Is Organic Milk Better For the Cows?
Mon, Jun 14, 2010
Author: JenTaylor (1 Articles)
Dr. Taylor is originally from Hebron, CT, where she worked on a dairy farm while growing up. Her love for dairy cattle sent her to Iowa State where she pursued studies in Dairy Science. In 2005 she graduated with a Bachelors of Science, and in 2009 graduated with a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. She now is an associate at Northwest Veterinary Associates Inc, a dairy exclusive practice located in northern Vermont. In her spare time she is an avid rock and ice climber.
When shopping for milk, the choice between organic and traditional milk seems obvious. Organic milk is better for the environment, and comes from generally better-treated animals, right? Well, the picture is not quite so clear.
Being a dairy veterinarian, I spend my days going farm-to-farm caring for both organic dairy cows and non-organic dairy cows alike. What does it take to get your farm certified organic? There are a number of criteria set by the USDA:
- The cattle must be allowed access to the outdoors, as well as access to pasture for at least 120 days per year.
- All feed and supplements fed to the cattle must be 100% certified organic.
- No growth hormones, GMO’s, or clones are allowed.
- Pro-active health management and living conditions which accommodate natural behavior of the species must be present.
- Antibiotics and certain other drugs cannot be given to an organic animal over the course of its life.
It’s these last two statements that are of particular concern to me.
Despite the law, not all organic dairies have “pro-active health management,” as it is nearly impossible to measure or enforce that they being managed responsibly. So while the sentiment is nice, in reality, this statement has very little meaning.
As for the last statement, because no antibiotics are allowed, in organic herds focus is put on disease prevention through proper vaccination and management rather than treatment. However, even the most carefully preventative techniques sometimes fails. If diseases are caught and identified early on, there are a few organic treatment options which can be effective in staving off more serious disease, but the fact is that much of the time, this doesn’t happen, or the disease is simply untreatable by organic methods.
So what happens when an organic cow gets a disease or infection that can’t be fought without the aid of antibiotics? In many cases, preventable suffering and death often ensue.
Organic policy does stipulate that for the welfare of the animal, antibiotics can be used if a life threatening infection that necessitates antibiotics is present. However, once antibiotics are given to that cow, she is no longer an organic animal and must be removed from the herd. This creates a distinct conflict of interest for the farmer. A dairy cow in an organic operation that is no longer producing milk considered to be “organic” is of no value. Unfortunately, as a dairy veterinarian, I have seen organic cows suffer needlessly due to either a delay in administering antibiotics, or a producers’ refusal to use antibiotics at all. If you are a milk drinker who chooses organic for the more humane treatment of the cows, this issue may be another piece of the equation you should consider.
As a veterinarian, I am not condoning the overuse of antibiotics. However, I do feel that if an animal is sick with a case of pneumonia, or a severe abdominal infection, antibiotics should be administered. I urge all organic farmers to use discretion and remember it is sometimes in the animals’ better interest to be treated and sold as a non-organic animal, than to be left to suffer without proper treatment.
I would like to note that even in non-organic farms where antibiotics can be used, there are measures put in place to ensure that milk does not contain antibiotics. While a cow is being treated with antibiotics, her milk does not enter the tank. Strict withholding periods have been set for each antibiotic, and there are tests the producers can use to identify when it is safe to begin shipping the milk. The milk is always routinely tested at the receiving site to ensure antibiotic residues are not present. Neither non-organic nor organic milk contain antibiotic residues. The difference is that non-organic cows can receive medical treatment with antibiotics when necessary, and are able to stay within the herd for their lifetime.
Milk, either organic or non-organic is a regulated, safe, healthy product. Hopefully this article has provided more information for consumers as to what exactly goes on behind the other side of the barn doors.
Tags: Jen Taylor
Interesting issue, thanks for writing about it, Jen. Three questions:
- What do you think of the raw milk v. pasteurized milk debate that Liz Bomze wrote about?: http://www.goodeater.org/2010/06/09/raw-milk-healthy-hazardous%e2%80%94or-both/
- What percentage, in your experience, of cows in a “well-tended” organic herd face illness that *should* be treated with antibiotics in a given year?
- Is the solution ultimately to amend the organic standards for milk so that cows can be treated with antibiotics when ill, but must not be allowed to produce milk for an extended waiting period? This waiting period in itself would provide a financial disincentive for overuse of antibiotics.
To be honest, I always assumed that cows treated with antibiotics would yield a milk product with potential residue of these drugs. It is interesting to hear otherwise. So aside from this thought process, why the common misconception that the use of antibiotics on cows is a horrible procedure?
What does “grass-fed milk” really mean? Does it mean that those cows graze year-round or just a portion of the year?
And I don’t believe that non-organic dairy farmers take all necessary precautions to ensure that antibiotics are cleared from cow before milking. There must be some benefits to buying organic milk and I’d like you to outline those.
Thanks for the info but it seems really biased.
Interesting article Jen,
Financial incentive defines most farms’ methods. Do you think that most dairy farmers have both organic and non-organic herds? Does it depend whether they are small or giant? I’m interested also in the Andrew’s question? Are antibiotics bad if there is no residue in sold milk?
Thanks Jen
Jason–
I don’t know of any organic dairy farmers that also maintain a non-organic, “post-antibiotic” herd. The logistics of running separate milking times for two herds and maintaining a strict separation of their milk would be prohibitively expensive and crazy-making.
I was inspired by this article to propose what I call an almost-organic dairy sector. A farmer could comprise his herd of antibiotic-treated cows purchased from organic farmers that needed to eliminate them from their herd. The almost-organic farmer would follow organic principles in production, but without being able to get USDA certification for his cows’ tainted history. I wrote about it on my blog, http://agrarianideas.blogspot.com/2010/06/almost-organic-milk.html
I have an odd, sort of tangential question about organic milk: Overall, I find that it tends to have creamier, richer consistency compared to non-organic milk–but more of a cooked flavor. I’m guessing this has something to do with the degree of pasteurization? Is most organic milk ultra-pasteurzied? I guess that’s one of the reasons I think raw milk tastes so good–besides each farm’s milk having very distinct flavor, it also has a full-bodied feel to it without the deadening flavor effect from being heated.
Good article–I wasn’t aware of this issue. I agree with Joshua; the solution isn’t “don’t buy organic”–the solution is to lobby for changes in the USDA criteria. Do you have suggestions on how to design the criteria so as to discourage overuse of antibiotics in an organic herd? An extended waiting period might create the right incentives, but it seems a little arbitrary when what ought to be happening is a medical determination of when antibiotic use is warranted.
Love your article Jen. Compassion for the animal’s well-being must come first – trumping organic virtues.
Antibiotics do have withdrawal times which even the “big evil” producers obey because, even if their morals are poor, if the residue is found in their batch of milk the financial impact of not receiving a milk check can be devastating. Dairying is such a low-margin business!
Organic sounds like such a simple three-syllable word for clean, pure, wholesome. Unfortunately, the rules for Organic make even the good producers scratch their heads about the integrity of the program.
This article avoids the inherent cruelties of milk production. One being the traumatic seperation of calf and mother shortly after birth. This single issue should be enough to turn people off dairy products. Also, the exploitvie dairy industry has brainwashed people into believing that milk is essential for humans, which is patently false.