High levels of antibiotics and other drugs found in cattle linked to dairies
Brain Oakey, Deputy Director, Idaho State Department of Agriculture
The Boise Weekly has written another strong exposé on Idaho dairies and how the State’s regulators are utterly failing to regulate them or test their products for dangerous levels of antibiotics and other drugs.
Got Milk? Got Drugs? Got Both?: State Responds After Idaho Dairy Cattle Test Positive in Food Safety Tests | High levels of antibiotics and other drugs found in cattle linked to dairies.
By George Printice – Boise Weekly
Ken Cole
Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He is the interim Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project. We do not accept unsolicited “guest” authors or advertising.
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Another good reason to buy organic milk. Or do the Idaho dairies claim to produce “organic” milk?
You ever try raw milk? I don’t drink milk nearly as much as I used to, but I’ve found a few local dairy farmers that care for the animals pretty well and sell some pretty tasty raw milk. As a disclaimer, raw means its unpasteurized. A lot of the big producers won’t get into raw milk because of the perceived risk.
For Puget Sound area residents, Sea Breeze and Jackie’s Jersey’s are worth a try…………
Got Green Milk? Got Green Cheese?
The next time there is a couple of days of rain, take a drive on the county roads in Idaho near Filer and Twin Falls. You will see thousands of dairy cows standing in green shit up over their udders and so filthy that you can’t believe they can get cleaned up enough to milk.
The waste gathers in pools and when it warms up produces millions of flies that plague the surrounding areas.
The workers on the dairy farms all speak Espanol and live in shacks and travel trailers. The cows and the workers are both mistreated. They need lots of antibiotics just to survive in the filth.
I worked on a dairy farm with a buddy for a few months when I was a kid. The mud and waste were appalling at times. You’d look at the shit lagoons that weren’t far from streams and wonder about what would be unleashed down those waterways if one of them broke open.
FYI
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9083404572198377643
Yet another great reason to give up cow’s milk entirely. Plus, factory farmed dairy cows have terrible lives. I recently switched from soy milk to almond milk and love it. You can cook with it, too.
http://www.silkpurealmond.com/#
I have managed to wean myself off dairy products entirely except for a little organic yogurt. I drink soymilk, which is actually easy to make at home from organic soybeans, as is tofu.
Louise – an interesting read:
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/ge/