<< I've spoken to several local farmers who insist that cows produce low volumes of poor quality milk if they aren't fed grain, and I've wondered what milk was like in the days before grain feeding became common. >> snip
Ha! Depends upon what you mean by "low volumes" and "poor quality". Cows grazed strictly on native forages can produce very respectable volumes of milk, particularly if the pasture is managed properly. In modern times, this means intensive grazing management and proper pasture rotation--matching stocking density, rotation frequency and paddock size to seasonal fluctuations in grass growth. In ancient times, (and in certain parts of the world now), this meant simply "following the grass around", similar to the migratory habits of the plains buffalo of North America. When there is plenty of forage to seek out, cow-herds can "cream" the grass, maintaining high protein levels, and therefore relatively high milk volumes. Of course in comparison to modern genetics, the volumes are fairly low, but respectable nonetheless. As far as "quality", modern industrial production models favor uniformity over diversity, and therefore strive to create a blandly uniform product. Such uniformity is labeled as "quality". Most folks interested in real flavor and culinary attributes would insist that the variability in flavor and character of milk from grass-fed dairy animals exhibits true "quality". George Page www.seabreezefarm.net Vashon Island, WA USA [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
