Organic Pastures Dairy and the safety of raw milk

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FROM CALIFORNIA

Simple, complex and raw: the amazing success

of Organic Pastures Dairy

Third generation Fresno dairyman Mark McAfee has

designed a " pro-cow "

environment that leads to pathogen-free raw milk.

 

By Lisa M. Hamilton

 

January 17, 2003: Something about this creamery is not

quite right.

It's not the smell, in fact there's no odor to speak

of. The

air is

good and cool, the lighting bright, all surfaces

clean—that's

all

right. It's just so… empty. As owner Mark McAfee

guides me

into the

first room, I wonder if there is machinery built into

the walls or

behind a green curtain like in Oz. This is, after all,

the processing

facility behind perhaps the most revolutionary dairy

in the United

States, yet there's no technology—just a butter churn

that

looks like

a solid chrome bingo cage and a bottling machine that

could fit in the

back of my pick-up.

 

When I say this politely, Mark's delighted smile tells

me

I've hit on

the very essence of his operation. He puts it plainly:

" When you

don't

screw with Mother Nature, things stay simple. "

 

Organic Pastures Dairy is an unassuming cluster of

buildings in

Kerman, California; a CCOF-certified organic blip on

the Fresno County

radar. The creamery is built from two reefer vans

outfitted with just

basics—sinks, counters, water, and uncomplicated

machines. The

only

decoration is a picture window that frames the

bordering pastures. The

milk and all its incarnations are raw, so there's no

pasteurization,

just a quick chill and filter then bottle and cap.

 

And that's the secret of Mark's operation, which is

one of

only a few

California dairies that are growing instead of closing

doors. By

keeping his technology simple, he allows natural

complexity to

flourish. The milk is a perfect metaphor: by keeping

it raw, Mark

encourages the beneficial bacteria that keep pathogens

in check. Each

batch of milk is tested for bad guys like salmonella

and E. coli, and

not once have they been found. He has even had

researchers introduce

such bacteria to test samples, and the pathogens have

been unable to

reproduce. In conventional milk they would be the

dominant organisms

and proliferate, but in the varied ecosystem within

Mark's milk,

the

competition stifles them.

 

It makes sense that Mark would run his dairy on the

principle of

simple complexity, for he follows the same path as a

person. A

third-generation Fresno dairyman, he is direct and

intense, his

business run in perfect order. And this lays the

ground for his ideas

to take off, which they do, as he talks with

breathless enthusiasm to

anyone in earshot about everything from natural hoof

disease

prevention and raw cheese recipes to nutrition-based

cures for autism.

 

His face is bright and honest like a Corn Belt

football coach, yet his

mind is intergalactic.

 

Because of the latter, he was able to recognize that a

raw milk

creamery can't grow from a conventional format, that

it needs

instead

to be part of a larger web as complex as itself. As we

walk the few

feet from creamery to pasture, Mark explains the steps

outward from

the milk: a healthy balance of bacteria comes from a

healthy cow; a

healthy cow comes from a healthy farm. And so Mark has

designed what

he calls a " pro-cow environment. "

 

To begin with, his herd rotates through pasture but

never leaves it,

not even for twice-daily milking. Instead, the McAfee

Pasture Parlor

goes to them, towed by a tractor. From afar the mobile

barn looks like

a carnival ride, a white steel box with ramp leading

up and along its

side to gated milking slots then back down into the

grass. The floors

are grated steel or padded with rubber, so the cows'

joints get

minimal shock. It accommodates 20 animals at once and

milks them in 10

minutes, during which time the human on duty notes

milking durations

and udder health, identifying the cows on paper by the

number from

their right ear tag and the name—Gloria, Gladys,

Golda—from

their

left. As cows dry up at the end of their cycle, they

are put out of

rotation for 50 days. As they dry up for good, they

are put out to

pasture, but never slaughtered.

 

While most dairies consider this kind of personal

approach

uneconomical, for Mark it has tangible rewards. The

cows experience

fewer health issues, as evidenced by the farm's cull

rate of only

9

percent (conventional dairies hover around 30 to 40

percent).

That's

partially because the animals are less stressed. As we

walk through

the fields, not one runs. Instead, one incredibly

pregnant Jersey

waddles in our direction, takes a few good sniffs,

then meets my

camera with her tongue.

