Funniest Things A City Slicker Has Ever Said To You?

[Drewnkat]

Well sure, SOMEtimes, maybe, occasionally.

I certainly wouldn't want to bank my family's long term plan for dairy goats on a rare occurrence that happens in certain breeds, only occasionally. So the *plan* is to acquire some girl goats, get in touch with someone who is brave enough to keep a boy goat (no thanks) and arrange a romantic getaway.

Then we'll see how we do. If the milk is still adequate after a year, we might wait to freshen her, or if we find someone who wants a kid for meat or a 4-H project or something, we might go for it again.

Thought of another one:

We have a female relative who is a bit of a worrier. She's a dear, and she cares very much, but she had to make sure to tell me how very concerned she was about the dangerous raw milk we had been using. This woman grew up on a farm and had fresh milk every day as a child. On her 80th birthday she did not look a day over 60. It obviously didn't do her any harm, but she's just convinced... I know the farmer we buy our milk from. I've even met some of the cows. I've seen the greenhouse they set up to sprout grains so the cows could have green fresh foliage to eat during the winter months! That is serious dedication to the well-being of their livestock. Sadly, we don't live close enough to get milk every week anymore, but any time we are going to be on that side of town we order milk from them.

I just smile and nod and change the subject. I have no idea what she'll say when she hears we have chickens now. If there's anything outrageous I'll be sure to update.

 

[oldrooster]

Quote:
I am sure there are people whom "rent" billy out for those services, I know that it is done that way in some cases for cattle, horses and dogs. so I figure that it's just finding out whom to ask.

 

[Drewnkat]

I am sure there are people whom "rent" billy out for those services, I know that it is done that way in some cases for cattle, horses and dogs. so I figure that it's just finding out whom to ask.

Yes, I believe it's fairly common among the goatherd community. I have friends in another state who keep goats, and that's what they did. That part of the plan is a ways off. First we have to repair the aged and inadequate fencing on the property, and arrange suitable accommodations. Hoping things go well with the chickens and we can sort of ease into keeping more animals.

 

[7 Biddies]

Yes, I believe it's fairly common among the goatherd community. I have friends in another state who keep goats, and that's what they did. That part of the plan is a ways off. First we have to repair the aged and inadequate fencing on the property, and arrange suitable accommodations. Hoping things go well with the chickens and we can sort of ease into keeping more animals.

I believe they call that "stud services" for which you may be asked to pay a "stud fee". Or, sometimes they may get a baby or two out of the deal if more than one nanny is serviced. Not a bad deal for just owning a billy.

 

[chiques chicks]

I believe they call that "stud services" for which you may be asked to pay a "stud fee". Or, sometimes they may get a baby or two out of the deal if more than one nanny is serviced. Not a bad deal for just owning a billy.

It's even done for rabbits!

 

[vehve]

Well sure, SOMEtimes, maybe, occasionally.

I certainly wouldn't want to bank my family's long term plan for dairy goats on a rare occurrence that happens in certain breeds, only occasionally. So the *plan* is to acquire some girl goats, get in touch with someone who is brave enough to keep a boy goat (no thanks) and arrange a romantic getaway.

Then we'll see how we do. If the milk is still adequate after a year, we might wait to freshen her, or if we find someone who wants a kid for meat or a 4-H project or something, we might go for it again.

Thought of another one:

We have a female relative who is a bit of a worrier. She's a dear, and she cares very much, but she had to make sure to tell me how very concerned she was about the dangerous raw milk we had been using. This woman grew up on a farm and had fresh milk every day as a child. On her 80th birthday she did not look a day over 60. It obviously didn't do her any harm, but she's just convinced... I know the farmer we buy our milk from. I've even met some of the cows. I've seen the greenhouse they set up to sprout grains so the cows could have green fresh foliage to eat during the winter months! That is serious dedication to the well-being of their livestock. Sadly, we don't live close enough to get milk every week anymore, but any time we are going to be on that side of town we order milk from them.

I just smile and nod and change the subject. I have no idea what she'll say when she hears we have chickens now. If there's anything outrageous I'll be sure to update.

Nothing wrong with drinking raw milk as long as it's fresh. Problems occur when it's kept for too long, personally I'd be a bit careful with raw milk that's been stored for longer than a few days. It's an excellent growth medium for bacteria. There's a reason for why most of the milk consumed is pasteurized. People who grow up with raw milk usually don't tend to have any problems with it, because they always have the fresh stuff, and they've been accustomed to the bacteria culture in their own milk. But if a person who's digestive system is unfamiliar with the bacteria consumes week old raw milk, they might become quite closely acquainted with the wonders of modern plumbing.

Here there was a story in the newspapers a few weeks ago about a dairy farm that had to shut down due to the "mean food hygiene authority" Evira. The farm in question had somehow gotten a strain of Yersinia in their production chain. This lead to loads of people getting sick, and the health authorities simply demanded that they have to locate the contamination point and get rid of it. Apparently this would of have cost a fair bit of money, so they decided to shut down their operation, and instead complain in the papers about how hard it is to make healthy, natural food for people with all these pesky hygiene demands.

