please tell me it's not true that milk is full of pus!! Is it the same with organic?

[UniversallyChallenged]

Have felt sick all day since i read this

Anyone know if it's true? And why pus in it for goodness sake??

Sophie, are you a dairy farmer? If so what is the actual reality of it? are there hormones in them to make them milk more? Does buying organinc make a difference? Do organic farmers actually see any of the profit made by supermarkets for organic or is it less profitable for the farmers?

I appreciate what you're saying sophie. It's horrid that farmers are forced out of business because of what is written in the press.

In your opinion, what is the difference between organic and non organic milk, and is there a benefit to drinking organic.

Genuinely interested.

I thought non-organic milk had more pus in because the care is worse. The cows are given hormones to increase production but not milked often enough, or as often as a calf would feed, leading to engorged udders and high levels of mastitis, therefore more pus and anti-biotics in the milk.

I buy organic milk and yoghurt but not cheese for some reason. I wonder what would happen to the pus in the curds and whey process, whether it would stay in the whey or distribute itself evenly? Nice thought. I don't like drinking milk anyway, tastes like fat suspended in water to me.

lol, almost word for word there hospeysgirl!

sophie - does that always happen then, the milk is disposed off while the cows have mastitis? Wouldn't that mean that there is never AB's in milk then?

great minds VictorianSqualor

It's amazing that people are so unclear about the food they eat that they don't realise milk is an animal product so will contain cells. And then think white blood cells are something horrible. Bizarre.

Plants are made up of cells, too, you know, btw. So is meat.

And so are we, come to that.

Milk is routinely tested for antibiotics- if ANY gets into the bulk tank the WHOLE mornings milking is thrown away!! I know this because it was a very big deal to make sure farmers knew the withdrawal period when giving them any antibiotics. Farmers, whether organic or not, work at keeping cell counts low and antibiotics to a minimum- it costs them money otherwise. It is basic farm management, and I would be surprised if organic framers are any better at it than large dairy farmers. Only difference I see is that in a highly sterile environment, like on big dairy farms, where lots of antiseptics are used in cleaning etc, any bugs found MAY be of the more resistant types.
As far as I know, cows are NOT given hormones to make them produce more milk. Milk production is increased via selective breeding (eg a Fresian will give more than an Ayrshire) and more concentrated feeding.

farmers, not framers !!

thanks RedJools

we are dairy farmers.

Cows are not given hormones to make them milk more.

as RedJools said, it is dow to selective breeding and nutrition.

I think you have gotten the wrong end of the stick. when I have read anything about hormones being present in the milk, it has been due to the levels of oestrogens in milk due to the cow milking whilst being pregnant - NOT ARTIFICIALLY INJECTED HORMONES - I am not sure if there is any basis to this theory, and in effect it is no different to bf while being pg.

Most farmers have high welfare standards - we love the animals fgs! and to look after them at any less than the highest standard, would impact upon profitablity.

My family own an estate in Dorset and we have 4 dairies on the farm and milk about 800 cows We are lucky in that we have a contract with M&S so all our milk is sold to them. This is what we do here and on the majority of farms, as with any industrry you do get the rogues.

Our cows are milked twice a day for 10 months of the year the other 2 months they are what are called dry cows waiting to calve.

When milked they are done morning and evening. They are checked daily for mastitis and if they do have it, they are treated with an antibiotic cream which is put in directly into the udder, a course usually lasts for 7 days and the milk is disposed of (flushed away) for the period of treatment and after until any chance of the antibiotics have been cleared up. The cows have tape around the tail to show which is which.

They do get treated by the vet if they are ill but again milk is disposed of if they are on antibioics.

It is cruel not th treat an animal if it is ill and so I would assume that organic farmers would follow the above practice as well which is just good farming.

Mastitis can be caused by many things, something as simple as another cow treading on an udder, can be inside or outside.

Our cows are housed during the winter, some are in stalls and some are in barns, cleaned out and strawed up daily. During the summer they are out on fields. Dairy farmers tend to produce their own silage which iswhat the cows get fed on mostly during the winter, we also grow maize from them.

As far as I am aware the difference in organic/non organic is the feed. Grass fields have to be treated with organic fertiliser(i.e the cows poo) and the land passed organic by the soil association and any supplementary feed has to be organic as well.

I have never in my life seen or heard of any of our herd or those of farmers I know being injected with hormones.

The milk is collected daily and a sample is taken by the tanker driver and will get tested at the collection dairy.

I think that is about it just off to get DD from nursery but happy to help if I can, we could do sheep next as I keep staring at them in the field as they are wiating to lamb.

Thanks sophie and cazboldy - it is good to hear the other side of the story, and a postive one.
What, to your knowledge, is different about organic milk then?

That is helpful, sophie.

Where does the idea about hormone injections come from, I wonder? Is it ever done or was it ever done in the past?

As sophie said MrsCarrot - afaik the feed theat they eat is Organic, and that is it.

Well Done Sophie! Great Overview.

No not as far as I know. I have no idea where it comes from???

What hormone would you inject them with?????

Hormones naturally occur in the body do they not? From Bf I know that oxytocin stimulates milk supply - it's what gives you that sleepy, dreamy feeling while you feed.....but have no idea why there is this misconception about hormone injections - or what good they would do for that matter?

thank god for that Sophie Thanks for telling us its not true..

Thank you very much sophie for your post. V muchly appreciated

yes, sorry, I missed that in Sophie's post.

It is good to hear that the majority of farms are those such as yourselves. I wonder what proportions of the rogue farmer's milk gets into our shops though.

If nothing else, I think you can tell the difference between non and organic milk. Organic's much nicer.

Another (ex) dairy farmer here.
I'm amazed at,and saddened by, the misconceptions.

it's all in your mind bohemianbint

you expect it to be nicer so it is!

you're right, it is saddening. As a consumer, I feel cross that we are often misled by the press. We all want to do the best for our families and it seems like we're easy prey.

I know cadelaide - truly bizarre!