While attention has been riveted on the efforts of Big Dairy to push public officials to roll back or prevent availability of raw milk in states like Wisconsin and Massachusetts, a more ominous trend has been quietly taking shape among the nation’s milk cooperatives and processors. These are the organizations that buy conventional milk in bulk from dairy farmers, pasteurize it, and distribute it to retailers around the country. A growing number of these outfits are refusing to buy milk from dairies that sell or distribute raw milk.
Wisconsin dairyman Scott Trautman was one of the first to feel the sting of the emerging new policy when Midwest cooperative Foremost Farms cut him off after learning about his raw milk activities, and cost him his Grade A dairy license.
In Missouri (per Pete’s report following my previous post), Mark and Leesa Robinson report that Central Equity Milk Cooperative, a cooperative of a couple hundred dairies, notified them that their dairy would have to discontinue raw milk sales if it wanted to continue selling to the cooperative.
And now, one of the biggest names in dairy has adopted the same policy. The seven-farmer board of Organic Valley, with 1,600 dairy members in 33 states and four Canadian provinces, voted last week to require its raw-milk-selling members to exit the business if they want to continue selling milk via Organic Valley.
Organic Valley hasn’t announced the decision yet–I learned about it from a couple of sources, and yesterday the cooperative confirmed the decision. The cooperative, which was founded in 1988 with “a founding mission of saving family farms through organic farming,” put me in touch with one of its board members and its chief executive, and they painted a picture of an agonizing decision-making process that has divided the cooperative over the last year.
It seems a number of Organic Valley dairies selling conventional milk have become increasingly rattled by the success many of their counterparts are having selling raw milk directly to consumers. “Raw milk sales for some of our people became a majority of their business,” explained Travis Forgue, a Vermont dairy owner who is on the Organic Valley board, and who voted for banning raw dairy farmers from the co-op. “This did not sit well with some farmers.”
He also said there was concern that Organic Valley could somehow be held liable if raw milk from one of its members made consumers ill, though he acknowledged Organic Valley’s own lawyer hadn’t agreed there was a serious danger, or that there were any other cases in which a processor was sued. Even in our litigious society, it’s difficult to imagine how a dairy co-op could be held liable because one of its members sold raw milk or ran a cowshare. Sounds like a neat effort at an excuse.
In any event, it looks as if two groups are now facing important choices:
1. Dairy farmers selling raw milk on a part-time basis will be under growing pressure to make a decision–turn away from raw dairy to continue selling milk at $1.50 a gallon to the cooperative, or shift entirely to selling raw milk, at $5 to $10 a gallon. At Organic Valley, CEO George Siemon is charged with coming up with the “implementation plan,” and he foresees perhaps a six-month grace period for dairies in the raw milk business to make up their mind.
2. Consumers will have to decide how committed they are to their raw dairy providers, and whether they can help the providers increase their sales. As the Robinsons put it on Facebook:
“So basically and realistically we can’t afford to be in business with Central Equity. They are backing us into a wall in forcing us to choose. But we can’t keep our dairy operating without increasing our customer base. So we must get the sales of our raw milk up so we can keep our doors open.”
Organic Valley’s board member, Travis Forgues, makes the same challenge to raw dairy farmers, whom he estimates number 200 or more of Organic Valley’s dairy members: “If that’s the business you want to be in, then do raw milk.” Of course, there are hundreds of other dairies that sell to other co-ops and processors selling raw milk on a part-time basis.
I was pretty pessimistic when I first heard about the Organic Valley decision, but having read what Miguel and Mark McAfee have to say in their comments following my previous post, I am less so. Sometimes, these seemingly devastating actions have a way of clarifying the situation for the better, and forcing decisions that, while painful during the short-term, are the best decisions for the long term. Here, the situation is starkly clear:
The established dairy industry is terribly threatened by the growing popularity of raw milk, so much so that Big Dairy is pulling out all the stops to savage the competition. Big Dairy is being egged on by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state public health and agriculture regulators, or maybe it’s the other way around. Doesn’t really matter.
Are there violations of antitrust laws going on here? Hopefully the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is considering that question.
The legal process moves in slow motion, though. More immediately, consumers will have their opportunity to make a difference. They must re-double their personal commitments to support raw dairy producers by buying more raw milk, perhaps much more than they need. They must get their friends who value locally-produced food purchasing raw milk. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Support raw dairies big time, or you’ll lose your raw milk entirely.
***
It’s not as if we need further evidence of the Wisconsin governor’s hypocrisy in vetoing the raw milk legislation last week, but there’s this newspaper article about he signed a law allowing sales of canned goods by home-based businesses, while vetoing the milk bill. Guess the canning lobby couldn’t come up with enough to satisfy the guv.
***
I’d also like to say something about Lykke, and her apparent departure from the blog. I know a number of people thought she was a troll, some kind of paid agent, but I never felt that way. Doesn’t mean people aren’t entitled to their opinions. I certainly never meant to “chastise” anyone for holding such a view. I don’t have any proof either way, it’s just I sense a paid agent would do more monitoring and less posting, and the posting wouldn’t be as thoughtful as it often was. I’m not even sure it matters, since what was most important was the educational part–certainly I learned from her, and hopefully she learned from us (even if she didn’t often admit it). I thought she was treated harshly by many at the end. If she’s still reading the blog, it’s my view that there was nothing personal, but rather she was a convenient whipping boy, as it were, for all the frustrations people have with food officialdom and its general reluctance to discuss openly the real issues around raw milk and food rights…and I hope she returns at some point.
