After Obama’s “bad spilled milk joke,” which provoked groaned utterances and a few chuckles, I started thinking about milk. Milk was on my mind. Milk does my body good, or did when I drank it, or did it? Milk. Milk. Milky white milk. Did people at one time, you know, that time during which many of our hackneyed, clichéd, and otherwise overused-to-the-point-of-lost-meaning phrases were created, really cry because they spilled a glass of milk? Were the tears for Bessie’s moo juice produced out in yonder bucolic meadow—the place we (former or ashamed) mainstreamers can at times barely imagine? Gasp, milk doesn’t come from the dairy section of the national chain grocer, from the gloved hand behind the refrigerated racks next to the “free range” eggs?

Better question: why do so many of our shareholders also elect a milk share—be it skim, 2%, or whole? Our milk, like the $10,000 efforts of said Dairy farmers to contain spillage two score years ago, is worth crying over. Har. Har. Har. Seriously though seriously, the milk used for our milk shares is amazing, local, and certified organic. The dairy, Natural by Nature, is family-owned in nearby (just over an hour’s drive) West Grove, Pennsylvania.

First, where do other milks come from—the milks next to the “free range” eggs at my local, national, multinational conglomerate grocery chain store with clothes, shoes, music, garden (Round Up), automotive, and disappointing art/crafts sections come from? Conventional dairy farms and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). These types of places look very different to us and feel very different to the cows than Natural by Nature. The goals of these farms and factories, respectively, are many times to increase milk production while decreasing herd size. Conventional dairy cows have significantly shorter life spans of about three to four years due to the stress of lactating constantly as well as disease and other ailments like lameness and mastitis. Cows on factory farms give birth once a year after artificial insemination, and two to three months after calving, she is once again bred to continue her lactation.

After reading and reading and feeling repulsed, I wanted to know more about the milk we offer. Some shareholders have ordered up to six milk shares per season. That’s three gallons of milk per week, or in other words, a lot for a vegan mind to wrap around. Natural by Nature does just that: follows nature’s lead on managing the dairy herd.

Ned MacArthur had enough of the low—frustratingly so—milk prices and absence of a systemic way to sell organic milk. So he quit. For one year. By 1994, Ned and his father, Norman, started Natural Dairy Products Corporation (NDPC) which then started producing a line of milk and dairy products another year later called Natural by Nature.

Despite the four digestive compartments within their stomach region, which may seem to nod at a digestive system capable of digesting pretty much everything and the kitchen sink, Natural by Nature asserts, “Cows are meant to eat grass, not grain.” So cows eat grass, not grain. Is that why the happy cows on television commercials are always in a green meadow? Confirmation: “Pastured cows are healthier and less stressed. We strive to make fresh pasture the main diet for our cows.”

Of course, “Being grass fed is ideal. When the grass is lush and plentiful there is often no grain fed. In its best form, grass gives the cow her caloric and mineral needs. Periods of saturation or drought can compromise the feed value of the grass and necessitate the feeding for extra protein (alfalfa or clover hay) and energy (grain & haylage).”   Mind you, today’s high is 21 degrees. Farenheit. Thus, the drastic temperatures during the winter season pose a feeding challenge: “Most of our dairy herds are fed grain in the winter.” The dairy estimates that only about 10-15% of their herd’s dry matter intake (DMI) comes from winter grain rations to supplement the nutrient deficient created by winter pastures.

According to the USDA’s dairy animal organic certification standards, a minimum of 30% of a milking cow’s DMI must come from pasture turnout. Aside from hay, pasture, and supplemental grain, dairy cows at Natural by Nature are also fed haylage during the winter to feed their energy needs. Haylage is simply first-cutting hay that’s been fermented to increase its sugar content to provide energy.

Because we, humans and bovine friends alike, are what we eat, incorporating grass-fed dairy products—if you eat animal products, that is—into your diet means you’ll also be incorporating Beta Carotene, Vitamins A and E, and Conjugated Linoleic Acid into your diet as well. These nutrients are all naturally occurring in grass at higher levels than say the processed grain in the diets of dairy cows at conventional farms or worse yet, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

In addition to Natural by Nature’s commendable commitment to herd and human health and welfare, we are also proud to partner with them as friends of the environment always looking for ways to sustain best green practices. We don’t want to simply go green, we want to be, stay, live, and embody green.

Natural by Nature makes us proud when they report:

·       

     Our Avondale facility electricity is 100% wind power.  

·       We do as much as we can to help support our local organic farmers.

·       We recycle as much as possible. 

·       We are careful to run our truck routes as efficiently as possible. 

·       We’ve done away with the plastic bags in our retail store all together.  Our customers bring in their own and we recycle our used cardboard boxes by offering them to those who have forgotten to bring a bag.

·       We also have reusable cloth bags for purchase in our store. 

Natural by Nature’s mission,

"To promote and support organic farming and the sustainable use of our natural resources. To produce foods that benefit consumers and farmers alike. To use the principles of grass based dairy production as a means to improve the quality of our products, maximize the health of our cows and protect our watersheds. To make a living for our families based on these strongly held principles."

is an honorable one and strongly upheld in both theory and practice. Cows are grazers and should do so. Milk is touted as good for us and should be. Natural by Nature makes these things happen. 
Don’t feel ashamed when you cry if you spill this milk. It’s worth it. 
Photo Credit: Natural by Nature website