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People new to buying grass-fed dairy typically have no idea how to evaluate whether a farm is a good place to spend their local food dollars. Beware – not all grass-based farms are created equal! There are definite signs to look for that will tell you whether or not the farm is well maintained and the animals healthy and capable of producing nutrient dense dairy for your family.
The following list is based on a talk that Tim Wightman, President of the Farm to Consumer Foundation, Grassfed Dairy Consultant and author of the Raw Milk Production Handbook, gave during the Chapter Leader meeting at the 2010 Wise Traditions Conference. Tim has been a farmer for several decades and a dairyman for 12 years. The information he provided during this talk is simply invaluable to those who wish to understand how to best evaluate their local dairy choices.
Cows and Pasture
Cows should have a comfortable place to lay down. Cows that are comfortable when laying down look half-asleep, possibly with their head tucked to the side or are chewing their cud contentedly. Cows that are forced to lay down in mud or on concrete indicates a poor quality dairy situation.
The pasture where the cows are grazing should have grass that goes over their hooves. Pasture that does not reach that high indicates an overgrazed situation.
The grass in the pasture should be lush. Bales of hay in a lush pasture is a good sign as too much lush grass can give a cow too much protein so some hay is needed to reduce the protein in the cow’s diet.
Cows should be busy (grazing) but content.
Cows should have good color definition. Brown is brown and white is white. The color stays in the lines and different colors on the cow should not blend together.
Cows that have hair standing up at the back and around the backbone is an indication that the milk you are getting is not particularly nutrient-dense.
Cows should be shiny! In winter, the thicker coat reduces this shine somewhat, but cows that don’t shine are not healthy.
Calves should look like adult cows, only smaller. Their backs should be flat.
Look for cats around the property. Cats are a very good indicator of how well the farm is managed. Cats should be content, healthy-looking and easy to pet. Sneezing cats with gunky eyes or a bad coat is a bad sign for the farm in general.
Cows look at your with their ears. When a cow looks in your direction, the ears should stand up and move in your direction.
Meat Chickens, Laying Chickens and Other Birds
Diversity in chicken species is not a good sign unless there is plenty of space to roam.
If there is mixing of chicken species, look for missing tail feathers – this indicates too little space for laying hens to roam.
Do not be concerned if meat birds lay down. This is what they do. Laying hens run around but meat birds do not.
Chickens running around where cow feed or hay is located is not a good sign. Chickens in the pasture is ok, but NOT in the feeding area as cows that eat chicken droppings can harbor salmonella.
Lots of starlings or pigeons in a barn or on wires near a silo is a bad sign. Birds near any sort of feed is a risk of contamination from their droppings.
Look for how many birds are nesting around the cows. It should not be many.
Cats keep scavenger birds down to a minimum on a farm, so fat and sassy cats living at the farm is a good sign.
Bird nests over where the cows eat is a problem due to bird dropping contamination.
Barn and Milk House
The barn should smell like beechnut chewing tobacco.
The barn should NOT smell like ammonia, vinegar, or salami.
The milk house should have clear or black hoses. Orange stained hoses or cracked black hoses is not a good sign. Hoses should be replaced once a year.
The glass in the milking house should be crystal clear.
The window sills should be clean with no dust.
No pitting should be visible on the floor.
Off colored PVC vacuum lines or stainless steel milk lines (with dust) is not a good sign of cleanliness and attention to detail.
Milk Testing
Ask what testing the farmer does on his milk. No farm is perfect, but the following tests done once per month are cheap and very telling. They are a very good tool for the farmer to judge the quality of his cows’ milk even though they are not required tests:
- Bulk tank cultures – identifies mastitis in the herd and its prevalence
- Pathogen test results (should be zero)
- MUN Test (Milk Urea Nitrogen) – should be 12-13
If the farmer says he doesn’t test because he doesn’t feed any grain and because he never had a problem, this is not a good enough answer as no farm and no farmer is perfect.
A MUN that is too high – 23 or so – would mean that the milk won’t clabber, doesn’t ferment into yogurt or kefir, and the cream won’t whip. High MUN milk is also a little tangy and bitter tasting.
Clearly, there is more to grass-based farming than simply cows grazing on grass. Cows are sensitive creatures and biology is not a switch that can be turned on and off. Farmers transitioning to grass-based farming should be given time to do so and not be asked to quickly flip a biological switch (grain to grass) that is not possible and ultimately unsustainable.
