I don’t profess to have a developed palate. I love wine and coffee, but can’t really discern between Two Buck Chuck and the good stuff. So the fact that I’m hunting for grass fed milk (or rather grass fed cows that make milk) because it tastes better is odd.

Blame it on the husband and his acute taste buds. A few years ago, he fell in love with Horizon Milk. For whatever reason he thought they were grass fed. I’m not sure if they were but the “formula” seems to have changed. So being surrounded by a ton of health food stores, I’ve been looking for milk that is grass fed.

Why Grass Fed?

Most cows are fed grain, corn specifically. Corn is pretty sharp, and cuts up their stomachs. The cuts can get infected and all manner of disgusting things can come out in the milk (yea, I know it’s cleaned out but the idea is gross). To prevent this, dairy farmers often use antibiotics to prevent the infections.

If ya start with grass you don’t have to give them antibiotics. Seems pretty simple to me.

Yet I cannot find any grass fed milk. Anywhere.

The good thing about California milk is it all seems to be rBST free. rBST is a growth hormone many dairy farmers use to grow the cows faster and get more milk out of them. I can’t find anything saying it’s banned in California (everything I’m finding on Google is grossly outdated) but I think consumers’ demand has made the majority of the milk I’m finding rBST-free.

So there’s that. Which just makes me realize I’ve been drinking hormone-y milk for years without knowing it. Man, once you start down this knowledge train about food there’s no going back.

I did buy Stremick’s Heritage Foods Organic Milk, which tastes pretty good. They don’t have rBST or antibiotics (so…the cow’s stomachs get cut and you don’t fix it??), and it says they have vegetarian food. Glad to know my cows aren’t eating steak (so wrong).

If you find grass fed milk, please tell me about it!