So I got a little opinionated this week....

A recent column by Peter Weinschenk, editor of The Record-Review, has stirred some interesting conversations the last few weeks. In case you missed it, here’s a sampling of Mr. Weinschenk’s opinion on Grasspoint milk versus milk produced by conventional methods.

“The first sample was from milk, I would suppose, from your standard Upper Midwest dairy with cows mostly likely fed some TMR ration of corn silage, soybean, dried forage plus minerals and other things. I would assume the cows were shot up with bovine growth hormone, too.

“The second sample included milk from grazing farms mostly right here in Marathon County. The cows, in this case, harvested their own feed in paddocks of mixed clovers and alfalfas. The cows probably might have been fed some supplemental soy, corn and minerals, but, most certainly, would not have received any BST. All Grasspoint milk, while not organic, is “certified humane” and bovine hormone is not allowed.”

Mr. Weinschenk then goes on to taste the milk and evaluate it.

“It [Grasspoint milk] had a full dairy flavor, not typical watered down white. One then had to think about how some specific cows on a specific farm were eating this specific mix of grasses and legumes to produce these specific flavors. This was milk with, for lack of a better word, a ‘vintage.’”

Mr. Weinschenk does say there’s nothing wrong with the typical grocery store milk, but that doesn’t go far enough to offset comments found offensive to several dairy farmers in the newspaper’s readership area. Although I respect his right to voice an opinion, I do think the taste test was flawed and amateur. A true test would have been blind by trained tasters. Also, both brands of milk should have come from the same type of container (one came from plastic and the other from a paper carton). Just ask anyone who has ever put their plastic milk jug next to onions in the refrigerator.

Aside from the skewed test, I think Mr. Weinschenk showed his prejudice against conventional dairy practices before he even tasted the milk. I’ve visited a lot of farms from New York all the way to California, from 15 cows to 6,000 cows. I’ve also been on farms with poor business skills and ones with top-notch management. What I’ve learned is farming for most dairymen is not so much business practice as it is a lifestyle. When Mr. Weinschenk attacked conventional farming, he attacked a way of life. While friends of mine graze (some members of Grasspoint), we do not. Why? Because we chose not to. Nate loves to drive tractor and grow feed. Also, our cows produce more milk using a properly balanced diet (aka TMR) created by a dairy nutritionist. And, like many farmers, with no BST.

I admire the group of farmers who are producing this specialty product, and I’m sure it is high quality. But there are many conventional farmers who produce the same quality and don’t deserve the insulting words. When it comes down to it, milk is milk, no matter the farming. If you have more questions, a great Web resource is www.milkismilk.com.