Suppose we raised organic kids like they do organic cows. The slick marketers of organic goods will feed you all this stuff about better for the earth, (which considering that it takes more ground to grow organic stuff, seems like a bunch of bull hockey), etc. but what about the animals involved?
Organic cows do not get treated with antibiotics when they are sick. Their owners rely on topical, herbal, or homeopathic remedies. If cows don't respond to those treatments they die or are sold to someone who does use conventional medicine to treat them or sold for beef. (That's why they call farms like ours conventional...we do things the way regular people do.)
So suppose your "organic" little human comes down with a desperate case of pneumonia or some other serious bacterial illness, needs intensive care, and a conventional antibiotic, then what? Do you treat him with a herbal supplement...or do you sell him to the neighbor who feels it appropriate to treat children...or cows....with modern, tested, legal, safe medicines?
I know which way I would go, but then I am kind of conventional.
I try not to bash any kind of farming here on Northview, as there are far too few of us farmers left not to stick together. However, I am just plain sick of having organic dairy farming shoved in my face everywhere I look, as if it were the only answer to food production. I KNOW what happens to cows on organic farms that get sick. And if you have a pet dog or cat, you know that even the best cared for animals DO get sick sometimes.......I would love to give you a quote on the topic from a trusted professional in the animal medical field with whom we regularly do business on what they think of the care of organic cattle but I don't have permission so I won't.
However, we wouldn't think of expecting our children to get along in the modern world without modern medicine, so why do we act as if asking the same of dairy cows is practically a religious duty?
Every single farmer's bulk tank is tested for antibiotic residues every single time the truck from the company picks up milk. If there is a positive finding the FARMER pays for the whole tanker load of milk...not cheap! So there are no antibiotics in your milk no matter what kind of farm produces it.
If you want to pay through the nose for organic products, which are generally chemically indistinguishable from conventional products, have at it, but you might want to think about the cows involved.
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