The Raw Truth: Common Sense about Raw Milk from a Raw Milk Dairy Farmer

Before I talk about how my family and community benefits from raw milk, let me first say that what we do and what you do may be two different things. Ultimately, it is you who must make all the health and dietary choices for you and your family.

Our Background

My family and I are Mennonites, similar to the Amish in some ways. Our communities have historically been farmers, and predominantly dairy farmers. Almost everyone in our local congregation of more than 200 people has grown up drinking raw milk. Mothers drink it every day, even when they are pregnant. My mother did, and both my grandmothers did, too. My wife drank it during all six of her pregnancies. She breastfed all the children, but I’m sure that somewhere in the first six months or so they were drinking a little raw cow’s milk, too…and when they were weaned at 12 to 15 months, they went straight to raw cow’s milk.

Our family is very typical among our community, and the practice in our churches is still that way today. The number of dairy farmers is growing smaller with the years, but almost everyone still gets his raw milk from a dad or brother or uncle or even a neighbor. Our congregation is only one of about a thousand that are connected across the nation. Everywhere you go, the pattern is repeated. I even have a sister in Guatemala, and sure enough, they buy their milk raw from the dairy farmer/minister of their congregation.

What I’m driving at is that, in spite of all the hype from the medical field, in my 40 years I have never heard of even one problem with a pregnancy, or any other illness among our people, that was from the raw milk. Is that scientific? No. Does anecdotal testimony prove anything? No. But I think you can see how we do not fear it at all.