10 Questions You Need to Ask When Choosing a Raw Milk Farmer
Six S Dairy’s answers:
How often does your farm test the milk for bacteria and pathogens?
Here at Six S Dairy, we test our milk on-farm daily for Coliform Count (CC) and Standard Plate Count (SPC).
Our 2019 average was less than 1 CC per ml of milk (0.18 to be exact) and SPC was 102 per ml of milk.
*The standard raw milk farmers strive for is: 10 coliforms per ml of raw milk or less and standard plate counts less than 5,000 per ml of raw milk.
2. How often does your farm test your dairy cows for Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, and Johnes?
We have our cows tested annually for Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, and Johnes.
3. Do you vaccinate your cows?
We do not vaccinate our cows.
4. Do you feed grain or silage to your lactating dairy cows?
We do not feed grain or silage. Our cows are 100% grass/forage fed.
5. Do you use antibiotics on your dairy cows?
We do not believe in the routine or causal use of antibiotics, we will, however, use antibiotics under our veterinarian’s guidance when an animal’s life is at stake.
In the past 11 years, we have only had 1 case where we had to give one of our dairy cows antibiotics. She had had a difficult delivery that required assistance and developed a uterine infection.
If we have to use antibiotics we withhold milk for double the recommended withhold time.
We will often boost our cow’s immune system with essential oils, herbs, and plants during times of stress (the start of lactation, the end of lactation) and anytime they show any ailments we start these natural treatments right away.
6. Do you deworm your dairy animals? How often/what is your protocol?
We rotationally graze and do not routinely deworm our dairy cows. We periodically will test fecal samples to check parasite load, or if an animal is looking suspect, we will test a fecal sample. We have not had to deworm in many years. If we were to need to, we would use natural methods, testing after treatments to be sure the problem was taken care of.
7. What is your sanitation procedure?
To check out our process from start to finish just check out this link:
https://mailchi.mp/603a12ff0d56/what-really-goes-into-milking-everyday-2685571
8. If I purchase a herd share from your farm, will I be locked into a contract?
There is never any long term commitment when you purchase a herd share at Six S Dairy. We will buy your share back from you at any time, for any reason. Should you ever decide you’d like to stop getting milk (even if it’s the week after you start) we will purchase your share back from you and refund you your initial buy-in cost.
9. Do you bottle in plastic or glass?
We bottle our milk in glass half-gallon mason jars and cap with plastic leak-proof lids. We supply the jars with your first milk pick up and ask that you return them clean and dry with the lids off the following week when you come to pick up your next milk. We then sanitize the jars and allow them to dry completely inside and out before refilling with milk.
10. Can I come to visit your farm?
Absolutely! Please just give us a call or shoot us a text or email, we’d love to set up a time to meet with you. We’ll show you around, answer any questions you might have, we’ll even share a glass of milk if you’d like!
Six S Dairy Herd Share Owners are saying:
“Everything is very clean and organized.”
“The freshness of the milk and the knowledge of your vigilance in testing and milk care makes me feel great giving it to my kiddos.”
“We are completely happy with our herd share, coming from 4 other places in the last 7 years you guys are by far the best! ”