Been drinking raw milk for well over a decade.

First, if you don't like dairy, don't bother with it. It will sour long before you get around to finishing it.

As a follow up, though, raw milk doesn't really go bad, it doesn't spoil - it sours/ferments. If you want true sour cream, just let raw cream sour to the point where you like it. Pasteurization kills all of the enzymes and probiotics that naturally occur in raw milk, which leads to it tasting fresh longer, but also means that it will eventually go bad and make you sick.

I'm lactose intolerant, but because raw milk has enzymes that allow it to basically digest itself, I've never had any issues drinking raw milk. In fact, if I have a pizza or other processed dairy product, if I have a glass of raw milk with it, I don't have any issues.

It helps a ton with my allergies, too. Every year I would have at least 2-4 sinus infections. Once I switched to raw milk, they all went away.

Back in the day when real vaccines were first developed, it was via cows being exposed to viruses, and their milk creating natural antibodies (same reason why it's so important for women to breastfeed their babies - the baby saliva introduces potential illnesses and the mother's milk creates antibodies that pass to the baby)

The type of cow can matter, as well. You want to get milk from an old world cow, not a new breed like holsteiner. The structure of the milk is different in the new cows and not only don't taste as good, but seem to cause an addictive like response in the brain.

Can you get sick from it? Yes. However, it's rare.

Cows can develop mastisis, or infections in the udder. If the farmer is paying attention to his cows, he'll know when one may be developing this condition and will NOT collect her milk.

A good farmer will also ensure that the nipples are cleaned before milked, and the milk is filtered to ensure no particulates are in there. They will also immediately cool the milk in a vat to ensure it can stay fresh as long as possible (warm milk will ferment faster than cooled milk)

So if the farmer is milking a cow with an infection, not washing the nipples, and just letting milk sit out...yeah, there is a high probability of illness. But the majority of the time, farmers really do care about their cows and their customers, and take care of them.

If you want to know if the cows are happy and well taken care of - watch them out in the field. Are they spread out? Lying down? Unbothered by people being nearby or maybe even coming up to people for scritches? Happy cows.

This is a basic overview. If you have any questions, just let me know.

If you're planning on buying it, check the dairy. Modern dairies are very sanitary places when run right, they're made of stainless and tile and should look and smell spotless. The cows should not exhibit any outward signs of illness.

We drank raw milk for most of my childhood without issue, that's because we trusted the place that was selling it. Ask around, if others buy it without issue you're probably fine.

I drink it sometimes and think it tastes better.

The idea is that pasturization changes the milk by heating, same as how food is changed by cooking. This can have benefits such as easier to digest and protect from bacteria and can also degrade nutrients and make it harder to digest.

The danger from raw milk comes specifically from cow shit. Get a little cow shit in the milk and there's danger of e coli I think is the main one. It's actually dangerous and pasturization is a reasonable safeguard. But it's also overhyped. There's also the issue of plastics leeching into the milk during the pasteurization process due to the heat.

Ultra-pasturization is a bigger issue. It uses higher temperatures so there are more changes to the nutrients, its more like actually cooking the milk. More plastics leeching into it, and it's unfortunately what is used for almost all organic milk that you find. (I hope we can avoid changing the subject to everyone's thoughts on organic)

Ultra-pasteurized gives milk a much longer shelf life so its popular with purely profit minded organizations but I'm pretty sure it's not as good for you

I'd like to try whale milk

I had a friend, he fed his child raw pork sausage and raw beef kidney that his wife ground up in the blender.

Healthiest looking baby I ever seen.

After a night of drinking the next morning we swung by the drive through dairy. Cow country. We were in a 1976 Chevy Nova. My bud who was driving got chocolate milk, I ordered 2 percent.

He took a huge swig of chocolaty milk and spit it all over the windshield.

I said, "Oh, shit are you ok? was it spoiled?" No. It was delicious cream rising to the top

It's a metaphor for life. The cream rises

Milk can be frozen successfully.

My take is, it's more about how it's handled. These days, refrigeration is much more widespread, so less chance of contamination. I personally would be hesitant to drink raw milk unless it was organic, but that's just me. Even if not certified, people who raise their own cows organically are much more careful with both the health of the animals, and the production/storage/handling of the product.

i think its more if the cow is sick then you would get sick pasterization prevents much of that. at the same time considering expired milk is funneled back in throught the supply chain and repasturized i really dont think it would be that good for you

Its lovely and i used to have it on a regular basis, never did me any harm at all.

Raw milk from grass fed cows can remineralize your teeth and make your cavities go away.