Local farm fresh milk fans! With the passage of the Raw Milk Bill in Iowa, local farmers can now sell nutrient dense, unprocessed, delicious milk straight to consumers. What does this mean? Easier access for we, the people, to better milk.

As we have industrialized our food system over the years to allow for mass production, long shelf life, and distribution to destinations across the country and the globe, this has come at a grave cost to our health with an epidemic of chronic disease, allergies, and obesity.

When choosing healthy food options, you can find overwhelming amounts of information and “rules” which can lead to confusion more than anything. The best and most sensible rule of thumb that I or anyone can give you in navigating healthier food choices is this: EAT EVERYTHING AS CLOSE TO ITS NATURAL FORM AS POSSIBLE! Minimally processed with very short and recognizable ingredient lists FREE of preservatives, enhancers, dyes, and artificial flavors. With bread, that would be a sourdough bread that is simply flour, water, and sourdough starter (which is flour and water). With spaghetti sauce, that means tomatoes, herbs, vegetables, and salt. With meat/eggs/dairy, that means from animals primarily eating their natural diets of what they would eat if there was not a human there to feed them (grasses, bugs, etc).

Additionally with milk, that means this:

• Milk is best whole! The natural state of dairy is a balanced combination of the 3 macronutrients protein, fat, and carbohydrates- this balance allows the body efficient digestion and metabolism of the product. In the case of skim milk, all of the fat is removed, so we are left with a 2 legged tripod (that wouldn’t work well, would it?!) with a missing key macronutrient from its natural state. Missing this particular macronutrient strips the milk of the VERY important fat soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K2. These are CRITICAL for so many body processes, particularly maintaining strength and regeneration of teeth and bones (calcium is not properly absorbed and utilized without these critically important fat soluble vitamins). E and A are also important in health of skin, hair, nails, gum tissue. Stripping these critical nutrients from dairy is like filling your car’s tank with gas but running on an empty oil reservoir. The engine will run, but under a lot of stress and not for long.
• No homogenization – a process that emulsifies the cream into tiny franken-fat droplets so that it does not separate and rise to the top. This altered state of milk fats alter the behavior of fat globules within the human GI tract, making dairy very indigestible for some people. A sign that your milk is at its best is if your cream rises to the top, so you have to give it a little shake before you pour.
• No pasteurization – While necessary to allow huge industrial production with the ability to ship products halfway across the world with a longer shelf life, it comes at a cost. The high heat can denature very important nutrients and enzymes, as well as disrupt a healthy microbial balance. If you can get milk fresh and local, there is no need for this harsh process. With the new legislation in Iowa, this is now possible!!

I encourage you to do your own research dive into any and all of this. Information is everywhere, and UNFORTUNATELY much of it is directly or indirectly sponsored by industrial operations. A great and trusted place that I would recommend to start is the Weston A. Price foundation, an organization dedicated to human health that got its roots a century ago with the investigations of Dr. Price himself into the breakdown he was seeing in human health and development. Spoiler…diet was at the root of it.

A quick note on some nerdy things that you can consider when finding your ideal milk. Dig into these as much or as little as you’d like. I’m nowhere near an expert in raising and maintaining cattle so, if these details are important to you, I encourage you to talk to your farmer to understand and keep an open mind toward how they do things based on their experiences…

1. Fresh and unprocessed alone is going to make a huge improvement in the quality, flavor, and digestibility of your milk. All local farm fresh “raw” milk checks this box.
2. Casein protein type can matter. For some who have trouble with commercial grocery store dairy, the intolerance of the type of milk protein is behind it. Much of the commercial milk is from breeds of cows that have predominantly A1 type milk protein, which digests into certain peptides that can cause GI upset for some humans. Type A2 casein protein, on the other hand, has a more tolerable digestion profile for some of these people.That is why you may often see people looking specifically for A2 milk. Some farmers test for this and can tell you the specifics of their milk protein. Don’t expect them all to, though, as more testing brings more cost and more hassle to an already busy life on the farm. As a rule of thumb, Jersey and Guernsey are two breeds that produce more A2 protein in their milk so, even if specific testing has not been done, you can feel pretty confident that these breeds will give you what you’re looking for.
3. Grass fed. When cattle are eating green grass that is of peak nutritional value (best in spring rapid growing season), the nutrient content of their milk is at its highest. The most perfect situation would be milk from cows eating rapidly growing grass year round. I can’t argue against that. That’s just not realistic, though. This is Iowa. We don’t have 4 seasons of green grass. Additional calories are often also necessary for sufficient production, often as a “snack” during milking. Supplemental feed is necessary. This can be hay, grain, etc. There are a number of nuances regarding supplemental food, if that’s a rabbit hole that you’d like to go down- grain vs. no grain, organic, non-GMO, etc.

We’re thrilled to allow local fresh milk farmers the use of our parking lot, where you will be able to find them, from time to time, at the east end of our lot. We are merely the dating space to help you find your perfect milk– the Tinder of raw milk, I suppose?. Please understand that we don’t have time to manage schedules or promote, so the best place to keep tabs on hauls of the best milk around is the Iowa Raw Milk group on FB. Join the group, reach out directly to the farmers, do whatever you see best to find your perfect milk.

Currently, Roberta Kauffman and Jeff Byers are making fresh milk hauls here, so you can follow them on the page or reach out to them for times and details. They do this for your convenience, so be sure to thank them for it:). Up until now, when I have gotten fresh milk, I have driven to the farm to get it. While I don’t mind the drive, my busy schedule has made it difficult to carve out time for a 90 minute round trip, so I am SO appreciative that these farmers are willing to help make their milk more accessible for this busy mom!

If you need to get your dairy at the grocery store, I have 2 Iowa brands that I highly recommend, as they are happy healthy cows on grass, they have a nice healthy cream top (not homogenized), and they are vat-pasteurized (less heat to preserve more natural enzymes and a healthy microbial balance). They are Picket Fence and Kalona Supernatural. They are larger dairies, so still required to pasteurize even with the new bill passage, but they are doing it in the best way possible.

Thanks for supporting our local farmers and promoting health!