Meat and Milk

[Pam in Namur]

I've been a vegetarian for almost 15 years, but am seriously
contemplating going back to eating meat...as long as I know where the
meat came from, the conditions in which it was raised, and that it's
local. I know that there's someone who raises chickens and turkeys in
Brussels, and Door County Angus Beef is near Jacksonport
(www.dcangus.com). Has anyone else been thinking of this, and if so,
why? The Barbara Kingsolver book I mentioned in an earlier post
(Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) does a pretty compelling job of defending
the ethical decision to eat meat as long as the animal was humanely
and ethically raised. Just wondering if I'm the only one who thinks
about these things.

Also, Lamers Dairy out of Appleton uses local milk suppliers, and they
also offer organic milk. I have an email in to them right now to see
if anyone nearby carries their milk (even Green Bay would be OK).
I'll post what I learn.

[Sustain Door]

Hi Pam,

I have been interested in your posts.

A friend of mine is looking for someone to share a cow in September.  Do you have room  in your new freezer for 1/4?
Also, I am interested in the milk source.  How local are the farms that supply Lamers?  If they are within their hundred mile radius, they may be outside of ours.  I have talked to a couple of local dairy farmers who would be interested in selling their milk off the farm if only it were legal.  How does Grassway get around the rules and regs?  Maybe we could convince a local farmer to go with the same plan.  One farmer in Clay Banks has a small operation (about 40 animals).  He has a pasteurizer in his attic which he bought for $600 I think.  He supplies Renards and gets about $1.80/gal I (if I did the math right; he gets paid by the pound).  Easily he could sell his milk for $4.00/gal to locavores I would guess.

Keep us posted on what you learn regarding Lamers milk.

Ann

[Pam in Namur]

Hi, Ann. Is the cow that your friend is looking to share from DC
Angus? If so, I think I would be interested. I took a ride past
there on Saturday, just to check it out for myself. I was
satisfied. :)

Lamers' web page says: "All producer milk is picked up locally at the
farms by our own farm bulk truck drivers. This insures that the raw
milk from the farms is received directly at the processing plant in
the quickest, most efficient manner possible, which helps to maintain
the quality and integrity of the milk." My email to them bounced, so
I'll try again and will ask specifically about their radius.

As for the way that Grassway ( http://www.grasswayfarm.com/) handles
their raw milk sales, they sell "farm shares" for $10 each (renewable
for $1 in subsequent years). Apparently that makes it within the
confines of the regs. So, I guess I own $10 of Grassway farm! I
think they do pretty well - my share was #990, so they've made almost
$10K on farm shares, before even getting any money for the milk. I'd
be happy to share a copy of the share agreement I signed when I bought
my share with any local farmer that might be interested. I paid $6/
gal for milk there, but I think $4/gal is more "average" based on what
other people charge. The flavor of raw milk is really fabulous, but
it's hard to justify using so much fuel to go get it.

I saw that the dairy farm across the street from DC Angus (I think it
was called Sunny Hill Farm, or something close to that) is a supplier
for Organic Valley. I wonder if they might be interested? Do you (or
anyone on the list) know the owners?

Pam

[Virge]

Hi Pam,
I haven't checked this forum in a while. Sorry.
No, the beef is not from DC Angus, but it is from a local,
traditional, low impact grower. There seem to be quite a few sources
of locally grown beef in Door County. (Check the Producers List at
the website.) And it looks like my friend doesn't have room yet in
her freezer, so it won't be September. Probably October/November.
Given all this information, are you still interested in a quarter cow
(that's about 200 pounds of meat)? Or I might want to share a quarter
with someone. Would you be interested in 1/8th?

Virge informed me that Morning Glory Dairy in De Pere gets their milk
locally, and I called them to get details. The customer relations
representative assured me that all milk labeled Morning Glory and
coming from plant #55-8 is local to Door County. They get milk from
within a 30 mile radius of De Pere, and that works for us. They
process milk and make sour cream and French onion dip at that plant.
Butter and other Morning Glory brand foods are made elsewhere.

We are getting goat milk from our neighbors' goats now, so we don't
really have a need for cow milk so much anymore anyway.

On Jul 21, 11:53 am, Pam in Namur <p...@doorpi.net> wrote:
> Hi, Ann.  Is the cow that your friend is looking to share from DC
> Angus?  If so, I think I would be interested.  I took a ride past
> there on Saturday, just to check it out for myself.  I was
> satisfied.  :)
>
> Lamers' web page says: "All producer milk is picked up locally at the
> farms by our own farm bulk truck drivers. This insures that the raw
> milk from the farms is received directly at the processing plant in
> the quickest, most efficient manner possible, which helps to maintain
> the quality and integrity of the milk."  My email to them bounced, so
> I'll try again and will ask specifically about their radius.
>

> As for the way that Grassway (http://www.grasswayfarm.com/) handles