Post by brigitte on Nov 29, 2015 7:54:21 GMT -5
This comes from a recent post by David Gumpert.
My thought would be that cows as ruminents are designed for grass. I suppose some of this is debatable in moderation. I'd turn it down if offered though. I've heard some farmers happy to have it.
also of recent interest to raw dairy drinkers is the possible return of “swill milk.” This is the stuff of sick cows in the middle and late 1800s—the nutritionally-deficient leftovers from fermented grains used to make gin and whiskey and beer.
Amazingly, the use of distillery leftovers to feed cows is making a comeback, as an offshoot of the microbrewery revolution. Proponents say the leftovers from microbreweries tend to be nutritious supplements for farm animals of all types, including dairy cows. This from one recent article:
“To be clear, the issue (in the 1800s) was not the use of spent grains as feed, but rather the mode and method of feeding. Spent grains represent a cheap, nutritious, and otherwise sustainable way to feed animals. Breweries today do not feed cows directly from their stills, nor do they confine dairy herds to tiny stalls with no exercise.”
It isn’t especially surprising to see it used to feed cows producing conventional milk; after all, such cows are generally fed grain-based diets.
But now it’s being debated as a realistic feeding option for cows used to produce raw milk, which typically are fed primarily or exclusively pasture-based diets. Here are some excerpts from one email discussion among dairy farmer members of the Raw Milk Institute (I have been asked to leave the farmers’ names out).
Farmer 1: “A raw milk consumer shared with me that during a recent beer tasting event, the brewery bragged about ‘how sustainable they were’ by saying that ‘all of their spent distillers mash was delivered to a local micro dairy’ that was also a cow share and made great raw milk!….This does not mean that cows milk when it comes from distillers’ mash fed cows is bad…but the risk for pathogens in the common environment is questionable.”
Farmer 2: “We are getting spent barley grains from a local brewery, and giving them to our pigs and chickens–this REALLY cuts down on our grain bills. Giving a little also to the cows, who love it! It’s something we could stop if persuaded that it is not a good idea. But so far have not seen any health problems. I had a friend who was a bootlegger in the 1940s and also had cattle. He said his cattle were healthiest, sleek and fat, when he gave them the mash from his still.”
Is swill milk really the next big thing? I can’t say for sure from a nutritional viewpoint, but from a branding and image perspective, it is very bad news. Raw milk opponents paint bleak images of a return to those awful days of the 1800s when many thousands died. Why help feed that image?
My thought would be that cows as ruminents are designed for grass. I suppose some of this is debatable in moderation. I'd turn it down if offered though. I've heard some farmers happy to have it.
also of recent interest to raw dairy drinkers is the possible return of “swill milk.” This is the stuff of sick cows in the middle and late 1800s—the nutritionally-deficient leftovers from fermented grains used to make gin and whiskey and beer.
Amazingly, the use of distillery leftovers to feed cows is making a comeback, as an offshoot of the microbrewery revolution. Proponents say the leftovers from microbreweries tend to be nutritious supplements for farm animals of all types, including dairy cows. This from one recent article:
“To be clear, the issue (in the 1800s) was not the use of spent grains as feed, but rather the mode and method of feeding. Spent grains represent a cheap, nutritious, and otherwise sustainable way to feed animals. Breweries today do not feed cows directly from their stills, nor do they confine dairy herds to tiny stalls with no exercise.”
It isn’t especially surprising to see it used to feed cows producing conventional milk; after all, such cows are generally fed grain-based diets.
But now it’s being debated as a realistic feeding option for cows used to produce raw milk, which typically are fed primarily or exclusively pasture-based diets. Here are some excerpts from one email discussion among dairy farmer members of the Raw Milk Institute (I have been asked to leave the farmers’ names out).
Farmer 1: “A raw milk consumer shared with me that during a recent beer tasting event, the brewery bragged about ‘how sustainable they were’ by saying that ‘all of their spent distillers mash was delivered to a local micro dairy’ that was also a cow share and made great raw milk!….This does not mean that cows milk when it comes from distillers’ mash fed cows is bad…but the risk for pathogens in the common environment is questionable.”
Farmer 2: “We are getting spent barley grains from a local brewery, and giving them to our pigs and chickens–this REALLY cuts down on our grain bills. Giving a little also to the cows, who love it! It’s something we could stop if persuaded that it is not a good idea. But so far have not seen any health problems. I had a friend who was a bootlegger in the 1940s and also had cattle. He said his cattle were healthiest, sleek and fat, when he gave them the mash from his still.”
Is swill milk really the next big thing? I can’t say for sure from a nutritional viewpoint, but from a branding and image perspective, it is very bad news. Raw milk opponents paint bleak images of a return to those awful days of the 1800s when many thousands died. Why help feed that image?