"You can't look at cutting your kids back on milk, what are you going to give them, soda?"

[WePurrsevere]

Milk prices are expected to increase 9% over the next few months.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4674441.html

Dairy economists predict the retail price of milk could rise as much as 30 cents per gallon _ a 9 percent jump _ by fall. The reasons include rising fuel and feed costs for farmers and increasing demand for milk products around the globe.

The average retail price of whole milk could rise to $3.35 per gallon by October, up from $3.07 in January, said Ken Bailey, an agricultural economist at Penn State University who specializes in the dairy industry.
<snip>
Costs have surged for fuel and petroleum-based products and for the corn used to feed dairy cows, a side effect of increases in the production of ethanol.

Bower said he now pays about $180 a ton to feed his 500 dairy cows, up from $115 a ton a year ago, an increase of more than 50 percent.:wow:

Farmers seek more milk money: Dairy farmers seek increase in government price
(Although this is a "local" to NE story when I did a Google search it was easy to see it's a problem all over the country and many, especially small farms, are closing.)
http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_073095615

<snip>
Bay State dairy farmers are calling for an emergency hearing with state officials to allow them to boost the cost of milk. They say without the increase, the already endangered dairy farming industry may soon become extinct.

The state's Department of Agriculture sets the price farmers can charge for milk to keep it affordable for consumers. That price is now $1.11 per gallon - just 2 cents higher than the price was in 1996. Meanwhile, farmers' costs such as property taxes, fuel and just about everything else are skyrocketing, they say.

While farmers can't charge more than $1.11 per gallon, grocery stores can charge whatever they want. The average cost of a gallon of milk today is $3.69, said Douglas DiMento, spokesman for Methuen-based Agri-Mark, the largest dairy farmer cooperative serving New England.
<snip>
Since 1982, Massachusetts has lost 625 dairy farms. There are now 187 in the state and only a handful remain in Essex County. Locally, a dairy farm in Newbury, Sunshine Farm, went out of business Monday, according to Agri-Mark. That farmer declined to comment.

Prices are increasing like crazy on things that we need to have (food, heat, electgric, etc) and yet there's no inflalation and our economy is booming? Yeah right... maybe the politicians and big $$ mucky mucks should try living on a small farmers income, minimum wage or social security... let's see how they manager with no other income (and no $$ backup) for even 1 year. x(

[Squatch]

1. I'm already paying $4.25 a gallon for milk

here in Northern VA. But, then again, it's from a local organic dairy farm.

[LiberalFighter]

2. I pay anywhere from 1.78 to 2.50

[newburgh]

3. Yeah, let's subsidize the dairy industry more for the childrens...

so their parents can better afford to pay to feed them all these steroids and antibiotics and puss and blood and cholesterol. A mother cow's milk is as bad, if not worse, than high fructose corn syrup or sugar. Price of milk- strawman...

[mainegreen]

4. "as bad, if not worse, than high fructose corn syrup or sugar"? Care to back that one up?

[Buzz Clik]

9. Ain't happening.

That was a hit-and-run.

[KittyWampus]

15. Here you go. From a site devoted to advancing cause of bringing back raw cow milk

as opposed to the hormone/antibiotic ridden, homogenzed toxic crap produced by factory farms that you get in the grocery now.

It's easier and healthier, for now, just to stop drinking milk or switch to organic goat milk.

Haven't personally read ANY of the following but find them potentially interesting.

........................................................

Enzyme Nutrition, Edward Howell, MD: Pioneering work on the role of food enzymes in diet and health. Reveals the dangers of diets composed entirely of cooked foods and problems posed by pasteurization of dairy products.

The Milk Book, William Campbell Douglass, MD: Excellent explanation of the dangers of pasteurization, written in a highly amusing style.