Well, duh! But the FTCLDF to do anything about it? Highly doubt it. They had the opportunity to use this legal strategy in Wisconsin, but didn’t. Why not?
"After reading the contents of that bill, I could only marvel at the missed opportunities to access the law to protect the interests of private individuals engaged in their lawful and Constitutional right to business and trade.
"You have two real and very strong options:
A Constitutional tort (based on this):
TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 21 > SUBCHAPTER I > 1983
1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officers judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
"Tort of Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage
(You really should have your paid representatives read this: I could have put this case together during a commercial break of Criminal Minds)
"The idea that any of you would have agreed with having your right to advertise your business, your products and to make a living doing so, abrogated and violated by elected officials under a bill that would have sunset in 2011 really struck me odd…"
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/wisconsin-datcp-the-flies-are-circling/
Why does some random (nonlawyer) woman know how to fight the raw milk fight, but the FTCLDF can’t seem to? They sure can collect those donations, though. Haven’t we figured out yet that our "donations" are only buying us good PR, but not any real victories?
I empathize with your comment….BUT….. I have seen Gary Cox in action many times and he is brilliant and driven. I am very much aware that the FTCLDF only has one Abrams main battle tank and just a few shots of ammunition. They must take their shots carefully and efficiently. The main tactic of the opposition is a battle of economic attrition. They can and will outspend us and win not because they are right but because they have the check book and create more opportunities because they take more shots at us. The FDA has the full power of the US DOJ and the money printing presses and deficite spending behind them.
The FTCLDF must wisely and very very judiciously pick and choose their fights or win nothing.
The "FDA 1240.61" is a worthy battle worth investment. They have carefully picked some of their other fights as well. There is absolutely no way that this group of valiant food farm freedom fighters can respond to all the hits.
That is the job for the "dollar voters", the raw milk dairymen, the film makers, book writers, bloggers, and the grass roots outreach educators. This will take time.
Some of our progress will simply come from losing the battles and consumers feeling pain and getting really really pissed-off. Losses can be big winners when it comes to showing how corrupt the opposition truly is and how deep the lies run. This painful dynamic is a requirement for change.
Mark
There has been strong evidence of violations of criminal law by the "other side" (collectively the regulatory agencies at both state and federal level, along with the co-ops). An example of this law-breaking is Scott Soares admitted ex-parte discussions with the dairy industry regarding raw milk in MA. If MA has any kind of sunshine laws, his, and the folks he talked to, actions are legally actionable under criminal laws.
Combine that with the ongoing discovery of emails (thanks Max), letters, and other written documentation showing collusion among the regulators and pastuerized dairy industry and I THINK you could make a very strong case for multiple violations of the RICO laws.
Protests by hundreds of citizens seems to have no effect…maybe a little jail time would get their attention.
Bob BubbaBozo Hayles
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
I do not want to over generalize and say that all farmers will have my same experience when it comes to the making the transition between being: dependent on a COOP creamery and becoming directly consumer driven and connected. But here are a few of my insights that might really help.
When you are dependent on a creamery you never leave the farm. You rely on the check coming in the mail twice per month and nearly all of your focus is on production. You are a farm slave to the COOP and the bank.
The consumer connected raw milk experience requires an entirely different focus…. you become a champion of your consumer and at least they pay you well and give you appreciation and a hug once in a while.
You must learn to spend much more time off the farm and nearer your consumer. You must use the internet to cultivate the consumer, educate the consumer and connect to your consumer. This means you must learn the science and medical applications of raw milk. Medical applications of raw milk are the reason that people will pay for raw milk and fight for it. Raw milk replaces asthma inhalers, ulcer medications and prevents allergies colds and ear infections and so much more. You must become half scientist, half researcher, half educator, half pharmer doctor and be branded….that is alot of halfs….you must manage the entire food chain and no longer rely on a creamery to control it for you. You will learn about and set price points, choose colors, make brochures, make business cards, build an on farm store, learn what cap dates are all about, use bar codes, learn about UPC’s, negotiate shelf space, cap systems, glass or plastic, truck models and chiller systems, learn to connect with people and speak to groups and get them excited….develop food safety plans and test your products and on and on. It is a rich brave new world….a world you control.
You will be spread thin until you build a bigger team and learn these new skills.
In nature….you evolve or die off. This evolution is awesome and worth every bit of the growing pains. Our country and its citizens need this very very badly. It is no longer outsourceable or irrelevant….it is America at its best. You will become essential…something that a creamery check does not even come close to providing.
Mark
I’m not questioning the cases that FTCLDF takes, as I understand that resources are limited and the government’s resources are vast.
What I’m questioning is the methods they are using in their cases. It doesn’t really seem like they want to win. They only want ‘victories’ that have us compromising with the government, not freeing us from it.
