Chile Forum

Doesn't hurt to have an inspector's certificate stating lack of contamination from tubercle bacilla/brucella hanging on the wall as well.

Chris wrote: If everything checks out then the milk and the farmer should be good to go. Like anything just use some common sense.

Hey Chris, If and when you get here, I sure hope you end up with a few cows. But you're probably gonna end up heading South anyway.

Chris wrote:...
Here is a few things to look for in a local farmer who provides milk.

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4. See if farmer washes cows nipples and his hands before milking. Also look at the type and cleanliness of the bucket being milked into.
5. After milking see if the farmer strains the milk through either a filter or cheese cloth.

If everything checks out then the milk and the farmer should be good to go. Like anything just use some common sense.

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum. Here are two similar threads on the subject.

topic2857.html
topic5092.html

Nice list. Point 4 is an important one. When we got here we were looking for raw milk. Next to where we are living, there was a farmer that had cows and some people got milk from him. We arranged to see his how he milked his cows. We went there one morning to see. The farmer had milked the rest of his herd already around 6am, and had saved one cow to show us.  He had some plastic buckets full of milk with a plank over them, and another large bucket with cheesecloth over it.  He was pouring milk through the cheesecloth into the big bucket, and then covered them back up with boards.  We walked through the barn which was full of hay for the winter, through to the stalls.  The cow was in her stall, eating from a trough full of hay.  The cow pooped.  Well, animals do that when they need to, without thinking whether this is the proper place for it.  The farmer got a shovel and shoveled it away.  The farmer then took a rope and tied her back legs together. The rope wasn't very clean.  He then took a bucket with water--the same kind the milk was in outside--and rinsed off the udder.  Once all the water was used up rinsing, he milked her into the same bucket.  Never during any of that time did he wash his hands.  We asked whether he uses soap--obviously he didn't then, but might have before we got there.  He said no, that if he uses soap, the milk tastes like soap.  No disinfectant or anything. 

The important thing is to know your farmer.