and make sure to milk her twice a day, feed her, pay the vet bills, and breed her when necessary.

It's more economical than a backyard cow, the other alternative.

When it's chilled quickly, it doesn't really have that "goaty" flavor, it's quite nice. It also makes wonderful kefir. I'm not overly fond of goat cheese, however.

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I just want to know if it actually does taste better. Normally I would just take other people's word for it, but usually the people who tell me that raw milk tastes better are the same people that tell me chemtrails are a UFO plot.

But there's no way it's worth the risk.

Back in the 1980's. Every day we'd bring in a pitcher of chilled, whole, raw milk from the bulk tank for breakfast, before the milk truck came to haul away the day's load. I don't recall getting sick from it, and I've always had a very strong immune system that I give some credit to the raw milk for.

Fast-forward 30 years, and I currently work in a dairy lab, where part of my duties are to test incoming milk samples for bacterial loads, both before and after pasteurization at our factory.

There is NO FUCKING WAY I will give my 3-yr old daughter raw milk to drink.

And I'm grateful to hear from somebody on the front lines, so to speak.

You see first hand just how contaminated raw milk is.

is coming from very large dairy farms, lots more cows, more crowded conditions which could lead to the greater bacterial loads?

Mind you, I'm not at all in favor of the raw milk thing, just asking.

I'm under the impression that in the past when most milk was raw milk, before wide-spread pasteurization, the quality of milk if you didn't live real close to the dairy farms was dreadful. Pasteurization made milk safe for the millions.

The lab I work in is part of a large cultured dairy complex which makes yogurts, cheeses, and sour creams. Most of our products are conventionally made, but we have been expanding our organic offerings, and as such receive several tanker trucks of certified organic milk daily. We take multiple steps to ensure that there is no cross-contamination of regular milk into the organic loads, to the point we have a 50-ft tall silo devoted entirely to organic.

The organic milk we receive does come from smaller, more local farms here in the Midwest, and it ALWAYS tests far lower in bacterial count than the regular loads that come from the larger dairy farms. It's still too high to be sold legally without pasteurization, but it's obvious that farming practices have a major effect on bacterial contamination of milk.

Also, I've read that pasture-raising your livestock, which is much more difficult on larger farms, has a major impact on reducing bacterial loads.

I'm a reasonably knowledgeable and well-informed lay person, but still no expert.