I have friends that study the law and they have looked at what FTCLDF has filed. They have no confidence in FTCLDF’s cases.
In Wisconsin it is legal for grade A dairies to sell raw milk under the incidental sales clause (and it has been since 1957), yet FTCLDF told all of us that it wasn’t, that we had to do these farmshare thingies (which are under attack, too, and is another FTCLDF case here in WI). Why won’t they argue the statute? If DATCP comes knocking on my door asking me about selling raw milk, as a grade A producer I can kindly escort them off of my property and tell them they have no subject matter jurisdiction over it. Case closed. Why isn’t the legal defense fund telling us this?
Bob Hayles brings up a great point, as this is the kind of strategy I’m talking about. Why are we p*ssing around negotiating with DATCP when we could have all these people arrested and end this once and for all?
"Brilliant and driven" is just PR. Lawyer gets paid, farmer gets scr*wed.
Mark, you forgot to say…and milk my cows (but I’m guessing you hire someone to do that, right?)
Another important use is pasture fertilizer:
"Attributes and Observations on Applying Raw Milk to Soil"
http://www.greenpasture.org/community/?q=node/228
On a small scale(30 cows or so) your time will be more valuable if you stop growing and feeding grain and when the cows cut back in their production switch to once a day milking.Then you will have time to add value to the milk that you do get.This allows you to offer people a wider range of food from your farm.Diversity is the key.Something that is a waste product(like whey from cheesemaking)becomes a great way to produce high value pork.When we switch from commodity production to a direct to consumer relationship,diversity is the key.There are many ways to add value to the "extra" milk.Anything is better than selling it for $1.50/gallon to a processor.
When I was milking 20 goats, and making/selling about 20 lbs of feta a week, I jarred the whey and sold every drop I had to…weightlifters. Put a few fliers on the bulliten boards of local gyms and you won’t be able to keep up with demand…at $5.00 a quart PLUS $1.50 deposit on the mason jar.
I turned a $12.00 gal of milk into a $24.00 pound of cheese and 2- $5.00 quarts of whey…$34.00-39.00 total for that gallon of milk…and not much more work.
Bob BubbaBozo Hayles
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
" Raw Milk Cancer Cure– If you have not heard of BAMLET and HAMLET get ready to learn something that could change how you view mothers, cows and other mammals from this day forward."
http://www.pdazzler.com/archives/792
Yes, Lola there is the "incidental clause" of which the specific meaning is not spelled out in the law. DATCP as been interpreting this clause as "one sale" for at least 25 years. They are not going to roll over on this with out another legal battle. As you said earlier you interpret the clause to mean "secondary",doesn’t that means you have to have a primary purchaser, a processor, which again ties to a Grade A license. Why don’t you and your legal beagles file suit and test your theories???
Re: Organic Valley’s new policy; as an OV producer I believe the best avenue we have in WI is to turn to our customers. If they want raw milk they need to call OV, preferably board members, and tell them they will boycott all OV products. Many of our customers who consume raw milk purchase OV cheese, butter, cottage cheese etc. If this were to occur on a national basis, since this policy is national, I believe the loss in sales for OV would be significant. Money talks loud and clear. I find the OV legal liability argument to be without merit.
OV took on many of us with full knowledge we were providing raw milk direct to consumers. Even within OV this decision is controvercial. The board passed it 4 to 3 and not all management agrees with it. It will take a national effort, but I believe consumer power can reverse this policy decision.
Recently I attended a farm seminar where there was some discussion about zoning laws. These laws seem to me a perfect example of everything that is wrong with our attempts to define (and enforce!) fairness outside of natural law. Legislating residential, agricultural, commercial, and industrial zones effectively separates people from their food sources and from their work, creates unnecessary and wasteful travel, fragments communities, encourages the best farmland to be used for housing and commercialism, and allows the worst excesses of each category to exist with impunity. Who cares, for example, if a farm or industry or business stinks or is noisy or polluting if it is outside your zone? And even if you do believe that such things matter, if they are out of sight, they are generally out of mind, which tends to diffuse the forces that would improve or eliminate them. And who cares if your community cannot be even minimally self-sufficient, if big brother is substituting for your neighbors, friends, and family (keeping, for example, the grocery store filled)?
We have become used to depending on great big power brokers to legislate or regulate badness away and goodness in. But that system succeeds only in concentrating power and money, flooding our economies with cheap crap, destroying our communities, magnifying the scale of economic and other disasters, and oh yeah, removing our natural, God-given freedoms.
Nearby diverse farms, just like nearby small businesses, are incredible boons to most neighborhoods. They improve economies, facilitate social cohesiveness, encourage social and economic diversity, and support health! Why on earth would we want otherwise?
Have we perhaps fallen for a false promise of and easy life and quick money?
(And Bob, miguel’s suggestion was not to treat whey as a waste product, but to do the opposite: feed it to pigs or chickens, thereby turning it into another value-added product.)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/94772269.html
"Prosciutto di Parma is made from large locally raised pigs which are fed a strict diet that includes whey from locally made Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese."
