Our family has been drinking raw cow and goat milk for generations, no illnesses here. The best raw milk, is raw milk that will only be sold as raw milk. Not raw milk from a farmer that will have it pastureized, because this milk is allowed to have a higher bacteria content than raw milk being sold as raw. Raw milk farmers care about their animals and their customer’s health. The last thing they want is a customer getting sick and the FDA investigation their farm.

Ask your farmer to buy and feed none GMO and none roundup ready alfalfa or feeds.

See http://www.rawmilkinstitute.org for more data and studies on raw milk safety.

Sally Fallon Morell replies: There are almost certainly pesticide residues in the feed, whether they end up in the milk is a good question. Do you not have any organic feed available?

I agree wholeheartedly. Our government lies to its people terribly. I also drink raw whole milk and love it! We buy it from an Amish farmer.

I did and experiment. I freeze some our raw grass fed milk for the dry season. I had extra when the cows come fresh. (We have herdshares and know our framer well. Pure grass fed all the way!) Anyway freeze in 1/2 gallons. Took one marked 11/22/15 out 4/28/16. I thaw all my milk in a bowl with about 2” inches of water and cover the milk jugs with a towel so that light does not destroy any vitamins. When thawed drank a glass and put in fridge. Let set for FOUR full weeks! Opened it once a week to sniff. Still at four weeks just as sweet and fresh as the day we got it off the farm and tasted delicious. Since we are full on with milk I did thaw another 1/2 and made a quick ricotta cheese. Temps of fridge and how often the door is opened will be a factor. Our fridge door is open shut a lot. And yes if does sour it will give the ricotta like cheese a nice gentle tang. To OUR health!

I have been drinking raw milk for years and have never gotten sick from it. The farmer I buy real raw milk from is an organic certified dairy farmer who has a large herd of grass-fed cows. I walk right into the milk house and pour milk into my own 1/2 gallon Mason jars right from the tank, put them in my cooler and take them home. I freeze some of the milk for later use and I drink the milk every day. I make cheese, yogurt, kefir, butter, whipped cream, coffee cream, and ice cream all from raw unpasteurized milk. All those products I just named I make with ingredients of MY choice. I use stevia in my ice cream and yogurt along with fresh fruits and organic chocolate. Go read the labels on those same products that you buy in the store and then tell me which is healthier, homemade raw or the commercial crap.
Properly handled, which anyone can learn to do, raw milk is safer than the antibiotic laden, hormone laced, vitamin depleted, commercial excuse for “milk” available in supermarkets.
The skin is the largest organ a human being has. I challenge you to take a good look at the healthy glowing skin of a long-time milk drinker and compare it to the dry dull skin of someone who only drinks commercially prepared “milk”.
What I think is laughably ignorant is someone who swallows hook, line and sinker, what the government says about our food system in general and about raw milk in particular.

I guess my family and I must be really sick, as we have been consuming raw milk for 4 years now. Wow..if this is what it feels like to be sick…it’s WONDERFUL! Since switching off processed milk, we have no allergies of any kind, no joint pain or stiffness, no stomach ailments, NOTHING! Kids are 10 and 12 and husband and I are 49 and 44. Kids have beautiful straight teeth and require no braces and have no cavities! We will never stop drinking our 3 gallons per week of raw milk and lots of raw butter.

Pasteurization is no guarantee of milk safety; there have been large foodborne illness outbreaks attributed to pasteurized milk over the years. See Reported Outbreaks of Foodborne Illness vs. No Illness for Raw Milk (as well as many other articles on this site that go into much greater detail, see under Key Documents).

That said, per CDC data, all dairy, raw or pasteurized, is a lower risk for foodborne illness than many other foods such as produce and deli meats.

Properly produced raw milk is safer to consume than most other foods. But there are no guarantees–there are never any guarantees that a given food–any food (including pasteurized milk)–won’t make you sick. Anyone who suggests otherwise is either ignorant or lying. 😉