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View Full Version : Wisconsin Takes Historic Step Towards Legalizing Raw Milk




BarryDonegan
11-13-2013, 05:27 PM
http://silverunderground.com/2013/11/wisconsin-takes-historic-step-towards-legalizing-raw-milk/


Many US states and the federal government have passed laws banning or severely restricting the sale and distribution of raw milk. In fact, organic food stores and family farms have been victimized by SWAT style, guns-drawn raids, as law enforcement officers at the federal level have been handling raw milk producers in a manner typically reserved for members of a violent and organized criminal operation. Meanwhile, many US consumers have taken an interest in organic, unprocessed foods, leading to a rise in the popularity of raw milk consumption.

While the federal government continues to escalate its attacks on the fundamental civil liberties outlined in the Bill of Rights, states and localities have been on a legalization spree of late. We recently reported on a Colorado farmer’s production of America’s first hemp crop in decades, Illinois’ legalization of same-sex marriage, and Portland, Maine’s ballot initiative allowing for the recreational use of cannabis. Now, Wisconsin appears poised to expand freedom as well, as its Senate Financial Institutions and Rural Issues Committee just passed Senate Bill 236, which would allow farmers to sell raw milk to the public.

Ender
11-13-2013, 05:39 PM
AWESOME!

Keith and stuff
11-13-2013, 05:52 PM
Hilarious thread title!

It looks like it might already be legal in WI, but only with limited, incidental sales. It's sold in grocery stores where I live but it's cheaper at the farmer's market.

http://foodfreedomgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2013-raw-milk-map-ftcldf-560x353.jpg

Here is an article about the bill that's included in the above blog post. Details. http://www.jsonline.com/business/wisconsin-bill-would-legalize-raw-milk-with-caveats-b99139658z1-231516791.html

Farmers selling raw milk would have to take a sample on each day of production, freeze it, and preserve it for at least 15 days. They also would have to record the name, address and telephone number of every person who buys raw milk from them, and they would have to make the sales records available for inspection by local, state and federal government officials.

Further, if a farmer gave an antibiotic to a cow, the milk from that animal couldn't be sold until testing proved there was no drug residue.

The bill specifies that unpasteurized milk must be free of pathogens, as proven in monthly tests, and the bill sets standards for bacterial counts and somatic cell counts that are indications of a cow's health.

Furthermore, the bill says farmers must keep their animals free of bovine tuberculosis, as demonstrated in annual tests that could cost thousands of dollars.

youngbuck
11-13-2013, 05:54 PM
Good for them. The 16oz glass of grass-fed raw milk that I just downed was quite tasty!

Henry Rogue
11-13-2013, 07:00 PM
I grew up on raw milk. Just about everything we ate came directly from my families farm.

Ender
11-13-2013, 07:05 PM
We had a dairy farm close to us and bought or traded for our milk when I was growing up.

FindLiberty
11-13-2013, 07:05 PM
Baby calves thank the lawmakers... And I've tried it too, right from the teat. It's warm!

RickyJ
11-13-2013, 07:17 PM
It sucks that it was ever illegal to start with. I know it wasn't always illegal, I just don't know when they made the law changes and am too lazy to "google" it.

LibForestPaul
11-13-2013, 07:53 PM
It sucks that it was ever illegal to start with. I know it wasn't always illegal, I just don't know when they made the law changes and am too lazy to "google" it.

My guess, FDR. When all the controls popped up.

Henry Rogue
11-13-2013, 09:05 PM
I don't know when raw milk was made illegal, but it looks like pasteurization became common practice at some point in the eighteen hundreds. Looks like they pretty much had to or the milk would have gone bad before it made it to the doorsteps of city dwellers.

ClydeCoulter
11-13-2013, 09:20 PM
It wasn't illegal when I milked cows in highschool (late 60's & early 70's).

People came with widemouth gallon jugs to fill'em up right at the dairy farm.

I took home a fresh gallon each morning before school. We lived on the milk farm, so I rolled out of bed at 4:00am to go to the milk barn just about 100 yards away.