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, Sally Fallon with Pat Connolly and Mary G Enig, PhD: Full spectrum nutritional cookbook that dispels many myths about animal fats and traditional foods.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Weston A Price, DDS: The classic study of isolated populations on native diets, and the disastrous effects of processed foods and commercial farming methods on human health. Published in 1939, Dr. Price's findings have as much relevance today as they did 60 years ago. All who plan to bear children, and everyone in the practice of medicine, should read this book, which is now available in affordable soft cover.

The Untold Story of Milk, Ron Schmid, ND

Websites and online articles

On Mercola.com: The Real Reasons Why Raw Milk is Becoming More Popular http://www.mercola.com/2004/apr/24/raw_milk.htm

[Buzz Clik]

32. I'm well aware of the motivations behind organic foods.

However, your comment was not that organic milk or goat's milk was healthier than commercially produced milk. Your comment was that milk was less healthy that sugar laden soft drinks.

I'll grant you the need to get rid of antibiotics and hormones in our food, but I won't be replacing milk with soft drinks anytime soon.

[newburgh]

42. That wasn't cryingshame's comment, it was mine...

And it wasn't "hit and run"- I just don't spend my entire day online. Actually comparing the "health" benefits of soft drinks and dairy products may have been a bad example as they don't comparably impair human health. They are, however, both horrific foods to feed to developing human children. As if convenience trumps health concerns. Forget about the organic/factory and raw/pasteurized arguments, what logic concludes that a mother cow's milk, intended for developing calves- not even adult cows, is somehow something that humans should ingest? Because everyone else does? Because the government does? Because it's been done throughout human history?

This is an individual's choice and the burden to sustain that choice shouldn't be thrown on the shoulders of all taxpayers just because it's a big industry that has lobbied its way into becoming a "necessity" of life. I would suggest reading something by John Robbins, someone who's well-versed about dairy products and the dairy industry. There are many things that are bad for us, but there are some things of which it is difficult to discern their problems because most of us take such information, that has been fed to us our whole lives, for granted.

[KittyWampus]

13. the human digestive system does not tolerate cow milk well- goat milk is less problematic

and besides the allergic reactions to cow milk there are also the following issues with modern homogenized/pastuerized, factory produced cow milk:

*Hormones and antibiotics given to cows are in their milk and at even higher levels in cheese
*Homogenization changes the fat globules in milk. It causes xanthine oxidase (toxic) to be encapsulated in a liposome that can be absorbed intact.

XO is released by enzymatic action and ends up in heart and arterial tissue where it causes the destruction of a specialized protective membrane lipid called plasmalogen, causing lesions in the arteries and resulting in the development of plaque.

There have been studies linking the advent of homogenized milk in the 40's with a coincidental increase in heart disease.

If you are going to drink milk, drink raw milk. Or organic goats milk.

[GumboYaYa]

16. One solution is to get a couple of dwarf goats and have your own milk source.

Apparently they also make pretty good pets. We have been kicking the idea around for awhile.

[KittyWampus]

18. Goats can climb trees! Old boyfriend used to have dwarf goats

:)

[GumboYaYa]

21. That sounds like fun!

My kids would love waking up in the morning eyeball to eyeball witha a goat out there window.

[wicket]

28. Goats make wonderful pets

I hope you decide to do this, I love goats! :hi: Grew up on the farm, we always had them around. When I was a little kid they'd let me give them big hugs hehehe :)

[Clark2008]

40. If you live in a city, you'd better check the farm animal rule first.

My city won't allow its citizens to keep chickens, goats, pigs, etc.

[mainegreen]

19. I'll agree that hormones are awful things to put anywhere in our food chain.

Lactose tolerance is a problem for many, but for a large enough portion of the population, especially in western society, this is less of a problem.

I'm opposed to homogenization, as I'm opposed to almost all food processing. However I did not know about XO. That's interesting. Thanks.

[JoDog]

27. Unless you own the goat

Goat's milk is cost prohibitive. In my area, a pint of goat's milk costs more than a gallon of cow's milk. So we're back to the original message of this thread--how can people afford to feed themselves and their children decently in this economy?

