Is Honesty the Best Policy in This Farmer Relationship? Handling Leftover Recalled Raw Milk
Sunday, August 5, 2007 at 11:10PM I’ve been struggling with something of an awkward, even embarrassing, situation. It’s not all that huge in the scheme of things, but it’s been making me uncomfortable, nevertheless.
Here’s the deal: Over the past year, I’ve been buying some beef from the farmer who sells me my raw milk. Except my wife and I have realized that sometimes we don’t care for the beef. The quality is inconsistent. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s tough, sometimes too grisly.
I suspect that part of the problem is that this farmer produces a number of products—in addition to milk and beef, she bakes pies and cookies and designs greeting cards—and thus isn’t as focused on the fine points of raising beef as other farmers are. She's also just not raising many cattle. It seems as if she has one slaughtered ever four or five months, freezes the meat, and gradually sells it.
So we began purchasing beef from a couple of other farmers who sell at a farmers market, and decided that one of those farms, which bills itself as a specialist in grass-fed beef, consistently produces a top-quality product. It’s clear that this farm is raising more cattle, and tending to them more systematically, than the first farm.
For a time, I bought beef from both farmers. But of late, I find myself buying only milk from the first farmer. When I’ve called her to arrange to pick up the milk, she’s asked me a couple of times whether I need any beef, and I’ve said, “No, not this time.”
I understand well that as we make ordinary purchasing decisions over time, we may shift away from one business and toward another. Sometimes it’s because of convenience, sometimes because of pricing, and sometimes because of quality. These shifts generally happen nearly anonymously in our huge market economy.
Still, I feel badly about this situation. I’ve thought about saying something to the first farmer about her beef, but I’m afraid I’ll hurt her feelings or she’ll become defensive. She's told me more than once that her cattle are raised "with love." Then again, it could be argued that I should say something, since that’s the only way she’ll know that she has an issue. Or maybe I just let my actions—continuing to purchase raw milk but not buying beef—speak for themselves
I guess the fact that I’m even dwelling on this situation at all indicates that there is something a little different about the nature of the relationship that forms when buying directly from one farmer or another. The fact that I call her to arrange for product pickups, and often wind up discussing the weather or equipment problems she might be having or animal idiosyncracies, give the relationship a different tenor than even a farmers market relationship. It’s not always a pleasant tenor.
***
Given all the discussion on this blog about the children who became sick, possibly from Organic Pastures milk, I suspect a few readers will find this blog posting of interest. It’s from a consumer who froze some Organic Pastures milk that was recalled last September, and now wonders what to do with it.
At first, it occurred to me that the milk might be of value for testing as to the presence of E.coli. But then I realized that much of the recalled milk was no doubt tested by agriculture and public health authorities, who came up with nothing. What was really needed for testing was the milk consumed by the children who became ill, and, of course, that milk is gone.
Reader Comments (8)
I've found that bringing up these topics has always sparked very interesting conversations with the producers, sometimes they admit they're having difficulty with quality control in some area, occasionally I learn they're trying something different to see if customers will like it, and so on. They've never been defensive or unwilling to hear my "complaint" and in fact have always thanked me for the feedback.
But you have every right to find and patronize the sources that please you the most. Over the years I've found the farmers who produce what I consider "the best" of everything from garlic to ground beef since I wouldn't expect just one farmer to produce the best of everything herself. This means I have year-round relationships with at least a dozen farmers, which is one of the great pleasures and contentments of my life. I would never hesitate to yelp if the bacon were stringy or the pickling cukes bitter. The farmers wouldn't respect me if I didn't!
I'm the person with the gallon of recalled milk. I found it in a freezer clean-out over the winter.
From my discussions with Mark McAfee at Organic Pastures, the children who were sick did not have common strains of E.coli 0157:H7 in their stools. The state tested milk off the shelves, milk at the dairy, and manure and found none. Perhaps Mark can weigh in. He refers to the recall now as "the false recall."
Amanda
I do not agree that producers are good at one thing and poor at another. If you had multiple courses for raw milk you might find her raw milk lacking also. Excellence is a mindset that transcends products. It is a matter of curiosity and stubborness.
She needs to know that you found a better source for meat and that you'd be happy to sample her product if she makes improvements. You will be doing her a favor.
Chuck Lacy
I've been on vacation for a week and just returned home. This is the first chance I've had to read this post. I find it interesting that Mark McAfee told you that the children in September 2006 had different strains of ecoli:0157:H7.
This is not what he told me. We had a conversation in April of 2007. He said the childern all had the same blueprint of ecoli 0157:H7, including a child out of state. However, they did not find this same blueprint of ecoli in his cows ( a different blucprint was found) and nothing was found in his milk.
I'm Chris Martin's mom. He's one of the children who almost died from ecoli 0157:H7 contamination and who also drank OP raw milk on Labor Day Weekend of 2006.
I refuse to buy from any farmer who is not careful about the butcher they use. There are only a few that can be trusted and they are all over an hour's drive from here.