 

" There are even bulls in here, " Mark says proudly. In

fact,

there's

one a stone's throw away, lounging like Julius Caesar

amidst his

harem. Apparently they are so, well, satisfied (the

ratio is 40:1)

there's no call for aggression. The dairy keeps only

young bulls,

so

the cows don't incur back trouble, but other than that

breeding is

uninterrupted by humans.

 

" Production breeding is geared toward making a cow

that eats more

and

makes more milk, " Mark says. " No one pays attention to

making

a

healthy cow with strong joints and good hooves. Most

dairy cows never

even see a bull, and end up so inbred they don't last

more than

three

years. " But here, Jerseys, Ayrshires, and Holsteins

cross genes,

each

lending their better characteristics and canceling out

the lesser

traits of the others. It will take years for the breed

to be markedly

improved, but the simple strategy sets the groundwork.

 

Solidly challenging the skeptics

 

Lauding this return to natural systems can be

dangerous in places like

Fresno, where convention is so skeptical of the

" green "

approach. Yet

who can argue with the fact that Organic Pastures just

doesn't

have

the classic dairy woes?

 

Take manure: Organic Pastures has no expensive,

hazardous lagoon for

dealing with waste because it has almost no waste to

deal with. With a

barn that moves weekly, there is no concrete floor

where manure builds

up, no permanently muddy patch that must be sluiced

off. And because

the cows aren't lying in their own manure as in

confinement

operations, they don't need to be washed before

milking. (In fact,

Mark believes that this only transports bacteria from

the rest of the

cow down the udder and into the milk.) The total

wastewater for the

herd of 350 is under 700 gallons per day, all of which

channels back

through the irrigation lines onto the fields.

 

Further, the barn's mobility means the land that would

otherwise

be

paved over can remain in pasture, some of which grows

alfalfa for the

herd. And the cows' mobility means their manure goes

back into the

soil, negating the need for applied fertilizer.

 

Success off the beaten path – beyond organic

 

Of course, the best proof of the system's success is

the bottom

line.

Organic Pastures' products are now sold in 231 stores

in

California,

and the product line is about to expand to include raw

Colby and Jack

cheeses. Mark attributes the success to leaving the

well-beaten

industry path and starting a dialogue with consumers.

 

Before last year, the dairy was a faceless member of

the Organic

Valley cooperative. But the innovations (especially

the mobile milking

parlor) drew press and then customers out to the farm,

where Mark was

always available for a tour. (He has had 4,300 people

to the farm over

the past two years.) As a result, consumers asked to

buy his milk

specifically. After enough had asked, in January,

2002, he went

independent and started the Organic Pastures brand,

which remains

solely the product of his herd.

 

The dairy's production per cow is far lower than

average—about 40

pounds a day (50 max.), compared to nearly 100 at a

big commercial

operation that uses antibiotics and high-protein feed.

Those seemingly

sour economics are compounded by expensive choices

such as keeping dry

cows rather than slaughtering them and buying

supplementary alfalfa

that's organic. But here's the trick: because Organic

Pastures is

responding to specific demand rather than pouring

product into an

overflowing marketplace, it gets a worthwhile return.

 

Mark's is the only business in the country offering

raw, organic

cow's

milk, and people are willing to pay for it. What's

more, they

even do

his marketing for him—rather than solicit stores

himself, Mark

relies

on visitors to his web site to ask their local markets

to carry his

product.

 

So while the average dairyman gets $9-11 per

hundredweight for his

milk, and the average organic dairyman $15-20, Organic

Pastures gets

what works out to $55-60. That's $1.50 a quart (up to

$2.50 for

the 20

percent they deliver themselves), compared to

conventional's

$1.03 a

gallon when it leaves the farm.

 

People-centered marketing

 

People are willing to pay more because Mark has proven

that his

product is different, and better. " Normally the farmer

is just on

the

farm, " he says. " But with this kind of business, you

have no

choice

but to be out there educating and getting involved in

the

marketplace. " He spreads the gospel at trade shows, in

radio

interviews and letters to editors, on his delivery

routes, and on the

constant tours he gives when at the farm. This

mobility is possible

because of a web of committed employees, and one in

particular: his

son, Aaron.