I know that this prosciutto retails in a local store for $149.00/lb.Now that is an outrageous price,but the point is that for people who appreciate quality in food it apparently isn’t too high.I could see learning to make fantastic prosciutto and selling it for half price.It would still be a good way to add value to a large volume of whey.We have 75 to 100 gallons from each batch of cheese.
Point taken about incidental sales and your view of FTCLDF.
Wisconsin has a serious problem….I would form a private milk processor that handles milk from the raw milk producers so the raw milk producers have a place to call homewith extra milk…this private plant would not screw arround with their Grade A liscenses.
When faced with a damned problem….find a whey arround it or under it or if needed through it…. But…. find a damned solution. Never ever give up. Get creative guys!!!!
Mark
1) Whose going to fund this private cheese & butter plant for the excess raw milk?
2) How are we going to get milk, while its still fresh, from all over the state to this plant?
You are right, though. We have to get creative.
This can’t happen when you sell what you raise to your customers directly with no middlemen. Supply life changing good food and they’ll reward you for it.
Wisconsin Raw Milk Consumer….
You have taken my concept to literally…
What you need is a friendly processor that has the authority to protect Grade A licenses. Does it say anywhere in the Wisconsin State regs how much milk or how often the milk must arrive at a plant….I do not think there is any such regulation ( please correct me if I am wrong ).
The contract with the friendly micro processor could say that 100 gallons per year is required to arrive at the plant….do not think in the box….throw the box away. Use the regs to your advantage. I am sure that there are few micro cheese plants in the state that would write friendly contracts for a small price or some other benefit. Money is just one small piece of a larger puzzle. Make the regs work for you.
"Can not" is not part of the vocabulary.
Mark
Anybody got a good recipe for crow?
A few months back on this blog I made comments supporting OV in their ability to be the happy medium in this whole food game, which at the time they were making noise as to such a position and considering coming out in favor for raw milk as a Cooperative policy.
While the talk is still there by those who actually are producing the products, the direct overseers of those farms and certain personnel of OV who are the daily face of the cooperative, those who make the policies on behalf of the before mentioned seem to have another direction in mind.
This however may not be their fault.
Do as I say, and not as I do…. is ringing in my ears at the moment.
Another sader axium is an old salesmen moto…sincerety is the path to success, once you have that faked its easy.
I do see the representative advertising in most OV producers, farm support teams and long time OV personnel I know.
The actions of those who have the vested interest of the Coop have just passed into the realm of Corporate and let me tell you it is not the first large dairy co/op to do so.
The history bin of creamery cooperatives is long and sad, and many a farmer who put all his trust in any of them, feel as those do now who have tried to meet the demand of the consuming public, and got little if nothing in return, and in most cases, left on their own to find a new market for a product that seems bound for few options.
However.
Those who serve the raw milk community have help.
As Mark said above the relationships these producers have with the raw milk consumer has changed the decades old game of consolidation and these farmers do not walk alone.
We in the raw milk community/local food movement are at a very important cross roads.
It is put up or shut up time for a change in the face of who we think we are and the practices we have employed so far in the farmer consumer relationship.
The raw milk community has just lost its long time and only subsidy program by OV’s policy inforcement.
What happens from here on out is all of our doing.
Not OV’s, not the government, it is us who will make or brake this new paradigm.
More of these types of consolidation efforts will be addressed on our food choices soon enough.
This whole food movement started with raw milk, so lets begin to address what we would have had to at some point anyway.
"The future of food is live and local" OV was neither….thier loss.
Tim Wightman
Not saying it can’t be done. Perhaps renegade on farm processing is the way to go, but I’d just be concerned about the conditions of production. You can have the cleanest milk in the world, but if you contaminate it during processing you might have problems.
We’ll need to get as many farms as we can setup with a clean production space, cheesemaking equipment, butter churns, and setup their farmhouse basements for curing the cheese, and then teach them how to make these products well.
I’ve had some pretty rancid raw butter from one Wisconsin producer (not naming any names here). I don’t think he was letting the cream get acidic enough before churning to exclude the pyscrotrophic (spoilage-causing) organisms. If you are making butter, its important to leave enough skim in the cream when you culture it to allow for a pH drop. Lactose is carried in the water phase of the milk, and if you have super-heavy cream there won’t be enough lactose to ferment into lactic acid, the result is a higher-pH cream which produces a butter very suseptible to rancidity.
And cheesemaking is another more complex undertaking. Understanding the pH/acid development curve, the rate of coagulation of the milk, understanding how to test when the coagulum begins to form, and how to break, heat, handle, mould, and drain the curd, etc… Artisan cheesemakers spend a lifetime mastering the art in Europe. Don’t expect everything to turn out good or consistant at first. There is a big learning curve. Feed the failures to the hogs and chickens.
http://www.grist.org/article/organic-valley-confronts-its-most-serious-crisis-ever-over-raw-milk/
David
Please understand that I didn’t get testy because Lykke was a dissenter. I love dissent–reasoned dissent. I got testy because Lykke would say the word compromise without ever suggesting any meaningful kind of compromise (apart from us giving up this raw milk folly altogether). I got testy because Lykke adamantly refused to acknowledge that Big Ag has even a tiny interest in thwarting small ag. I got testy because Lykke posted links to random articles about outbreaks that often were caused by the very practices the people here are against. I got testy because Lykke appeared to be a proponent of regulation for regulation’s sake and are not for any regulation that would actually solve a problem.
