in who you tell. The law is cracking down on dairies and if his dairy is harassed in any way, so many families will be seriously affected by the loss of his milk. It is truly a wonderful product!!

I hope I have helped and please do forgive me for not being more forthcoming. Remember, it our own government who is telling you what we are allowed to put in our body and what we are allowed to do for a living. A cryin' shame is what it is! I wonder how we EVER allowed this to happen.

I was wondering what farm you got your milk from in Greensboro? We are actually local and would prefer to be able to visit a farm directly and get our milk source locally.

Thanks!

Carolina

I'll give you a call a little later. I'm on a bit of a weird schedule right now.

Regarding harsh winters, specifically upstate NY harsh winters… My mother lives on the St. Lawrence River in Waddington, NY and the college town of Potsdam, NY is about 25 minutes south. It was in Potsdam where I got my raw milk while I was there. He fed absolutely ZERO grain. Talk about harsh winters, they have plenty of 30 below days during their ultra long winter season. His cows are happy and healthy and give the best colored, best tasting milk.

What bothers me most are farmers and NON-FARMERS telling me what MUST be done which is simply not true. I found a farmer that didn't feed any grain whatsoever and his cows were not dropping like flies because of the lack of grain in their diet.

Also – I still have the email from the MW coop leader. After reading it again, and re-reading my previous post, I did not misrepresent any information or fuel any rumors. Here is her email detailing the operation.

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Hello Lauren,

I'm having some trouble getting answers from Milky Way Farm about their milk. My wife has tried to contact them via email several times and has also tried calling them. On the site it says that they use grain. I'm trying to find out how much grain are they feeding the cows? What kind of grain is it?
Is it GMO or non-GMO? Is it organic grain?

Thank you,

Rick
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Hi Rick. Sorry you haven’t had success getting your questions answered by Mr. Peeler. He’s usually pretty quick (for a farmer) about responding to emails… usually within a few days.

Anyway, here’s how Milky Way Farm handles their grain:

Mr. Peeler has a nutritionist on hire who comes out and takes a sampling of the hay he will be feeding. The nutritionist tests the nutrition content of the hay and then works with a local grain mill to mill up a ration customized to the nutritional needs of the cows based on what is lacking in the hay. So, the grain is only providing that which the cows need, as the vitamins/minerals in the hay will vary from cutting to cutting and from farm to farm (Mr. Peeler does grow some of his own hay, and the rest he buys locally). The amount of grain fed to each cow varies and is determined based on her production, body condition, and whether or not she is bred. Their individual rations are fed out over a 24 hour period using a special electronic collar/grain bin system. When a cow approaches the grain bin for her ‘treat,’ a device on the bin reads her collar and then dispenses a portion of her daily ration until her full ration has been dispensed. At that point, the bin will no longer open for her until the next day. The rations range from a couple of pounds of grain at the low end to 20 lbs or so (which isn’t actually all that much to a cow) for a heavy producer that needs improvement in body condition.

As an aside, this all comes down to genetics… some cows will continue to increase production and use more energy the more grain they’re fed up until a certain point where it balances itself out. Feeding no grain to these cows can be devastating to their condition as they will produce large quantities of milk anyway and become emaciated in the process. Today’s dairy cows simply aren’t ‘natural’ animals in the purest sense of the word… they’ve been bred to produce huge quantities of milk and they need a lot of energy to do it. My family’s Jersey cow is like this… we struggle to keep weight on her despite a never ending supply of green grass and local hay. So, we have to grain her.

The types of grains will vary depending on what the cows need, and the grain mill obtains local grains if at all possible… sometimes they do need to buy some items outside the state due to shortages. The grain is not organic or non-GMO. Most of the grains, save for the soy and corn when they’re included, probably aren’t GMO though because there are actually very few approved GMO grains at this point. Mr. Peeler’s focus is on supporting local farmers, and doing things as naturally as possible, while keeping the milk affordable… not so much on ‘organic’ as defined by the USDA.

Anyway, that’s probably more info that you wanted, but I hope it helps! This subject is a bit of a passion of mine as our family has livestock of our own now, having moved from the suburbs several years ago. So, I tend to ramble on. =)

Lauren
Co-op Organizer
lauren@trianglemilkcoop.org
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Again – if this operation fits your family, then so be it. It did not fit my family so we traveled 4 hours to Greensboro, NC to get our milk … and 4 hours back every other Sunday. We found a much smaller operation that fed only a treat while milking. That treat was only about a pound or so twice a day. That milk was delicious, had flavor …. I gave up my ice cream addiction once I found his milk – It literally tasted like ice cream. I hope all who desire raw milk get milk that tastes like that! DELICIOUS.

Diane – please give me a call when you get to Austin 210.745.2740 :)