Bovines and Breastfeeding Moms:
More in Common Than What Meets the Eye
Five Freedoms Dairy was the first farm visit I did when we started the market four years ago. When I left that visit, there was an inexplicable warmheartedness that stayed with me, born out of an experience of authenticity and wholeness. Although I knew little about the dairy industry prior to that first visit, I was sure that Dr. Kevin McSweeney was on the frontlines of changing dairy standards for the better. Four years later during our most recent farm visit, I felt the same thing - that Kevin is doing something good as a contrarian in the dairy world. But during this visit something else struck me. I had my youngest child with me and I was taking frequent nursing breaks during the tour. In those moments of nursing alongside nursing calves, I came to feel a sort of kinship to the mighty bovines. So much of what my purpose is these days centers around keeping my little one nourished with my milk, and virtually their entire lives are centered around milking and feeding. The temptation would be to downplay my own journey, but instead I found myself uplifting the cows as a vital part of an ecosystem of nourishment.
Milk is something my family and I consume daily, yet the milk production process is far removed from my day-to-day life. It’s common for dairy practices in the US to have low (if any) grazing areas, harsh winter conditions, a lack of consistent veterinarian care, and nutrition not suited for health but for milk production. Of course, the goal of many US dairies is to maximize profit, often at the cost of animal welfare. In contrast, after spending time with Dr. Kevin McSweeney, I more fully understand that the well being of an animal directly correlates to the quality of the product. Healthy, nutritious, fatty milk comes from healthy, nutritious, and well taken care of cows. What Kevin is cultivating with Five Freedoms Dairy is counter-culture in the dairy industry. It takes an enormous amount of labor and care, forcing profit to take a back seat to welfare and quality. On a spreadsheet, this resource-intensive care doesn’t make any sense, but walking among kindly mannered cows rolling happily in hay piles, tasting the deeply creamy, nutrient and enzyme rich milk, and feeling the effects of easy digestion makes you realize this isn’t simply a business. Five Freedoms Dairy has created an economy where animal welfare and product quality come first.
Animal welfare and product quality go hand-in-hand, and there are a few major things that Five Freedoms Dairy does that make a big difference in both places. The first is that Kevin believes leaving the cow with the calves after they are born, an uncommon practice here in the US, is essential. Mothers at his dairy stay with their calves to nurse for at least four months, but oftentimes closer to eight. This practice of allowing the calf to drink the mother’s milk produces healthier dairy cows that need less medical interventions (such as medicines and antibiotics). The calf being with their mother 24/7 allows for the calf to not only have ample nourishment for healthy development, but it also allows for the transferring of human microbiome from calf to mother, allowing the mother to cultivate necessary antibodies to keep the calf staying healthy and clean.
The second tangible difference is in nutrition. Kevin ensures that his calves are fed a diet minimal in grain, instead feeding his cows mostly fermented corn. In the US, the majority of dairies exclusively feed their cows grain, which similar to humans promotes rapid milk production. This grain-based diet is oftentimes hard on the cow and hard on the human consuming the milk. The lack of grain in Kevin’s cows diet drives the fat content way up and slows the absorption of lactose, which can help people process lactose more efficiently. Another important distinction is that the milk is heated to 145 degrees for 30 minutes (which is legislated for milk safety) unlike the organic industry standard of 180 degrees for over an hour. This ultra pasteurization that occurs in typical US organic commercial milk completely sterilizes the milk of all beneficial enzymatic properties and probiotic activity.The milk at Five Freedoms is as close as one can get to ‘raw’ milk without the fear of harmful germs potentially contaminating the milk.
At one point in the farm tour, I unstrapped my son from my chest and took a seat next to some excitedly feeding cows to nurse my son. In that moment, I felt a strange kinship to the beautiful bovines meandering through their hay piles. As a nursing mother to two babies under two, I have come to cherish the nursing bond as well as understand the myriad of benefits that come from breast milk. Breast Milk is one of the great many wonders of the world that continue to astonish medical providers with the plethora of benefits it provides growing infants. I share all this about breast milk because it is so interchangeably connected to the nursing cow and calf relationship. The benefits of nursing for both mother/infant and cow/calf are innumerable. Just like in the case of humans, the welfare of the cow is directly linked to the milk they produce. When a human mother is healthy, their milk fat content is higher and their ability to produce milk is more efficient. Similarly, when Dr. McSweeney puts the welfare of his dairy cows at the forefront of all he does, the quality of his milk is exceptional.
Four years later, I still hold the same esteem and admiration for Five Freedoms Dairy. What a treasure it is to know that the milk our family drinks on a daily basis is from cows treated with care. Although going to the bulk grocery to snag a quick gallon of ultra-pasteurized organic milk can be the most efficient at times, let’s remind ourselves that supporting local businesses that are making a positive difference is so much more impactful.