Even a casual reader could discern that the people who post here are not regulation-averse. In fact, it seems that they’re asking for more regulation at the point it makes sense. I’m reading that most of the folks here want regulation from the beginning of the process: how an animal is raised. Regulation at the point of "productization" is already too late and does not prevent problems. (Reference: most of Lykke’s links). Regulations need to be relevant.
It seemed to me that Lykke’s posts didn’t factor in the size of a farm or food processing operation. Lykke seemed to want all farms and food processing facilities, whether they are huge commodity operations or small, local concerns to have exactly the same set of procedures, even though they are not often applicable and provide no guarantee of a safe food supply.
I would would have thought more of Lykke’s posts if the "suggestions" sounded like they would actually lead to safer food and not simply sound like control measures designed to keep ordinary people from living their own lives happily and productively.
I am apologizing to you because it is obvious that you feel a loss. You are a gift to the raw milk community and I do not wish you any unhappiness.
http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/05/articles/case-news/just-when-you-think-the-internet-is-safe-someone-sends-you-a-video/
As the economy gets worse, and we all know it is, the dollar and stock market are going to crash sometime between now and two years from now. What happens when your processor has your milk but can’t pay you for it? Is that any different from you being cut off from your processor and you’re stuck with your milk?
When the economy crashes your best bet will be having a small quantity of milk you can process on the farm yourself and barter to your friends and neighbors for goods and services. Barter will be king until we figure out a new money system. Not everybody will have gold and silver.
When is your trial with DATCP?
Within a year folks better have a way to survive outside normal commerce…and they better have a way to protect what they have from those who haven’t prepared. At the very best I think we’ll see 19920 again, and things will probably be even worse.
Bob BubbaBozo Hayles
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
FYI, I’m not sure if any of you know about Triangle Organic in PA. They were supplying fresh cream for Organic Valley, and could not keep up with them and direct customer demand, so they opted to chance it and go with direct consumer sales. I order POUNDS of butter from them (about 20 at a time) and they ship to me from PA to VA. I’m sure I am not alone in my desire for whole, unprocessed quality food, and I will pay or barter for it.
I will no longer be buying from Organic Valley, so I will need to find a supplier of quality sour cream…. any ideas?
I am also planning to write a letter to Organic Valley telling them as such – I will not be purchasing their products any longer since I do not want to support bullies, no matter what their reason are. Anyone care to join me in this endeavor?
I am sorry that you are upset that Lykke left your blog. I really wish she would have been honest and up front with many of the posters. This may have mitigated any animosity shown towards her. I am also guilty of becoming very upset with some of her trite and sometimes snide comments – and also her habit of not answering questions directly.
I believe Lykke was working for big ag or the FDA as she would always disregard any comments relating to local food production and small sustainable farms. Lykke had limited or no knowledge of the "good germs" that colonise raw milk and she never ever answered questions about ammonia in meat processing.
I am glad she has left. The back and forth between Lykke and many of us was sapping the life out of your blog. Although she did have a few thoughtful posts I always felt her tone was laced with condenscention towards raw milk drinkers or small farmers. I also felt she was lying about raising her own goats.
Kind regards,
Violet
1. does your written contract address the sale of raw dairy to entities other than ov?
2. does your written contract allow for termination of the contract, and if so, under what terms?
3. is it better for you, economically, to keep doing business with ov under their terms or is it better for you to part ways with ov?
4. does your written contract with ov address what constitutes a "material breach" of the contract?
5. if you do not have a written contract with ov, have there been any oral representations made by ov representatives in the past such that you cannot sell raw dairy to entitites other than ov?
by doing this background investigation and research you should be able to determine whether you should dance while ov pipes, or whether you and ov should part ways.
6. Do you actually enjoy being a slave to your coop, living or dying on their whim? If your answer is yes, do those chains REALLY rest lightly?
Bob BubbaBozo Hayles
I nearly vomited from the gut torturing disgust I feel for this farmer or his employees.
http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/05/articles/case-news/just-when-you-think-the-internet-is-safe-someone-sends-you-a-video/
This is just like child abuse and the violators should be arrested and tried for felony animal abuse just like dog fighting…..except far worse. Dogs inflict pain on one another and can defend themselves….these animals did nothing and were punched and kicked and stabbed with pitchforks.
This is a sure sign of low prices, the failure of pasteurization, and the deep seated anger that some mentally sick farmers are facing with lower than humane commodity prices. If they can not beat their bankers or their wives ( maybe they do ??? )…they beat and stab their animals.
I want to know who these criminals are….I will by my own plane ticket and go place them under citizens arrest myself as an act of humanity. This can not be tolerated and I will volenteer as a fellow farmer to make sure it stops. These people feed PETA and anti-farm thoughts in peoples minds….this is wrong at so many levels.
Does anyone have the guts to give me the names of those on this horrible film???
Bill….will you handle the civil side of this case or my criminal defense if I get arrested my self for attempting the citizens arrest?? I agree….this is something we can all agree on.
I want to speak with the sherrif of this county and get his support for criminal charges. Who can tell me were this is??
