Is it possible that the farm fresh dairy you are buying is not healthy? Yes, this is very possible and this week’s vlog tells you why and shows you how to discern the best one for your family. Â I also go over the difference between A1 and A2 raw milk which refers to the different type of casein (protein) in milk from different breeds of cows. Â Â What type of cow your fresh milk comes from is CRITICAL to your health.
It is important to know that nearly ALL the dairy from the store is from the WRONG kind of cow, just another reason to not buy products from companies like Organic Valley and instead seek out dairy from a small farm that uses old fashioned cows.
Dr. Tom Cowan MD wrote an excellent article published by The Bovine a few months back that explains the A1, A2 beta casein issue in depth.
A1 and A2 Explained
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
More Information
Great video, I was drinking raw milk but turned out it was A1 (still improved my health a lot). Going to change to A2 now.
I am very excited that I have discovered a farm near me that sells raw milk from Jersey cows. I plan on signing up for the herd-share (the only way to legally obtain raw milk in Ohio) and wonder about the butter conundrum. I cook extensively with butter and want to make my own from the raw milk, however as I understand it, if I skim off the cream to make butter I will end up with skim milk which does not sound appetizing. I can obtain pasteurized yet nonhomogenized milk and make butter from that, but it is not ideal. The herd-share does not offer straight cream, just milk. Any suggestions are appreciated!
Hi Sarah,
I am confused and a little disappointed after seeing your video about A1 and A2 raw milk, because I live in the UK and there are no dairy farms in my area selling raw milk. Therefore, I go to an excellent farm in the south which sells raw milk by mail order, but their cows are the Holstein breed. Am I to understand that I shouldn’t be drinking this milk because the cows may be producing the wrong type of milk? I thought my switch to raw milk was 100% beneficial to my health, but are you now telling me that it is not?
Please leave a comment.
Raw milk from hosteins is better than pasteurized milk from jerseys.
Hi Sarah, which would be better, a Holstein pasture raised, grain and corn supplemented or jersey organic non-homogenized? Neither perfect but as close as I can get around here.
Or would we be better with organic goats milk? Or no milk at all?
Are either of the sources raw? If not, I would drink neither.
The Holstein pasture raised, grain and corn supplemented is raw.
I would go for the raw. Honestly, if I didn’t have a source for pasture raised, raw (I am fine with grain supplementation .. perfection is not necessary for awesome raw milk) I wouldn’t drink milk at all.
Thanks Sarah, I appreciate your opinion!
Hi,
Realise this is an old article now and you may have since sourced A2 milk in the UK. But if you haven’t, have a look on here:
naturalfoodfinder.co.uk/unpasteurised-raw-milk-uk
It’s incredible how difficult it becomes to get quality foods. I live in Scotland where selling raw milk is ILLEGAL. In England it is still legal to be sold by the farmer, but not by shops. The only English farm which delivers milk to Scotland has Holstein cows, but what can I do? – that’s the only source of raw milk for us here in Scotland. And expense is another thing. I pay £13 for 6 pints of milk (that’s around $21) which is a lot of money for me. But well, it’s an investment in health.
And a funny thing – my husband who is from Algeria, North Africa, did not know what ‘pasteurised’ and ‘homogenised’ meant until he came to UK around 10 ys ago. In his country the only milk available is raw milk, so they don’t even have to call it raw, just ‘milk’. Can you believe that? And in Poland where I come from pasteurisation came around late 1980s-early1990s when the country came from under the Soviet influece and onto a way of ‘progress’. But you still can buy kefir there in any shop, which you can’t in UK.
The only cow share I’ve been able to locate near me has Guernsey/Holstein mixes. I currently get fresh goat’s milk, but am looking to switch to cow’s milk because, for one thing, the cost difference is HUGE (at least where I am) and our budget is tight, and… I’d like fresh cream! Goat’s milk is great, but unless you want to invest in a really expensive cream separator, you can’t do things that call for cream! Do you think Guernsey/Holstein mix is a fairly safe bet?
Regarding the cream line. Your milk provider may be skimming some off to have for other products to sell or use. And if the cow is sharing with her calf then she is likely holding cream back for the calf. They are able to do that and once the calf is weaned, the cream line goes back up. It is interesting to me that in the book titled “The Milk Diet,” written by a doctor in the 1940’s about the many diseased he cured with raw milk, he advocated Holstein milk as the very best for his use. I happen to own a jersey cow and she does have the MOST sweetest mildest milk I’ve ever tasted in my life. Everyone who drinks it makes a similar comment. She grazes our grassy pasture and is also fed grass and alfalfa hay, black oil sunflower seeds, organic kelp and redmond mineral block… plus lots of other treats. She is raising a beautiful calf, feeding our family and several other families. And she’s a wonderful pet, too. Cows are amazing!
I know this is an old post, but I just found it and wanted to share my experience as the owner of a Jersey family cow. The creamline on your gal of Jersey milk is fantastic, though not necessarily ‘standard’ for a Jersey. Cream content depends on lots of factors. Age of cow, where she is in her lactation (if she just had a calf there will be TONS of cream, if she is 6 mo pregnant then not as much), the season, and her diet are some factors. We get 3 gal a day from our cow. For some reason we get almost 2x as much cream from our evening milking.
Thanks for posting this video. I will be sending our milk to be tested soon. 🙂
This video was a huge blessing! I am pregnant and have been wanting to switch to raw milk and have been looking around the area for a place to get it. A few ??’s for you. 1. what are the important things to ask the farmer when I find one and 2. my doc has never asked so I would assume it would be ok for me to switch while pregnant??? any advice?
Hi Jackie, I drank raw milk and consumed other raw dairy with 2 of my 3 pregnancies. Doctors will always tell you not to do this although the research indicates to me that pasteurized milk from the industrialized dairy model is much more likely to make one sick than raw milk from healthy cows on unsprayed pasture! Every state is different so check out farmtoconsumer.org for a map of the raw milk law for your state and realmilk.com for sources.
Hi Danielle, if you keep your fridge around 36-38, the milk should last 10-14 days. Put into glass and it will stay fresh even longer. Shake it up well before freezing. Note that after thawing, the cream may be a bit grainy. Some folks don’t mind this and others do.