The dairy industry is undoubtedly a major revenue generator for Australia, and it ranks as the nation’s third highest producing rural industry. Australia’s climate offers a near perfect environment for raising cattle. With the right precipitation, the country’s cows may graze to their heart’s content. Humanely raised grass-fed cows produce deliciously healthy milk.
Dietary Habits of Australia’s Dairy Cows
The Australian dairy industry seems to have done very well in making sure that harmful hormones are not used on their dairy cows. However, a slight problem occurs when cows cannot consume their natural diets because farmers want to substitute grain based feeds to encourage more milk production. Substituted feeds, besides being the unnatural diet of cows, are often compiled from genetically modified sources. Because scientists have not yet proven that genetically modified food is harmful, human and animal food products often contain genetically modified items. Corn and soy are particularly susceptible to genetic tampering. These are some of the grains typically fed to dairy cows as a supplement to their natural diet of grass.
Grass Roots Demand For Real Milk
The Australia dairy industry has successfully made the sale of raw milk for human consumption illegal as has many other countries. However, there are a few loopholes, and it seems that many Australians are taking advantage of them because the demand for real milk is growing. Real milk is minimally processed, non pasteurised milk that comes straight from the farm to one’s refrigerator; real milk is raw milk. Australian farmers sell the raw milk by labelling it as bath milk. This “bath milk” is packed full of naturally occurring probiotics, enzymes, and vitamins that are still intact because the milk did not go through the high heat processing of pasteurisation.
The raw milk dairy sub-culture is composed of organic dairy farmers, farmer’s markets, health food stores, and health conscious consumers. They have united to provide consumers with what they believe are healthier alternatives to pasteurised dairy products. The dairy farmers, who provide raw bath milk, are committed to raising grass-fed, organically raised dairy cows. The raw milk dairy sub-culture is an organised movement, and pick up locations appear from Canberra to Brisbane.