Mark
I have never understood the mentality that produces such brutality. The psychology behind it must be sorry indeed. Self-hatred, perhaps, expressed as violence against something that cannot fight back, or has no nearby, interested, human advocate? Animal abuse is, I think, ultimately an act of cowardice.
In Genesis, man is called not to be a ruler of creation, but a servant-ruler. We must care properly for animals, and for land, air and water, and each other. Notably, we cannot fully and effectively do any one of those without doing the others.
IMHO, the best approach to animal cruelty is frank and frequent sunshine. When it is identified, bring it out into the open, as Bill Marler is helping to do here.
Perhaps Bill, a nice letter from a lawyer to those thugs, indicating his personal disapproval, might be therapeutic as well? For what it’s worth, I would offer any help I can to making this go away.
I have two responses: first Ghandi’s great quote, followed by an apocryphal story attributed to Native Americans.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. —-Gandhi
When a person dies he will follow a path to a bridge that crosses a great divide. To get to Paradise one must cross the bridge. On the other side of the bridge are all the animals with which the person has had contact during his life. They vote on whether or not the person gets to cross the bridge.
Right now I fervently wish the story were true.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/nightlinedailyline/2010/05/graphic-video-more-dairy-farm-animal-abuse.html
Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio
Get rid of the CAFOs!!! A small farmer would never mistreat his cows.
http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/05/articles/case-news/mercy-for-animals-undercover-video-nails-conklin-dairy-farm-abuse/
Lola – sorry you don’t agree with FTCLDF strategies in litigation or otherwise. We have to pick our fights, but we don’t play to lose. As lawyers, we cannot advise clients to break the law. We explain the law, challenge it in litigation, and devise innovative approaches which comply with the law. And we advise when a course of conduct will likely be in violation of the law.
Those who choose to break the laws with which they disagree and who take the consequences are the real heroes, as David has so well written.
We are always open to good suggestions and help. The pay isn’t the best, and there are several of us who work pro bono. Consumers can help by joining too. Check us out: http://www.ftcldf.org.
After viewing this, how can ANYONE say there is no difference in quality and healthfulness of milk between cows on pasture and those poor CAFO animals?
http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/05/articles/case-news/gibbon-minnesota-hartmann-dairy-farm-linked-to-e-coli-illnesses-traced-to-raw-milk/
cp
I sent an email to the California Milk Advisory Board PR person suggesting that the "Got Milk?, Real Milk California Happy Cow people" immediately call for criminal charges to be brought against this criminal Ohio dairyman and his employees. If "dairy" is going to stand up and make a statement with consumers…. it times like these when they must stand or be counted as cowards and complacent co-conspirators.
What was caught on video is horrendous and should get this guy some time in prison if this video could get in front of a jury.
I gathered all of our OPDC dairy milking staff together today to have them watch this video as a teaching moment. Some of them teared up and choked up. We never strike our cows and consider it a failure of our systems if a cow does not like something. As far as calves are concerned they are treated with love and care….just like any baby of this world.
Goatmaid…..I share your feelings….it took a few hours to get my nerves down to someplace civil.
I am going to contact the Sherrif of the county of the dairymans location in Ohio and demand that criminal charges be filed. The words spoken show enjoyment for cruelty and infliction of pain. " Nazi Concentration Camp Sicko" comes to mind.
This is the kind of sick crap that CAFO systems create.
Mark
….the prosecutor in Mechanicsburg Ohio already has Billy Joe ( the employee at Gary Conklins dairy ) in custody with 12 animal cruelty charges filed on his sorry Nazi Ass.
The information mill says that Billy Joe was going to school to become a peace office….A Cop. So much for pych testing.
Can you say, Rodney King.
This a product of CAFO systems and the completely disconnected and immoral system we have in America.
It is all bad Karma. I hope and pray that the Dairy Industry comes out hard against this behavior. If they do not….all of my worst suspicions will be confirmed.
I will with-hold my final comments on industry and give them the benefit of a little time to sort their feelings and hold their meetings to determine their positions.
The public outrage is palpable…..if Big Dairy does not immediately separate themselves from these criminals and condemn them….then damn them all from their CAFO’s to their Dead Milk. When they stand together they are counted together. And they wonder why the price for CAFO milk is dropping.
This one video could be the incident that killed the CAFO system and the dead milk that no one wants to drink. They are on the brink of bankrupcy as it is…now they have that much less demand and that much longer to recover from hellish prices.
Mark
I hope these farmers get put in jail for ever . . . . and this abuse was not only towards adult cows but to innocent helpless baby calves . . . omg.
My 11 year old son and I cried when we saw this abuse. CAFO’s need to be outlawed. I would love to see only small farms with grass fed cows producing milk for local consumers. Small pasture based poultry and sheep farms are the ideal as well.
This is what you get when you pay a farmer only about $1.00 per gallon – monsters showing horrible abuse towards the animals they are being paid to care for. We need to go back to the small farm that feeds a local market. CAFO’s are horrible not only for cattle but for chickens, turkeys and sheep.
Small farmers care for thier animals – these CAFO monsters do not.
