On the northeast side of Rawl's milking barn was the "milkhouse." The milkhouse was a separate, extra clean room where the milk was stored. It was also the place where all of the milking equipment was washed and sanitized. The milk came into the milk room through sealed, stainless steel milk lines (pipes). The milk was received into a roughly five gallon glass jar, then pumped through a filter into a 500 gallon DeLaval bulk milk tank, where it was immediately cooled to 34 degrees. In the bulk tank was a paddle that stirred the milk to ensure that it was uniformly cold. Additionally, the paddle stirred the unhomogenized raw milk to keep the butterfat mixed into the milk. If raw cows milk is not stirred, the butterfat rises to the top of the milk.
Ever since reading the chapter in The Have-More Plan on keeping a family cow, I was intrigued and interested in trying some fresh cows milk. Growing up, we mostly drank reconstituted powdered milk, not the most delicious kind of milk. Powdered milk was less expensive than the alternatives. One day while helping Rawl, I was brave enough to ask him if I could have a taste of milk, fresh from the cows. He opened up the top of his bulk tank and dipped a clean stainless steel cup into the tank retrieving a full glass of milk for me. I tasted it and was pleasantly surprised. The milk was sweeter and creamier than any milk I had tasted before. One glass and I was hooked. The milk was fresh, raw, unhomogenized milk from pastured dairy cows.
Having become enthralled by the taste of the milk, I wondered whether or not Rawl would let me keep a cow at his farm so I could produce fresh milk for my family. Rawl told me that if I got a good stainless steel milk can that I could take milk from his bulk tank for my family - free of charge. That was a great deal. I was able to take milk home for my family for several years. We had a one gallon glass jar in the fridge at home in which we would store the milk. The cream would separate and we would ladle it off to put on our oatmeal or other hot cereal. This was good stuff. Sometimes people worry about the safety of raw milk. In the roughly eight years I brought milk home to my family no one ever got sick from the raw milk. We thrived on it.
If you are going to produce or drink raw milk, cleanliness is imperative. Rawl's milk would be tested every tankful by the milk cooperative that bought his milk. The county health inspector would test the milk every month. These tests would include several things, but the key tests of importantance for milk quality are related to bacteria counts and leucocyte counts. Three different bacteria counts were regularly performed, a raw count, a pasteurized count, and a coliform count. For each of the tests, the milk was incubated for 24 hours to allow the number of bacteria to multiply. While the results varied somewhat over time, Rawl's raw count was typically between 1,000 and 2,000 per milliliter. The pasteurized count was typically between 100 and 200 per milliliter. The coliform count was typically zero. Those results were excellent. Typical Grade A milk had a raw count of about 20,000 per milliliter and a pasteurized count of about 1,000 per milliliter. Rawl's results were excellent due to careful milk handling and sanitation practices we followed. Rawl's coliform count was typically zero. A coliform count of zero means that there was no manure contamination. If you have ever been around cows, you may understand why zero manure contamination is no small feat.
Comparatively speaking, if you grab a gallon of milk off the shelf at the store, the bacteria count will be approximatley 3,500 per milliliter, using the same test procedures. In reality, Rawl's raw milk had lower bacteria counts than the pasteurized milk you buy off the shelf in the store. Lastly, leucocyte counts represent the amount of white blood cell counts in the milk. Rawl almost always had excellent scores in the 100,000 range. This indicated that his cows' udder health was good - no mastitis.
I could make this a treatise about the cautions and benefits of good raw milk, but much has already been written about that by others. If I could choose the milk that I would feed my family, it would be well-produced and handled, raw, grass-fed, unhomogenized, organic milk. You can't find it in the store in many states. Where you can find it, it is typically about three to four times the cost of conventionally raised milk, which meets none on my criteria. Good milk is a wonderful tasting, health promoting product.... my mind slips back to that first glass of milk from Rawl's bulk tank--refreshing!
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