As someone who is lactose intolerant, I should be drinking goat milk instead of cow. I could digest it much easier. But I can't afford it. And what assurances do I have that raw milk will be safe? There is a reason for pasturization.

[KittyWampus]

31. Soy milk, rice milk, Chocolate rice milk (my corporate grocer now carries them). Also, almond milk

etc. so many tasty alternatives to cow milk.

And kids should be drinking half their body weight in water, not milk.

I understand where you are coming from about price of goat milk.

IMO, Milk of any kind should be an occassional treat.

.

[MrsMatt]

33. I'd be careful advocating using raw milk

Raw milk is unpasturized and unhomogenized milk - straight from the cow.

I grew up on a small dairy farm (very old school - the cows were pasture grazed) drinking only raw milk.

I purchase organic milk from a small dairy (pasture fed cows) that is pasturized but NOT homogenized. I would never give my children unpasturized milk. My upbringing exposed me to many more germs than the normal child encounters these days - without that exposure, children a more suseptible to illness from those germs.

[KittyWampus]

35. Thanks for warning re: pasteurized, I didn't even know non-homogenized milk was available!

[MrsMatt]

36. I didn't either until a little over a year ago

I found it in the dairy case! I was familiar with the family (from my work) and because I was interested in supporting local family businesses and farms, I was happy to spend the extra money.

Here is an on-line article about this family dairy. http://www.newfarm.org/features/1004/mndairy/index.shtml

[rainy]

10. agreed. All that mucus it causes also contributes to many allergies and

prolonged congestion and sinusitis.

[gollygee]

5. How about giving them water?

Most kids drink way way too much milk.

Though I am sympathetic about the prices of groceries going up. It's getting crazy. I'm lucky that we're comfortable enough that it isn't that big of a deal for us, but I can imagine how hard it's hitting other people.

[youthere]

8. Milk is for mealtimes in our house...

If you are thirsty between meals you have the option of tea or water. Even my 7 year-old enjoys a cup of apple-cinnamon tea.

[gollygee]

12. Yeah that's a good practice

My daughter doesn't like milk - she eats cheese instead for dairy. But wow do I see kids constantly drinking milk around here - including in my extended family - and these kids who drink milk all the time seem to all have issue with extra weight. Kids I see who have water as their primary drink (or herbal tea - that fits into the water category as far as this kind of thing goes) don't seem to have the weight issues. Drinking milk or juice all the time for kids seems to be roughly the same as drinking pop all the time for adults. Way more calories than a person needs.

[youthere]

22. One of my husband's cousins live just down the road from us..

and in their family of five they go through 2 gallons of whole milk a day. The kids are all school age so it's not like they are filling bottles or anything. It's about the only thing their family ever drinks. I was shocked but the parents seem to think because its milk that its okay for the kids to consume that much. And all three of the children have weight issues (as do the parents).

[wicket]

29. To spice things up

To spice things up with the water I get the powder Crystal Light iced tea, it's a great change from straight up water, especially for kids who may get bored or tempted by soda. It's sugar free and has only got about 5 calories per serving I believe.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. My neighbor up the street put his dairy cows down five years ago.

Couldn't afford to keep them. Now he is trying to plant houses. Perhaps if the price at the farm side gets high enough he will go back to milking cows.

[hedgehog]

7. We should be subsidizing small farms, not monsterous factories!

The land use patterns of samll farmers caring for a herd with one or two helpers and feeding the animals with forge and grain grown on site is a vastly different animal than a place with 500 cows lined up in a barn!

[symbolman]

11. We need Solar Powered Cows

and let's add a tailpipe while we're at it, to collect those cow farts and bottle them to run our cars..

Lot of cows out there, crazy as it sounds :)

Man, I yearn for those days when I used to walk to the next farm and tap into a cow, fill up a quart jar, and walk home with it, by the time I got home, the upper quarter was BUTTER :)

Those were the days, when food tasted like FOOD. Everything we seem to eat anymore is synthetic, makes me sick, a world of FAKE FOOD, and only us old guys know the difference.

