Some fifty five years ago, back before introduction of the term “organic milk,” the nutrient rich liquid that school children purchased each day came from traditional looking dairy farms. On those farms, cows grazed in a field, a field that never came in contact with any type of harsh or toxic chemical.

Organic milk today has become more and more popular. You don’t need to go to any specific health food store to get it. You can get it at your local grocery store and even Wal-Mart! It is great that these stores have seen the need for organic products from the public. You get to vote for what you want by how you spend your money at your grocery store.

Those cows spent the bulk of their time in a large outdoor area. They felt the sun’s warm rays for an extended period of time. When provided with veterinary care, those animals did not receive all of the medications that are available today. Moreover, they never ate feed that had been enriched with synthetic hormones.

In other words, the above environment represented an important part of the milk making process. Today, the preparation of organic milk represents an effort to replicate that process. It calls for placement of milk-producing, four legged creatures in spacious pens. It demands provision for removal of those animals to an outdoor, sunlit area on a regular basis. It requires the absence of any feed that contains either certain medications or synthetic hormones.

In short, it seeks to mimic the conditions on the traditional dairy farm. This writer remembers passing such a facility some fifty plus years ago. That was also a time when this writer got a taste of goat’s milk. That beverage was given to students in a Vacation Bible School at one Pennsylvania church. The serving of that beverage called for the same trust that is expected from the consumer of raw organic milk.

That consumer must trust the government to follow the prescribed testing procedures on all types of dairy products. That procedure calls for analysis of the chemicals in a white liquid, one that comes from cows or goats. That analysis looks for the presence of any antibiotic or pesticide residues. Naturally, it also insures the production and packaging of something that is safe to drink.

Thus, that procedure guarantees the complete safety of a beverage that might be described as “milk-in-the-raw.” Of course that drink serves as a rich source of many nutrients, most importantly calcium, Vitamin D and potassium.