 

At the far side of the mobile milking parlor, we

encounter the

19-year-old redhead on his way to deliver hay to the

herd. Aaron is

tall, his body just on the verge of becoming a

powerful machine.

Dressed in denim, plaid, and a rigid white cowboy hat,

he looks far

more like a farmer than his father.

 

Mark tries not to embarrass the boy with

introductions, but still lets

slip that Aaron gets all A's at Fresno State, that he

sets the

curve

in calculus class. Dad beams while reporting that his

son has done all

the jobs on the farm—from marketing at dozens of Whole

Foods

stores to

milking the herd solo. Aaron toes the ground with

sincere humility,

politely waiting out the pleasantries so he can get

back to the field.

 

When released, he walks briskly to the nearby tractor

and starts it

up. One breath and Mark picks a new subject—growing

alfalfa, I

believe—and revs back up to a-mile-a-minute.

 

As we return to the creamery, I glance west and see

the promise of

this dairy: with the sun setting through a thin

Central Valley haze,

Aaron is already in the middle of the pasture, pulling

a trailer of

alfalfa to the herd. A few impatient cows run just

behind, biting off

a mouthful of hay whenever a bump slows the tractor,

and Aaron laughs

at them.

 

It's a simple moment, sure, but the very thing that

builds a

complex

future.

 

Lisa Hamilton is a freelance ag writer from Mill

Valley, CA.

 

THE SAFETY OF RAW MILK

 

This is the letter Mark McAfee wrote to the Colorado

Department of

Health last year to convince them not to shut down the

overwhelmingly

popular cow-share program run by Guidestone Farm. By a

vote of 5 to 3,

they decided to keep it running. However, the sale of

raw milk still

is illegal in Colorado.

 

Mark came to San Diego last year and gave a talk at a

local public

library. He said that the FDA is constantly hassling

him; he thinks

it's because they can't believe the tests showing that

there are never

pathogens in his milk or in the manure at his farm

(typical dairies

have pathogens detected about 30% of the time). In

fact, when 10

million counts of salmonella pathogens were added to

his raw milk,

they could not be found 24 hours later, as the good

bacteria

out-competes and destroys them.

 

http://www.myfamilytable.com/public/98.cfm

 

Mark McAfee

 

I have been requested to share with you our commercial

organic raw

milk production and sales experience. For the last

four years, Organic

Pastures Dairy has produced a full line of raw organic

dairy products

for retail sale ( 300 stores including Wholefoods) and

consumption

here in California. The state of California (CDFA)

monitors and tests

all of our raw dairy products multiple times per

month. The state has

never found one pathogen (salmonella, E. coli O157:H7

or listeria) in

any of our products. Even more interesting is the fact

that not one

human pathogen has ever been found in the hundreds of

environmental

swabs that have been taken in our plant facility.

 

Dr. Caterina Berge, DVM and PhD candidate at UC Davis,

tested our milk

cows' fresh manure and did not find any human

pathogens.

That's right. . . no Salmonella. She was able to show

that when

antibiotics are not ever used on the herd (as

stipulated in the

organic standards) and when cows are not stressed

(grass-fed and kept

healthy) they simply do not slough off pathogens in

their manure. The

data collected at

Organic Pastures was quite different from that found

at other dairies.

The typical conventional milk tank had either

salmonella or E. coli

O157:H7 detected about 30 percent of the time. In

comparison, Organic

Pastures has never had one pathogen—ever.

 

To study this issue further, Organic Pastures

contracted with BSK labs

in Fresno to perform multiple challenge and recovery

tests on our raw

milk and raw colostrum. When 7 logs (10 million

counts) of pathogens

were added to one-milliliter samples of organic raw

milk they would

not grow. In fact they died off. The salmonella was so

badly

out-competed that it could not be found less than 24

hours later. The

listeria drop was less dramatic and was similiar to

the E. Coli

O157:H7 samples that were studied, but they also did

not grow and

declined substantially over time.

 

The lab concluded: " . . . organic raw milk and

colostrum do not

appear

to support the growth of pathogens. . . "

 

During the period 2000 through 2004 there were several

listeria-related food recalls in California associated

with

pasteurized milk products and ice cream. During this

same period more

than 12 million servings of Organic Pastures products

were consumed

and not one person complained of illness and not one

pathogen was ever

found either by the state, FDA or Organic Pastures.