The Corporations have stolen our most prized possession 'COMMUNITY'. A Community can ALWAYS figure something out, but they've crippled it, so we have to Depend on THEM.

It's a SIN.

[Bill McBlueState]

14. this is bizarre

The article says New England dairy farmers get $1.11 per gallon, and the farmers want more. But milk prices in New England are ridiculous! It's usually $4 a gallon in grocery stores here. In Ohio, it's often half that.

Something's broken if grocery stores are charging four times what the farmers get.

[JoDog]

30. Same thing happened with pork

in the '90s. The amount that livestock farmers were getting per head either stayed stagnant or went down while prices in the stores went up. The money went right into the pockets of distributors and packing plants. The problem was escalated by the emergence of mega hog farms. While small farmers can simply adjust breeding to lower the number of hogs on the market with prices go down, the larger operations have such huge overhead they have to keep breeding and selling at the highest possible volume to cover expenses. And because of their high volume, they have enough livestock to sell that they can still turn a profit at low prices. Small farmers can't do that.

My grandparents were hog farmers who, by sheer luck, got out of the business shortly before the bottom fell out. It looks like this piece of agribusiness history is repeating itself in the milk and beef industries.

[newportdadde]

17. One of the hidden costs of ethanol. Corn price is through the roof right now.

My father isn't in dairy but he does raise beef cattle, corn prices are at the highest level he has seen in his lifetime. All of the corn going in to make ethanol has impacts in so many areas of our lives. Save at the pump and pay elsewhere.

[lectrobyte]

23. Our machines are competing with us for our food. I am living in a bad sci-fi novel, I never

noticed until now.

[dbonds]

20. Why do people think they need to drink cows milk?

You can't really get calcium from it. It is formulated by nature of cows to make small calves into big cows. It has all types of medicines and infection in it from the stuff the farmers give the cows. But we all drink it like it is water (well not me, I only buy it for cooking a couple times a year). I have always been fascinated with this.

[Warren Stupidity]

24. We humans have been doing so for several thousand years.

We like our dairy products and we enjoy our symbiotic relationship with cows. Try organic if you are worried by the industrial versions.

A world without cheese would be a sad world indeed.

[KittyWampus]

26. Organic cow milk is still homogenized (hence toxic) & only SOME humans have been drinking cow milk

for thousands of years.

Homogenization is a new practise introduced in the 40-50's. That process essentially renders milk as toxic to our arteries.

And American Indians, many Asians etc become ill from cow milk.

[Bridget Burke]

37. Please link to those "studies" that show homogenized milk is toxic?

I drink skim or low fat, myself.

The "national epic" of Ireland is the story of a cattle raid--my folks have been drinking milk for many years.

[The2ndWheel]

25. Because all their milk are belong to us

Seriously, we've been manipulating all life for many years now. A cow is not a cow for its own sake, it's there for us. We named it, we get to use it.

[slampoet]

34. I Grew Up next to 200 head of Dairy Cattle on Fresh unpasturized milk

Complete wholly unseparated milk. In the 1970's PCB scare all the neighborhood kids used to get milk from our neighbors rather than the store. I was a huge milk drinker. Up until 1997 I used to drink a third to half a gallon a day and that doesn't even count the cream in my coffee.

But now i've made the switch to soy milk and except for a little cream in my coffee and cheese occasionally, I'd say is painless.

[senseandsensibility]

38. Do you use soy milk on cereal?

I'm thinking of switching, but the only time I drink milk is on cereal.

[Clark2008]

39. Um, how 'bout water?

Supplement the milk with cheap juice and water. I did that for years as single parent and my kid's healthy, smart and just fine.

[4dsc]

41. It sicken's me to see children drinking soda!!

What the hell is wrong with parents these days that allow their children, encourage their children to drink sugar and caffiene loaded soda drinks?? It really pisses me off to see little children sucking down a Mountain dews or cola drinks.. That's my rant on this subject..