Somatic Cell Count...Why you should care

Raw Milk is very hot...even though it is best served cold, unless you are making hot chocolate and then hot is OK.

What I really mean to say before I was distracted by my own self, raw milk is very popular . Folks are talking about it, arguing about it, protesting about it and sadly being arrested for selling it. Either the government is telling you you'll be dead 10 seconds after the vile stuff passes through your esophagus burning a path of destruction as it goes, OR the health food fanatics are telling you raw milk will grow back your amputated limb.

We believe it's health benefits are somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. We also believe the choice to drink raw milk should be an educated one, not an emotional one. Do your research, read the blogs, scan the studies, talk to your nurse practitioner, doctor, chiropractor, mail lady and then...

Check the Somatic Cell Count.

If you are buying raw milk directly from a farmer you should understand that the Somatic Cell Count is one method of assessing cow health, and healthy cows produce healthy milk. Just because it is legal in some states, like Illinois, to sell raw milk doesn't mean every dairy farmer SHOULD sell raw milk. I know it is the thin, wockety limb I crawl out on, but...some farms are not clean enough to be selling raw milk. There I said it. ,

So if you want to buy and consume raw milk you need to do a little work. Spend some time at the farm. How much manure are cows standing in ? How often is the barn cleaned? How clean is the lot where cows eat? How often (if ever) do you see them on pasture. The more grass time the better.

Look at the cows themselves. Some manure on lower legs is to be expected. Coating their bellies? Not good. Do they seem to like their farmer? Do they come when he calls? Do they approach him when he or she enters the pasture?  Do they wink at you? Cows that wink are happy.

What about the tank room ? The floor should be clean (unless you are visiting during milking time and traffic in the room is high), the hoses you use should smell good, not like old milk and the milk tank should show a temp of 42 degrees or less.

Then you need to ask the farmer about his Somatic Cell Count . Somatic cell count (SCC) measures the white blood cells or leukocytes and is an indicator of the quality of  the milk. The number of somatic cells increases in response to pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus,  a cause of mastitis or inflammation of the cows udder.

 Generally a lower somatic cell count indicates better animal health  and most state guidelines for Grade A dairies require that the SCC  shall be not more than one million (1,000,000) cells per milliliter. Some require less than 750,000.

Our herds last SCC was 160,000.

When we were a Grade A Dairy with the state of Illinois, our milk was tested regularly but when we told the state we only wanted to sell directly to the consumer, not through a middle man milk company, they told us Bye Bye. They said they no longer would even consider us as a dairy and took us off all their lists. They refused to survey us anymore.

Fine by us.

We began surveying ourselves, following all the rules even though not required to. And we have our milk regularly tested by an independent lab in Peoria.

We would like our SCC to  be lower and we will continue to strive for that, but 160,000 still makes us happy. We attribute the low results to cows being on pasture where they are "exposed" to fresh air and soft dirt. We also feel strongly that our herds 100% grass fed status has improved their health overall.  In addition we do a very very risky thing that few dairy farmers do anymore; we allow visitors to the farm.

There is this odd belief in the conventional dairy that to keep your animals healthy you have to greatly decrease their exposure to anything harmful, including humans. Visitors to these farms must wear booties and gloves and sometimes even jackets and masks. We, on the other hand think it better to built up our cows immune system (through organic feed and real earth for beds) thus giving them the ammo they need to fight off common bacteria.

Its the same reason we allowed our kids to play barefoot in the sandbox and eat cookies that have fallen on the floor. We don't cry about spilled milk but we sob over wasted cookies.

So, if indeed you have made that decision to drink raw milk ask your farmer about his Somatic Cell Count. It is not the ONLY way to ensure that you are drinking milk from healthy animals but it is a great place to start.

Counting DOWN

If you're a follower of this blog (i.e "stalker") then you might recall our dairy situation. But for those who are new or just forgetful like so many of us Midlifarians, I'll recap. Eight months ago Foremost Coop told us to stop selling raw milk to any folks who came to the farm in need of such. Even though we'd been selling to Foremost for over a decade without any problems , even though all our IDPH inspections were good and even though  selling raw milk is legal in Illinois as long as the customer brings their own container.




Fresh whole raw milk seconds after the cow is milked just
 before it goes into our stainless steel holding tank.
 From there it goes direct to the consumer or the swine of choice.


So we stopped selling milk to Foremost and all our milk is now utilized by selling it raw (non-homogenized, unpasteurized)  direct to farm visitors or by feeding it to our pigs. Sales continue to grow (as do our hogs) every month. Funny thing happened on the way to self-sufficiency. The IDPH (Illinois Department of Public Health)  decided they no longer would grant us the Grade A license we had held for over 10 years, because they were no longer going to survey our dairy. Strange way of thinking. IDPH had publicly stated many times their belief that raw milk is dangerous yet when we asked them to please keep surveying us so we could held accountable to the high standards of Grade A licensure...they said NO.

What's a self-sufficient, responsible, certified organic dairy owner to do ?

Well..we continue to follow the IDPH standards for a Grade A Dairy, one of which is the testing of the milk for various things. One required test (if we were licensed but we are not, so its not "required" of us anymore ) is the test for SCC or Somatic Cell Count. Simply put, the SCC is an indicator of milk quality with  "somatic" referring to white blood cells. Somatic cells originate from INSIDE the cows udder and is considered one way of measuring animal health. If a cow has "mastitis" or inflammation of the udder, the SCC will rise. The SCC of Grad A Dairies should not be above one million cells per milliliter states the USDA  (United States Department of Agriculture). Cows with a SCC of less than 200,000 are considered healthy and will not likely show any signs of mastitis. The average SCC for  Grade A Dairies nationwide in 2009, was 233,000.

Our SCC last month was 90,000  (actual report available upon request to any past, present or future milk customer of ours)

Credit for this goes to our massive employee base. Both of them. Keith who milks 95% of the time and our relief milker (and son) Jason. Its because of their technique and overall herd management that our SCC is so low.

 Oh OK. I'll take a little credit. I am the one who does all the NAGGING about all the rules and regs.  Now back to IDPH.  You would think that they would WANT to survey us, to find out what we are doing well so the information can be shared with others  thus lowering SCC measurements for other dairies who sell both conventional and raw milk. Isn't that what they say they are about , a safe food supply ? I mean it just seems so logical.