STRAIGHT ARROWS FARM
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” Colossians 3:23
Our mission is to provide your family with fresh, unprocessed milk by owning a share of your own cow. With your herd share, you will be able to enjoy all of the benefits of raw milk while still being able to leave the safe caring of the cow completely in our hands.
HERD SHARES
Herd shares are currently the only legal way to obtain access to fresh, unprocessed, whole milk (commonly called “raw milk”) in the State of Michigan. A herd share is an agreement in which a person own shares of a herd, which is cared for by the farmer.
How does the herd share work?
Milk is picked up, but we are currently working on a shipping option.
Milk is cooled and then filled in gallon jars provided by Straight Arrows Farm.
Jars are to be returned upon next pickup. They will then be thoroughly washed and sanitized.
Because the milk is unprocessed, we take the utmost care of the health of our herd, hygiene and sanitation with the herd, and our milking equipment and facilities.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT UNPROCESSED MILK?
Pasteurization is a process in which the milk is placed under extreme heat for a short period of time to kill any harmful bacteria. In the process, the good bacteria, which is essential to proper digestion, is also killed along with a dramatic reduction in vitamin content.
Homogenization is a process that mixes and disperses milkfat with a high-pressure procedure that breaks the fat down into smaller particles. When this happens, the vitamins that bind to the fat become much harder for your body to properly absorb.
The graphic below breaks down the benefits of drinking milk in its natural state. The source is cited.
HOW DO WE KNOW OUR MILK IS SAFE?
We regularly test the Somatic Cell Count of the cows milk which helps us determine if a cow’s immune system is “on alert,” potentially fighting an infection.
If an infection or illness is detected, we immediately begin treating the cow and we discard all the milk from that cow to avoid any potential antibiotic residue during the withdrawal time. We would rather be short on milk for a week than give out a produce we do not feel is 100% safe for our shareholders.
I’ve heard that people with lactose intolerance can sometimes digest unprocessed milk – have you found that to be true?
In general, yes! Most people consume fresh, whole, unprocessed milk because of digestibility. A 2007 U of M and Weston A. Price survey found that around 82% of lactose intolerance goes away when they switch to raw milk.
There is an enzyme called lactase in raw milk that is killed during the pasteurization process, so your body is just left with lactose, which is particularly difficult for many peoples’ guts to digest alone. In unprocessed milk, both lactose and lactase are present, aiding your body in the digestive process.
Either way, unprocessed milk is a whole, living food that is designed to be consumed by a newborn calf with a weak immune system and a nominal intestinal track. What that means for us is that all the nutrients in unprocessed milk are completely bio-available and in the most easily digestible form possible. The more we process milk through pasteurization, homogenization and added food dyes, the more problems we encounter in our body’s ability to process the milk.
HOW CAN I JOIN?
Below I have outlined the pricing options. The first payment will include your startup share fee and your first weeks share of milk.
Herd share Pricing
$5–per share (Investor earns 1 gallon of milk per share)