 

This begs the bigger question. What is it that causes

raw milk to kill

pathogens? Just in the last 24 months, the FDA has

approved

lactoferrin as an approved method of treatment for

pathogen reduction

in beef slaughter plants. Raw milk naturally has

levels of this

enzyme-based pathogen killer. Pasteurization

inactivates this and

other enzymes that kill pathogens. These enzymes

include lactoferrin,

xanthine oxidase, lactoperoxidase, lysozyme and nisin.

There are other

interrelated enzymes and beneficial bacteria that also

act on the

pathogens to inhibit their growth. All of these

systems are destroyed

by pasteurization. It is no wonder that dairy plants

that pasteurize

must be kept absolutely spotless. There are no

remaining safety

systems in the processed milk.

 

I will be presenting my experiences and the factual

references that I

have mentioned here during my verbal address in

Colorado on May 19th.

 

Our company ships product all over the world. We have

been inspected

by the FDA and the FDA has also never found a

pathogen. It may seem

strange to say or claim this, but Mother Nature is

right, her blue

print is right on point. It is mankind that has added

variables that

cause much of the concern for pathogens in our current

market systems.

Our consumers are made ill by pasteurized milk

products and the

additives and processing methods. Our consumers share

their

testimonials with us every day. Asthma, allergies,

arthritis,

immune-related disorders, autism, ADD, Crohn's

disease, rare

enzyme

deficiencies. . . the list goes on and on. In each of

these cases raw

milk or raw dairy products makes a dramatic

improvement in health.

There have been cases when patients have been written

off by modern

medicine only to return to perfect health after

drinking raw

colostrums and raw dairy products.

 

Please see www.makersdiet.com for a story of one

person's recovery

from near death using raw dairy.

 

It is imperative that the citizens of our nation, not

just California,

have an informed choice in foods. If raw milk was so

horrible then why

is it that raw milk has such an incredibly safe record

here in

California and in Colorado? I would argue that since

we have been in

business there have been many listeria recalls and

food outbreaks with

pasteurized milk. . . but none with organic raw milk.

 

As an American we can buy raw eggs, raw meat, raw

fresh juices, so why

not raw dairy products? Show us one case of disease

related to natural

raw dairy products in Colorado or California. They are

very hard to

find. They are nearly all related to pasteurizer

failure not raw dairy

products intended for consumption.

 

The dairy industry does not understand what I have

explained here in

detail. What the dairy industry believes is that raw

milk contaminates

pasteurized milk. This is not the case. Pasteurized

milk kills the

safety systems that control pathogens in raw milk and

therefore permit

unlimited growth of dangerous bacteria if present.

 

Our products have what Mother Nature intended, a

diversity of good

bacteria and a wide range of essential enzymes

including lactase for

lactose digestion and phosphatase that is essential

for the

utilization of calcium.

 

One reason raw milk is so much easier to digest

compared to

pasteurized milk is due to the presence of lactase,

the enzyme that

breaks down milk sugar and which many humans are

unable to produce.

The experts I have spoken with deny the presence of

lactase in raw

milk; however, it is the friendly bacteria in raw milk

that facilitate

the creation of lactase in the intestine where it is

needed. That is

why lactose-intolerant people can drink raw milk

without a problem.

Pasteurization kills these friendly bacteria.

 

Please call 1-877-Raw Milk and I would be happy to

discuss these

experiences and the hard data that backs them up. Feel

free to call

Organic Pastures and ask for the lab tests results.

You will find zero

pathogens detected at any time from any test.

 

I look forward to your questions. I am dedicated to

sharing

information, education and the building of

understanding

relationships. In fact we place our most sensitive

bacteria data at

our website for all the world to see at

www.organicpastures.com.

 

I have a medical background having served as a

certified paramedic and

medical educator for the Fresno County Health

Department for 16 years

and having run more than 14,000 911 calls.

 

I am the only creamery operator in North America to

produce the

products at issue and believe my experience and tests

are absolutely

on point.

 

Most kind regards,

 

Mark McAfee

Founder, Organic Pastures