Passages Sustainable Food and Farming Systems - PASA

A PASA member since 2005, Jeff Biddle’s milking
herd includes a variety of breeds, among them
Ayrshires, Jerseys, Guernseys and Holsteins.
By Sylvia P. Onusic, PhD,
PASA Member
It is near milking time at Bear Meadows
Farm near Boalsburg just under the
Tussey Mountain in Central PA, not far
from the Penn State Campus. The cows
are coming down from the pasture to the
paddock outside the parlor, occasionally
bellowing a long moo, which says its
milking time. I stand outside with the
owner of the place and tell him that the
cows look beautiful, and that I especially
like the white one. Farm owner, Jeff Biddle
says, “Yeah, it’s all pasture, and that’s
Elsie May, an old girl.” In fact, he knows
each cow by name, as well as their personality
and habits. Nearby three farm
cats are lined up closely together in silhouette,
along with Jeff’s two guinea
hens, anticipating that something good is
about to happen.
Until 1948, farm fresh milk (raw
milk) and pasteurized milk coexisted
PASA Member Finds
Success and Happiness in
Grass Farming and Raw Milk
Production:
The Story of Jeff Biddle
legally. But in 1948 a federal mandatory
pasteurization law ended national access
to fresh milk. Now it is up to the individual
states to determine if fresh milk is
legal. In Pennsylvania we are fortunate to
be able to purchase raw milk at the farmgate
and in specific shops. In Virginia
purchase of raw milk by consumers is illegal
unless you own part of the cow, as in
“cow-shares.” In several other states, raw
milk is sold as “pet food.” The website
realmilk.com lists the status of raw milk
in the fifty states.
According to the Federal government,
there are about 15 million raw milk
drinkers in the U.S. and the number continues
to grow. When people are asked
why they drink raw milk, the majority
proclaim, ‘the taste.’ And Jeff’s milk is
long and creamy, its distinctive taste
determined ultimately by the soil and
what is growing in it, something that the
French call terroir. The plants and grasses
growing on Jeff’s fields and nourishing
his animals are the products of this terroir,
which ultimately translate into tasty
milk.
Another major contributor to the taste
of raw milk is the amount of butterfat it
contains. Cow breeds vary in the amount
of butterfat in their milk with Jerseys
being high fat producers. Jeff’s herd is a
variety of breeds, among them Ayrshires,
Jerseys, Guernseys and Holsteins, which
contribute to the ultimate taste of the
milk product in the bulk milk tank.
Among his herd are four Holsteins,
which he adopted from industrial dairies.
He says that they are good milkers.
The types and number of bacteria it
contains also influences the taste of the
milk.
We know that bacteria can be friendly
and good for digestive health, as well as
useful, helping us prepare fermented
dairy products like yogurt and kiefer
(probiotic) or unfriendly (pathogenic)
which can make us ill. Pasteurization
destroys some pathogens but more so the
friendly probiotic lactobacillus bacteria,
enzymes and healthful substances which
raw milk contains, like lactase, the
enzyme which enables digestion of the
lactose in milk. Pasteurization renders the
lactase inoperable. But because the raw
milk still contains its lactase, many people
who are lactose intolerant and cannot
drink pasteurized milk, can drink raw
milk, says raw milk safety expert, Ted
Beals, MD.
Jeff’s milk is the only raw milk that I
buy in the area, which I could successfully
“clabber” or sour. Clabbering was
done in my grandma’s day by putting a
covered container of raw milk in a warm
place, such as on the back of a counter or
in a cupboard, for a few days depending
on the time of year and temperature of
the room, then used for drinking, cooking
and baking. Clabbered or sour milk is
a popular traditional beverage in Eastern
and Central European, as well as Middle
Eastern countries, especially during summer
months. It has a refreshing smooth
rich taste with an acid finish.
Sour is not the same as spoil. Pasteur-
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