Kind regards,
Violet – Shepherd
http://kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com/
I’ve sent both links to everyone I know, to convince them that commercial milk really is corrupt, both morally and physically, and to encourage everyone to buy milk privately, even if they have to pasteurize it themselves if they don’t feel comfortable drinking it raw.
People need to realize that if the only choice is CAFO store milk or nothing, it is far better to drink NO milk than it is to drink that crap!! I’m not one much for vegans and anti-meat, but in this case they are absolutely correct.
CAFOS must be shut down.
If the video graphics are right, and the farm owner participated, I wonder if the fact he is just that…a farm owner/landowner/BMOC has anything to do with his lack of charges?
Sorry, worthless pieces of shit.
Bob BubbaBozo Hayles
http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/18004/1373
" M.O.M’s is a small family operated creamery that only sells to a few thousand, largely local, customers. General Mills is a major international corporation with dozens of subsidiaries and hundreds of food product labels. The company’s retail customers likely number in the millions.
Both M.O.M’s and General Mills, through subsidiaries such as Muir Glen, have come to the realization that selling certified organic products is profitable. The Hartmans, the farm family that owns M.O.M’s, has known this for a long time. Before they started their farmstead creamery their cows and land were certified organic. General Mills is more of a newcomer to organics…."
"…M.O.M’s can’t sell milk straight from the bulk tank. But their goal is to get certified organic dairy products to their customers that tastes as close to the sweet, fresh taste of "straight-from-the-bulk-tank" as processing rules allow. That includes lower pasteurization temperatures, minimal agitation, no homogenization of bottled milk and careful handling of the finished product."
http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2010/ecoli052610.html
Perhaps they sold raw milk too?
Remember: Two raw milks in America. One for humans, one for the pastuerizer.
This looks like either a confusion between the terms "organic" and "raw", or an opportunity for health depts to let a mistake go viral and then say oops; knowing they’ll never have to retract?
Google Hartman Farm Minnesota – amazing number of hits on raw milk. They have really improved their message machine.
David, I trust you’ll uncover the truth?
Thank you!
-Blair
I have ‘ideas’ on a coop that is unique and has a clear message of who and what we are. Yet, the farmers I would include in that have been SO loyal to OV that NOTHING – that is prior to this – could pull them away from OV. So OV has done each and every one of them – the ones with entrepreneurial skills, the flagship farms of OV, the ones that would sell raw milk – and done them a favor in pushing them out of the nest. Now most of you guys in this way WANT to be in a nest. "…and milk the cows"
Well then. Opportunity to provide a nest.
Except, we’re going to be all the way organic, top of the curve, there are no dark corners, we are what organic was meant to be – and is – in the hearts of those that truly understand.
1. We are good enough farmers to find no point in feeding grain to cows. We make enough on the one hand, we save a lot more on the other hand. Our cows are healthy throughout their long lives. Healthy cows, healthy milk, happy life.
2. Nature is clear on many many things. One of the most fundamental truths of nature is the care and feeding of the baby by the mother. THEIR mother. For a minimum of 8 weeks. What you will find, if you create the situation as we have where this works – incredible satisfaction and peace with your world. We don’t worry about calves here, ever. That’s what their moms do, and perfectly, every time. And moms get this. Our moms.
3. Fertility is king. This coop’s farms have the best crops in the neighborhood. We might be the ‘weirdest’ which is to say not understood – but we are not organic by neglect. We are organic by design.
4. Everything about us will represent the organic ideal. Our "brand" is everything about us, which means we conduct ourselves in certain ways….for example…
– we plant trees.
– we give back land to nature; we do so well with our fertility and management, we need less land, and in appreciation to nature and our neighbors and the world, we create beauty for beauty’s sake; in nature, in our farms, wherever we can.
5. We give of ourselves. We are evangalists. We teach. We learn. We cooperate. We question everything.
My experience with the organic ‘culture’ – the muk-e-muks that have been ‘in power’ for 20+ years – have two notches away from the big ag in terms of tired old ‘assumed’ ideas. Time for the REAL progressives – the REAL organics – to break away and ahead of the pack.
Can your farm do what ours can?
– milk once a day "..and milk the cows"…we have the time for a LOT of diversity
– never lose a calf. never clean up after a calf. Spend nothing on the calf, other than milk. Enjoying what beautiful creatures they are is the most you have into them.
– not know what any of the usual dairy diseases are. ever.
– diversified farm; nothing’s going to take away our freedom – no one thing
– get by with the family unit plus a little help from our friends. The farm family – is POWERFUL and we need a LOT more OF THEM. I’d like to be a part of making them, as would be anyone that would join in.
– we are HAPPY, we are SATISFIED, we are making a better WORLD, and we see a great FUTURE.
Scott Trautman
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/business/27bugs.html?hp
This is an on farm creamery where the organic milk that is produced is intended to be utilized as a pasteurized product. They said it themselves that they do not sell milk from their tank…it is a pasteurized finished and packaged organic product.
Quoting from the Hartmans own words…
"I drink the milk from the creamery to test it," he says. "But I prefer milk straight from the bulk tank. It’s really delicious."
