Organic Dairy: Not Quite What You Think

A herd of black and white cows graze peacefully in a picturesque field.  

They casually and purposefully move about the green grass seeming to choose only the best blades to munch. Occasionally, a lone cow will raise its head to chew on the mouthful of grass it just tore from the earth.

Is this how you picture the cows that produce organic milk? If you do, you may be right—but only part of the time.

In 2010, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) clarified what organic dairy is supposed to be. Organic dairy farmers had until June 2011 to ensure that dairy products produced and labeled “organic” meant that they cows that produced such products have year-round access to the outdoors. 

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? That means that at any time of the year, those majestic milk-producing beauties will be outside grazing in the pasture, right?  

Not so fast.

The wording of the new rule states the cows have to have access to the outdoors.  What that means is that the barn door can be open. The cows do not necessarily have to go out the door. They don’t have to go outside. They just have to have access. In addition, the area that is considered outdoors doesn’t have to have any grass. As long as it is outside it is acceptable.

This is the same for the chickens that lay organic eggs. The chicken house just has to have a small door that is open to a patch of dirt. Those pesky feathered friends don’t even have to stick their heads out of the door. The door simply has to exist.

There is some good news about these new rules. They state that cows do have to have access to pasture during the grazing season.  And they have to have a minimum amount of pasture (hay) in their diet that is grown without the use of herbicides and pesticides.

In addition, the use of antibiotics and hormones is also prohibited. But that is not a new ruling. Thankfully, that has been the case since the USDA started the National Organic Program in 2002.

Before this new ruling that came to pass in 2010, some cows that produced milk labeled as organic didn’t have to see a blade of fresh grass while they were being milked. They were kept in barns on concrete floors, left to rest on rubber mats.  They were fed mush doled out by stable workers, the food fortified with essential minerals and nutrients for the cows to produce quality organic milk. Thankfully, the USDA found out about this less-than-honest practice and took steps to end it.

Most organic milk products that are typically found in the store are not produced by the smaller farms pictured in the first paragraph of this blog post. They are produced by large, commercial-style dairy farms across the United States.  The larger milk producers have figured out that organic milk is a profitable business.   So they are jumping on the organic bandwagon, which is rather funny (funny weird, not funny ha-ha) because the organic movement is more about sustainability than a bigger profit.

If you want to know more about the organic dairy products available in your store, there is help. An organization called The Cornucopia Institute has researched dairies that produce organic dairy products. Their ratings can be found at this website, http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html.

Here is something else I found interesting: if you want to know where you milk is from, organic or not, you can go to www.whereismymilkfrom.com and type in the code off of the carton.   

Let me know what you find! I’m curious.