Friday, February 12, 2010

Organic Milk


Yes, another post on health. I mean this very politely...skip it if you're tired of reading it. :)

I read this article HERE about how the USDA is labeling certain milks (now which ones is the question!...I'm thinking the Publix Greenwise dairy products and other generic organic milks) to be organic when they are not grazing cows. They are kept like any other cow, but fed better food that I'm assuming doesn't contain animal products. Interestingly enough, I bought some Publix Greenwise milk at the grocery store and this is what it says on the back...

"The cows that produce Publix GreenWise Market Organic milk have access to the outdoors and have not been administered antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones. Nor have they been exposed to synthetic pesticides on their grazing land and their feed is organic."

I thought the whole part about 'having access' was interesting. How much 'access' do they really get? In the article mentioned above, I was astounded to find that these 'organic' dairy farms might have a patch of hay around where the cows are kept and that is counted as a 'grazing area'!!
I actually called Stoneyfield Farm just now and asked them how much the cows were actually able to graze in real grass. She said that 9 months out of the year, the cows are grazing, but when winter hits and snow begins, they are mostly kept inside and fed organic grain, corn and hay. She also informed me that Stoneyfield Farm and Organic Valley are both intertwined and that there are a bunch of little farms that all contribute to the milk that is sold by the bigger names. These farms all consist of roughly 50 grazing, organic cows. She has actually been to some of the these farms and said that the cows are very well taken care of.

If you want more information on 'the scoop' of milk and the dairy industry in general, http://www.mercola.com/ is a great one. Just type in milk in the 'search' area and it'll bring up a bunch of information.

Conclusion...I think I'll stick with Stoneyfield Farms milk as well as Organic Valley. There are great coupons online that you can print out each week to save money on your grocery bill!

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