"M.O.M’s can’t sell milk straight from the bulk tank. But their goal is to get certified organic dairy products to their customers that tastes as close to the sweet, fresh taste of "straight-from-the-bulk-tank" as processing rules allow. That includes lower pasteurization temperatures, minimal agitation, no homogenization of bottled milk and careful handling of the finished product."
This is probably a problem with low temp pasteurization. Those ecoli have become heat resistant….they will endure practically anything. Raw milk can not be sold in their state.
Sorry…..vultures…no raw milk road kill here.
Mark
Sec. 7. NO LICENSE REQUIRED TO PEDDLE. Any person may sell or peddle the products of the farm or garden occupied and cultivated by him without obtaining a license therefor.
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/cco/rules/mncon/Article13.htm
True — not a true raw milk illness, but the press release from the MDOH implies that it is.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2010/ecoli052610.html
How do you call out the MDOH on misinformation? It seems that in the interest of educating people about the two raw milks that something should be done to make this press release accurate!
Regards,
Alice
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/05/e-coli-traced-to-raw-milk-from-gibbon-dairy-farm/ Read the comments.
cp
Minnesota Statutes
AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 32 DAIRY PRODUCTS
32.393 Limitation on sale.
Subdivision 1. Pasteurization. No milk, fluid milk products, goat milk, or sheep milk shall be sold, advertised, offered or exposed for sale or held in possession for sale for the purpose of human consumption in fluid form in this state unless the same has been pasteurized and cooled, as defined in section 32.391; provided, that this section shall not apply to milk, cream, skim milk, goat milk, or sheep milk occasionally secured or purchased for personal use by any consumer at the place or farm where the milk is produced.
How does a statute trump a constitutional provision? Is it because the constitution applies to you the human being and a statute applies to you the corporation, and most people don’t know they’re a corporation?
"The farm family – is POWERFUL and we need a LOT more OF THEM. I’d like to be a part of making them, as would be anyone that would join in."
The US needs at least 7 million more small farmers to become food secure. As it is right now if something horribly wrong (Like an EMP attack) happened – over 90% of the US population would starve and die because the local farming infrastructure is gone.
Something is horribly wrong when prior to the 1930’s over 70% of American’s lived on farms – today it is less than 2%.
I can go on and on , , , , but you all know the stats and stories. Check out my blog. I hope to be posting more meatier stories about farming and politics soon.
Although I am new to farming – I come from a long line of shepherds in the old country. I am the first in my family for three generations that has farmed. It seems like after the 1930’s – farmers became something of a joke in this country (we have been laughed at and disowned by relatives for our farming venture).
We would like to help you make a difference, Scott.
Kind regards,
Violet – Shepherd
http://kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
April 3, 2010
SENATORS: Disturbing Reality of Dairy Land – ABC News
Dear Senators,
I may not be a constituent from your district but your opinions and your decision making power on issues, that affect me as a Wisconsin resident, are extremely important.
The following video exemplifies why myself and other educated and concerned Wisconsin raw milk consumers believe it is our legal right to buy unpasteurized milk directly from our small farmers. We have direct knowledge & relationships with our farmer & their highest farming standards and integrity. Warning: the content of this video may be disturbing.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9670185
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9671990
Yes, it is an extreme example, but this is an unfortunate reality, happening more & more in our industrialized food chain, where consumers become detached….
BUT we are the people willing to stand up to do what is right. PLEASE take action to schedule a floor vote addressing the bill, and support legal sale of Raw Milk at the farm, before the legislative sessions end this month.
http://food.change.org/blog/view/organic_valley_bans_farmers_from_selling_raw_milk_on_the_side
http://www.facebook.com/FRESHthemovie
In our cooperative, decisions are not made in a top-down fashioninstead farmer committees are formed to address topics ranging from animal husbandry practices to pasturing requirements to off-farm milk sales. In the case of our farmers selling raw milk, it was very difficult for our farmer committees, dairy farmer executive committee and farmer board to choose the path they did.
Going back to our foundation in 1988, it has always been a core principle that our farmer-owners ship all of their milk with the cooperative and work together to market their milk. Farmers are independent by nature, and we understand that some of our owners found opportunity in selling raw milk to customers who came out to their farm; and we recognize and support that this is an exciting and growing part of the local foods movement. Our cooperatives mission is to save family farming culture through organic agriculture, and we have developed a business model and brand that today sustains 1,632 farm familiessome with less 10 cows! In order to continue on this road together, we will trust in our core business model, which means that the cooperative will be the sole marketer of our dairy members milk. Albeit a tough decision, it is one that our farmer leaders believe will protect the long-term sustainability of our cooperative.
For more background, please visit http://ov.coop/2g9. You can also reach us at 1-888-444-MILK.
It is a true shame that you are railroading your coop farmers into selling only to you. By making this decision you have lost all of my ancillary business. I used to purchase about 2-3 packages of "raw" cheese from you per week, along with other products like sour cream, cream cheese and the occasional cottage cheese. By forcing the hands of the farmers that I hold dear, I cannot in good conscience do business with you any longer. I’m voting "NO to Organic Valley’s Bullying" with my dollars, and I am encouraging everyone I know (and everyone I don’t know) to do the same and cease business with you.
Alice Riccabona
VA
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