 

[Drewnkat]

I've fully researched the issue, thanks.

And since we've had raw milk for over ten years now and never once had a problem, I think we'll probably be ok. I never offer week-old raw milk to guests who are unaccustomed to it, and I make sure to store it using all proper food-safety handling precautions.

Yes, there are raw milk producers who aren't meeting all health and safety requirements. There are plenty of recalls of conventional foods too. Spinach, tomatoes, peanut butter, beef...

If I stopped eating every food that had ever been involved in a recall, I would end up starving to death. Unless and until I become aware of a problem that my friend is not addressing with her dairy herd, I'm going to continue supporting my local farmers. But anyway, enough food politics, back to the topic at hand!

 

[alldembirds]

the reason raw milk is illegal in the united states actually has nothing to do with people getting sick from raw milk. In chicago they passed a safe milk act in the early 1900's because all these cows were being fed nothing but spent grain from the breweries and the resulting milk was gray in color. The added chalk and other stuff to the milk and a lot of people got sick. The bill was designed to prevent anything like that from ever happening again but some politician got talked into putting pasteurization on the bill. A couple years later there was a typhoid breakout, typhoid can be transferred in milk, and even though there was no proof the disease came from milk new york city adopted pretty much the same laws, than all the other big cities followed,

Its all politics Vehve

 

[vehve]

the reason raw milk is illegal in the united states actually has nothing to do with people getting sick from raw milk. In chicago they passed a safe milk act in the early 1900's because all these cows were being fed nothing but spent grain from the breweries and the resulting milk was gray in color. The added chalk and other stuff to the milk and a lot of people got sick. The bill was designed to prevent anything like that from ever happening again but some politician got talked into putting pasteurization on the bill. A couple years later there was a typhoid breakout, typhoid can be transferred in milk, and even though there was no proof the disease came from milk new york city adopted pretty much the same laws, than all the other big cities followed,

Its all politics Vehve

I won't go into a heated debate about agricultural politics, especially since we live in completely different countries and probably would have quite different issues to address within this frame, but I will say that pasteurization improving the shelf life of many products is a fact, which is hard to argue. It also made it possible to transport perishable foods in a time when refrigeration of transported goods wasn't always an option.

I don't have a problem with raw milk, it's an excellent product, I'm just saying that it's good to keep in mind that if it's stored incorrectly, or has come into contact with contaminants, it can go bad more easily than pasteurized milk will.

Us Finns take our milk quite seriously, and a whole lot of time, money and effort has been spent on studying the best ways to produce, transport and store the stuff.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Pasteurization is done for health reasons. So are the routine testing of dairy herds for TB, undulant fever (Bang's disease), etc.

Milk and milk products provide a wealth of nutrition benefits. But raw milk can harbor dangerous microorganisms that can pose serious health risks to you and your family. According to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1993 and 2006 more than 1500 people in the United States became sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk. In addition, CDC reported that unpasteurized milk is 150 times more likely to cause foodborne illness and results in 13 times more hospitalizations than illnesses involving pasteurized dairy products.
Raw milk is milk from cows, sheep, or goats that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria. This raw, unpasteurized milk can carry dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria, which are responsible for causing numerous foodborne illnesses.
These harmful bacteria can seriously affect the health of anyone who drinks raw milk, or eats foods made from raw milk. However, the bacteria in raw milk can be especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, older adults, pregnant women, and children. In fact, the CDC analysis found that foodborne illness from raw milk especially affected children and teenagers.

• Pasteurizing milk DOES NOT cause lactose intolerance and allergic reactions. Both raw milk and pasteurized milk can cause allergic reactions in people sensitive to milk proteins.
• Raw milk DOES NOT kill dangerous pathogens by itself.
• Pasteurization DOES NOT reduce milk's nutritional value. (The nutrient usually called out for being destroyed, Vitamin C, AKA ascorbic acid, is not present in significant amounts in the first place.)
• Pasteurization DOES NOT mean that it is safe to leave milk out of the refrigerator for extended time, particularly after it has been opened.
• Pasteurization DOES kill harmful bacteria.
• Pasteurization DOES save lives.

Raw milk has been, and continues to be, a staple in the epidemiological literature; it has been linked to campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, brucellosis, hemorrhagic colitis, Brainerd diarrhea, Q fever, listeriosis, yersiniosis, and toxoplasmosis to name a few (Plotter, 2002). Outbreaks associated with the consumption of raw milk routinely occur every year. In 1995, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published guidelines that established a list of pathogen organisms transmitted through raw milk and milk products, such as Salmonella spp., Staphyloccocus aureus, Campylobacter jejuni, Yersina enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli (both enterotoxic and enteropathic), E. coli 0157: H7, Shigella spp., Streptococcus spp., and Hepatitis A virus.

People who follow Rick Steve's charming PBS advice that Americans visiting Europe try those "wonderful village cheeses" made from unpasteurized milk currently comprise perhaps the largest portion of Americans under treatment for undulant fever.