An educated customer is the best consumer!
Thanks, Sarah. One of the hardest things to do when you first start is to know whether your farmers are worth the premium and effort or not. This is a great list.
Thanks so much for this post. We are very limited in our area, and have relied on people we trust in regards to the farmer we use for our milk. We’ll get to see the farm first hand this June, so it’ll be nice to have a list of what to look for while we’re there!
There is just so much to figure out when you are switching to traditional foods it can be overwhelming!
Just as a heads-up, Tim isn’t the President of Farm to Consumer; Pete Kennedy is. We just interviewed him on Sweet Peas Podcast (www.sweetpeaspodcast.com) Monday!
Lisa Marie
I believe Tim Wightman is president of the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation ), while Pete Kennedy is president of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, two sister organizations.
Pete is the President of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund and Tim is the President of the Farm to Consumer Foundation.
Nothing is more important than taking control of your own health and food sources. Great article!
I would also look for actual dairy cattle. Typically, would expect to see Jersey and/or Guernsey for a dairy operation. Holsteins need not apply (for neither dairy nor fat beef).
Anyone know what the norm is for periodic milking at a grassfed farm? daily, 2x daily?
Good, informative post. Might be helpful to consider additional postings for beef and poultry.
Ciao,
Pavil
I would personally like to see cows and calves. So therefore the cows would be milked once per day. That way it allows the calf to remain on the cow. The farmer would lock up the calf each night, milk the cow in the morning and then the calves would be allowed to go with their mums all day. This is good for the calf, good for the farmer and good for the environment. I don’t think many dairy’s do this, but it would work well.
I heard that presentation at the 2010 Chapter Leader meeting, too. You took GREAT notes! Thank you for writing this all out. I’m going to share it with many. Also, at our little, family farm, we just milk by hand “Miss Emily”, a six-year-old Jersey. We keep things as clean as possible and have never had any problems, and our yogurt, kefir, and cheesemaking go fine, too. But we are not able to grow four-season grasses perfectly (so we supplement with enough grain to keep her happily coming to the barn morn and night and with hay in the winter), and we often milk outside, which is full of fresh air.
Thanks Sarah for this informative post!
I believe you said before that you have visited the FL farm where you get your dairy for the local co-op. Do they pass on all the points in this list?
This is great information Sarah.
Sarah,
I wonder if you can help me? I am going to order some grass fed beef. The farmer I spoke to says the cows are grass fed until about 30 days before slaughter and then they are given hay and barley. I understand that barley is classified as a grass but some believe it is grain. Do you have any knowledge to share on this topic?
Thanks,
Greg.
Hi Greg, most beef is finished on grain to fatten them up and marble the beef before slaughter. Store beef is frequently labeled “grassfed” but is GMO grain fed for 3-4 months before slaughter. This eliminates much of the nutrition from the beef.
30 days of grain feeding is not as bad but still not idea. I would shoot for no more than 2-3 weeks of nonGMO grain feeding before slaughter. Beef that is finished on grass tends to be too tough to eat in my experience unless you cook in a crockpot.
If you are seeking tender steaks for grilling, you will need to have the cow finished on non GMO grain for at least a couple of weeks but no more so you don’t lose the nutritional value of the cow’s time spent on grass.
Thanks very much for the info! Upon further communication with the farmer, I learned that the barley is harvested during the green stage and baled like grass for the cows and they are not fed the dry barley grain. Maybe that’s a little better.
Great tips! I shared the post on my Facebook site.
I’m going to use these to evaluate a local dairy that offers tours to the public – Kreider in Lancaster County.
Hi, I agree with all of your points in evaluating a farm. I’d also like to add Stocking Density to the equation–if it looks like there are too many cows, sheep, hens, etc. for the piece of land to support them, there probably are. Like you said, how much grass is around, and does it seem like the animals are rotated to fresh pasture often?
One thing, what do you mean by “diversity in chicken species”? Do you mean different breeds of chickens? Or different species of birds? My husband and I raise both laying hens and meat birds–they are housed very differently and in different areas of the farm. Our laying flock consists of between 3 to 4 different breeds of hens, which live on pasture in mobile hoop houses that are moved weekly. The meat birds live in bottomless pens that are moved daily. I wouldn’t necessarily say that just because a flock of birds consists of several different breeds it is not managed properly. So the biggest issue is space, as you have pointed out, and how much the birds are able to forage.
Thank you for the post!
Sarah
Bayou Farm