Raw Milk Monday

http://www.south-pork-ranch.com/

Please note: If you are new to my blog you can catch up on the reasons for my raw milk passion and the struggles our own farm have experienced, by reading any of the previous posts on the topic I have written over the last 3 years . To do so, simply enter “Raw Milk” in the search bar under the picture of our house, on the right.

Raw Milk and the ability to produce and consume it is dear to our hearts here on South Pork Ranch. The sales of such are also the financial foundation of our farm and the basis of a healthy diet for many of our customers. Changes are being proposed and in order to keep you well informed I will post on this topic every Monday.

Three weeks ago I was contacted by The Illinois Department of Public Health,specifically the division director of The Department of Food, Drugs and Dairies. I was asked to serve on a Raw Milk Steering Sub Committee.

The direction they wanted to “steer” raw milk sales became blatantly obvious with the first meeting I attended. To clarify, it was MY first meeting but it was the committees THIRD mtg. And at this third mtg they were discussing the SECOND draft of proposed rule changes. Clearly I was added as an afterthought. I had to ask myself why would they ask me to be on this committee knowing what a strong raw milk advocate I am?

I now believe it was a classic example of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

Because the rule changes are only proposed I will not yet list them here. There would not be a point in getting raw milk advocates and consumers totally riled if indeed changes can be made before the proposed rules become actual rules. I will tell you though that most of the proposed rules do not in any way favor the raw milk farmer or the raw milk consumer. A couple are positive changes, the rest are detrimental.

The next IDPH raw milk steering committee is May 1st which means we have a large amount of work to do in a short amount of time. So, if YOU are a raw milk farmer, either cow, goat, sheep or squirrel, (IDPH says these new proposed rules are not species specific,) and you want to help me and other raw milk farmers in presenting alternative rules to IDPH please CALL ME and I will fill you in on the very tough road we have ahead of us in Illinois

Donna OShaughnessy  South Pork Ranch LLC
Chatsworth, Il    815-635-3414