Q: DO YOU SELL RAW MILK IN STORES?
A: In Massachusetts, we are only allowed to sell milk at the farm. There is legislation pending to permit deliver in MA. Several states do permit raw milk to be sold in stores.
Q. WHY DOES THE MILK TASTE DIFFERENT IN THE WINTER VERSUS THE SUMMER?
Q: DO YOU USE BST, OR ANTIBIOTICS?
A: No BST or antibiotics are used in the milking herd.
Q: WHAT ARE PROBIOTICS?
A: Probiotics are "good bacteria" that are found in unprocessed foods, in raw milk and some yogurts. Keeping a healthy balance of these good bacteria can aid in digestion, help with digestive disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, and assist a healthy immune system in fighting "bad bacteria." When antibiotics are necessary, probiotics help to replace the good bacteria, destroyed by antibiotics along with the bad.
Q: DO YOU SELL RAW CREAM, BUTTER OR YOGURT?
A: A change in feed is one reason. In late November, our cows come off green grass, and eat mostly dried hay until March or April when they go back to pasture.
Another is how much milk they are making. The percent of butterfat, volume and protein change depending upon where the cow is in her lactation cycle, when she gave birth and how many times per day she is milked. We time our breeding so that most of our calves are born between March & May. This way we are producing lots of milk when we have lots of green grass and only need to milk once per day in the winter. It is the most economically sustainable way to graze dairy cows.
Q: I AM LACTOSE INTOLERANT OR ALLERGIC TO PASTEURIZED MILK. CAN I DRINK RAW MILK?
A: Raw milk contains the enzyme lactase, which assists in the digestion of lactose. Many people who have previously thought they were allergic to milk or lactose intolerant; can drink raw milk, because the enzyme lactase has not been destroyed by pasteurization.
A: We are not permitted, by law, to sell raw cream, butter or yogurt. If we separate the milk in any way that would be "processing" the milk and in order to sell "processed" dairy products one must pasteurize it or age it for at least 60 days. As we do with our cheese.
We sell yogurt from Side Hill Farm in our farm shop. Butter is made by saving a few days worth of cream and processing it in a blender with ice or a butter churn. Try New England Cheesemaking for cultures and recipes.
Q: WHAT KIND OF COWS DO YOU HAVE & ARE THEY A2 TESTED?
Q: HOW DO I KNOW THE RAW MILK IS SAFE TO DRINK?
A: Excellent milk quality starts with healthy, clean, comfortable grass fed cows!
We have very low stress cows which helps keep them healthy. No cows with any hint of health concerns are included in our raw milk bottling. The cows' teats are double washed and prepped for milking. Our bottling practices ensure that the milk is clean, safe and exceeds the random, raw milk testing done monthly by the State of MA. We also do our own testing. Bottled milk is dated, by law, 5 days after bottled and stored in our farm stand refrigerator.
A: We have a mixed herd of Normande, Jersey & Holstein cows. We do not test for A1/A2 as it is too expensive and the answer would be a predominance of A2 milk given our mix of cows. Although it is an interesting theory, there is little evidence that A1 milk causes health problems.
Please find some additional documentation here.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Please do not hesitate to contact us with additional questions.