Do you drink unpasteurized milk from your goats/cows?

FarmHand said:

I'll be blunt here. Anybody drinking non pasteurized cow's milk is basically a dumbass asking for sickness. Straight from the cow you're probably be okay as long as the cold chain isn't broken but with every passing hour the pathogen growth increases and it doesn't take long to get to a level that's dangerous for humans. The internet is full of quacks and actresses who who think these ideas are good for you much like anti vax or in this case non pasteurized milk. I say this having grown up on a dairy farm and drank raw milk as a kid. Did I ever get sick from it? Maybe, who knows. But any time I hear people yakking about this I try to shoot it down the same way I'd shoot down the idea of skipping a polio shot

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This sums it up well. I prefer my milk cold, so there is no way I will drink it straight from the goat or cow. Perhaps back then, it wasn't a harmful practice, but a lot has changed over the years.

OK, I guess my dad was right. I am a dumbass. Thanks for reminding me.

Drank it all my life. No problems I'm 67

I see a lot of people drinking raw milk, but this is not for me. I tried this once and did not like the taste. Though there is no harm in drinking straight from the source, pasteurizing your milk is the safest thing to do.

We don't drink unpasteurized milk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cited the fact that unpasteurized milk contains some harmful bacteria that can cause some pretty serious health problems. It just isn't worth the risk, in my opinion.

I don't drink unpasteurized milk, either. There is just too much bacteria in there. I don't want to risk getting sick. We have plenty of access to pasteurized milk, so there's no need to drink unpasteurized.

Paul said:

We don't drink unpasteurized milk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cited the fact that unpasteurized milk contains some harmful bacteria that can cause some pretty serious health problems. It just isn't worth the risk, in my opinion.

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Drinking unpasteurized milk is adventurous if you ask me. There are too many risks involved, especially now. Raw milk harbors dangerous microorganisms that pose health risks. Bacteria like Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, among others, can cause food poisoning.

As I said earlier in this thread, it all depends on your levels of sanitation of your milk house and the level of health of your animals. When we were producing goat milk, we kept our milk house extremely clean, totally sanitized it between milkings, and I mean sanitize it between milkings, not just clean it. My goats were vet checked twice a year. We kept the temperature of our bulk tank as low as possible, 34 degrees F, and we tested the milk itself monthly. We had no pathogens in the milk, and we drank it raw with no problems. But I've seen other cow and goat milk houses and milking operations where I wouldn't even drink the milk after it was pasteurized. So, my point is, you can drink raw milk, if you are extremely diligent in keeping your product pathogen free. It can be done, but it's a lot of work. If you're not willing to put that level of work in, don't drink it raw. But that again, if you're not willing to put that level of work in, should you even be selling it, even if it's going to be pasteurized?