Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["elderberryjam" <elderberryjam@zippytech.com>]

Aliza wrote:

"Actually - it doesnt matter if it is starlings or hogs.  The fact remains
that it is the feedlot cows that are the vector because only the acid rumen
can support H-157 ecoli.  If the cows are grazing and having a low/no grain
diet there will be no h--157 for the starlings and hogs to spread and for
the hospital folks to misdiagnose and give the damaging antibiotics."

It matters in the way consumers, the government and businesses address it 
currently, e.g. grocery stores requiring the organic vegetables they buy be 
surrounded by a 50 foot buffer zone while growing. And it matters when there 
is an outbreak, but no e-coli 0157:H7 can be found in the milk or feces of 
the cows on the indicated farm. I think we need to know how the e-coli got 
into that farm's milk, in order to keep it out. I agree that the problem 
lies with the way cows are fed and raised to begin with, and that this is 
the issue that should be addressed, but as the government doesn't seem very 
interested in addressing that, raw and organic milk farmers do need to know.

There have been studies that show that grass fed cows DO get e-coli 0157:H7; 
that the harboring of it is specific to the pH of the rumen. The studies 
have some conflict with each other; possibly because all grass is not 
created equal.

I totally agree that grass fed cows are healthier. However, even organic 
farms feed their cows grain when they milk. There may be milk farmers out 
there who grass-feed only, but I haven't met a milk farmer yet who doesn't 
grain their cows while milking, or at the very least feed them silage. That 
is how they get the cows in the barn. Grass-fed is do-able for beef, but 
harder for milk. Therefore, most milk cows, even on the grassiest organic 
farms, are going to have a more acidic rumen.

I think that raw milk should be legal because it is a choice issue, not a 
safety issue. But I also think that disease should be avoided where 
possible, and that it should be done scientifically and with some common 
sense; not assumptions and rediculous regulations made by 
government-appointed officials. Making food safe requires that people look 
until they find the truth; and that they look in a scientifically and 
ethically fair way. So it does matter whether hogs or starlings spread 
infectious e-coli. It matters to the hogs, the starlings, the hunters, the 
farmers, the FDA, USDA and health department employees, the consumers, and 
it matters to me.

Gwen