Facts on Milk Farm Closure
The letter below was written by Chris Bodnar
Glen Valley Organic Farm

Hello everyone,
Here is information about the cow share program currently under attack
by various levels of government. To provide context for my
perspective, my family has two shares in this herd, we also drink raw
milk from our own herd of goats, and I drank raw milk while growing
up. We are also friends of the owners of this dairy (alas, the
small-scale sustainable farming community remains small).

Home on the Range Dairy has been operating in Chilliwack since 2007.
The Dairy is owned and operated by Alice Jongerden and her family.
They rent the facilities in which they operate their dairy. Their herd
is made up of Jerseys and a few Guernseys. The dairy operates as a
herd share because it is illegal to sell raw milk in Canada. As such,
each member purchases a share in the herd and the farmers are
contracted to care for the herd and provide members' milk products to
them. In order to operate in this manner, Alice provided all of her
herd share contracts to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and
Fraser Health prior to starting. She wanted to ensure that if they
were going to shut her down they would do so before she invested time
and money into the operation. At that time no one objected.

In summer 2008, regional health departments received complaints about
Home on the Range's operation. At that time the dairy was served with
an order to stop selling their milk. Home on the Range responded by
making labeling clear on their bottles that the milk was not for sale.
Every bottle has a label reading "sharemember property; NOT FOR SALE".
A challenge to this order went to court but is delayed until the
Schmidt verdict is delivered in Ontario.

In mid-December 2009, a child was hospitalized in the Lower Mainland
due to what may have been food-borne illness. When medical officials
learned that the family was a member of the herd share, Vancouver
Coastal Health and Fraser Health officials seized all milk products
from shareholder pick-up locations and ordered Home on the Range to
stop distribution. It should be noted that no one else has gotten sick
from this milk, despite the fact that over 300 families get weekly
milk products through their shares in the dairy, nor was that illness
linked to the milk other than by way of association because the child
has consumed raw milk.

Since then, shareholders have been either driving to the farm to get
their milk or meeting in unannounced locations to pick up their milk.
By going after this dairy, officials have taken an operation that was
operating with full transparency (anyone could visit their farm;
anyone could know where the milk was being picked up from) and created
a situation where individuals are having to meet secretly to get a
product that legally belongs to them.

Test results of the milk products by the BC Centre for Disease Control
indicate colony forming units (CFU) ranging between 1,300 for the
butter, up to 3,000 for other products. The fluid milk was 2,400. It
should be noted that these figures are actually low compared to
acceptable levels for raw milk sold in other parts of North America
(10,000 cfu) and are also lower than acceptable levels (10,000 cfu)
for pasteurized milk sold in retail stores in BC.

Nonetheless, regional and provincial officials have issued a public
health advisory telling people to discard their raw milk products
claiming that the products contain fecal matter. They have been
interviewed by media stating that drinking raw milk is dangerous,
particularly for children and individuals with compromised immune
systems.

I have visited Home on the Range Dairy in the Past (in fact, my wife
went to their farm weekly to help with chores through much of 2008 and
early 2009) and can attest to the fact that their operations are
exceptional. The grass and hay diet fed to the cows is clean (as many
of you know, diseases such as listeria are the result of moldy feed).
Their milking equipment is kept extremely clean and their milk cooling
is done immediately. Alice comes from a dairy family and understands
the importance of herd health, cleanliness and quality of product.

Pasteurization came about largely due to the rise of large, industrial
dairies in the 20th century. Many of these were associated with
distilleries, where spent alcohol grains were fed to dairy cows . . .
and a diet of grain exclusively for cattle leads to all sorts of
problems with health and disease of the animal. The milk was of low
quality and facilities were not maintained to high standards.
Pasteurization was a technological fix but didn't address the actual
problems associated with industrial farming.

Despite their careful operations and diligence in making sure their
program would comply with provincial and federal laws, Home on the
Range has enemies. Other local farmers resent the fact that they
operate without quota and sell raw milk. Some health officers appear
to have a personal grudge with the dairy and have been looking for
excuses to shut them down. At the same time, it should be noted that
the herd's shareholders tend to be well-educated and have sought out
means of obtaining raw milk; it's not as though their product has
shown up unexpectedly on people's tables -- they have taken this
seriously enough to buy a share in a herd (essentially, creating a
cooperative/CSA hybrid). Heck, there are even Fraser Health Authority
staff members who are herd shareholders!

So, that's some background along with my perspective. Hope this helps
to clarify things for you. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do
my best to answer.

Cheers -- Chris Bodnar
Glen Valley Organic Farm