hpw, I don't have any numbers, but I don't doubt that some US citizens become ill from food-borne illnesses contracted from consuming 'raw foods' every year; but, I suspect they're fairly low in number, and since the vast majority of people in this country get ALL of their food from the grocery store or restaurants and the minimal numbers of folks doing the raw thing, the small numbers of illnesses are probably sporadic and random, not triggering an epidemiologic investigation by FDA and CDC. When we have a situation like the recent Salmonella outbreak which FDA 'finally' traced back to Mexican-origin peppers(Duh! They're largely a third-world country with poor to nonexistant sewage/water treatment facilities in much of the nation, and it's likely that the farm workers aren't provided toilet facilities, so they are probably 'relieving themselves' right there in the fields), in which a large quantity of contaminated foodstuffs from a single source are widely distributed across the nation, then we get large numbers of persons affected. I would have no qualms whatsoever about consuming raw milk from my own personal cow - because she would have been tested negativefor brucellosis/TB, and *I* would be in charge of every aspect of cleanliness and sanitation from udder prep and monitoring for evidence of mastitis to refrigeration of the 'finished product'. But, I wouldn't necessarily trust anyone else purveying raw milk to take the same care that I would. There is no doubt that milk is a healthy food, but the claims that raw milk is so vastly superior to pasteurized milk are without rational scientific basis, and it's ludicrous to make claims that pasteurization completely destroys milk's nutritional content, and in fact renders it into a toxic substance.

I dont have good luck keeping my goats in a pasture type area. I have what we call the "doll house", its a 4X6 little shed, that that goats bed down for the night in. We keep the goats in there for about the first 3 days, they get fed in there, etc. I let them out on a picket basicaly for several hours a day for the first week, then I alow them to "run" free for several hours during the day that they are not on the picket and I do that for about 3 or 4 days. Then I alow them to run free the hole day abour 3 days(not day after day but ever other day) and I do that for 1 week. This lets them know that they sleep in the doll house, they have water there, shade, food, etc. They put themselves to bed each night. After this aclimation period, I just let my goats have full run of the place. They play in the pasture with my horses, the never leave the yard(its about 2 acrs) and I just make sure that the flowers I plant are things they dont like to eat. I have about 20 acrs of pasture besides the yard. And yes the goats eat the horse food, hay, salt, all of that. Goats do need coper as it said in one post, but too much is not good for them. You can find that out in almost any vet book. That being besides the point. Good luck

You'd need a license to run a Grade A or Grade B dairy, and each state is different, so you'd start here: Dairy Services Dept. of Ag. & Consumer Serv. Box 1163 Richmond, VA 23218 (804) 786-8899 Div. of Food & Envm. Serv. State Health Dept. 1500 E. Main St. Station Suite 115 Richmond, VA 23218 (804) 225-4003 Generally speaking, you can't get a license until after your plans for facilities and equipment are approved and until after the completed facilities are inspected. Not being able to judge the quality of your product, packaging, etc... a retailer is unlikely to give you a commitment. Therefore, selling milk in bulk for further processing through a coop is an easier way to get started than to try establishing your own brand name with no experience in dairying whatsoever. The organization that could help with marketing questions and dairy goats in general would be the American Dairy Goat Association. Here is a link that might be useful: ADGA

I got this from another posting on this forum. RE: cheapest land per acre in the U.S.A. clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by argamonius (My Page) on Thu, Sep 4, 08 at 14:12 In response to Farmfreedom, boargoats (meat goats) free range mostly with just enough grain so they come running when i ring the bell for feedtime, otherwise I'd have to use the dog. I'm still working out the details for venture capital into an expanded operation of freerange chevon(7-12mon old) and cabrito(3-6mon old) satelite farm. Mexico border land may have poeple cutting through to get to the US or worse Mexico. Drugs, coyotes, immigrants, criminals, minutemen :P I presumme you want solidtude with little oversite, and loose permit building. In Fl they only check on permits for building in the county if a neighbors calls it in. Saw a site billyland.com that offers pretty loose financing. I believe it falls in the reverse auction cat. which may be another option for you. You bid the downpayment for the land you want. I haven't waded through my email yet, so i don't know your parameters for the min land requirements. Other then cheapest possible. o RE: cheapest land per acre in the U.S.A. clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by farmfreedom (My Page) on Fri, Sep 5, 08 at 12:29 My requirements for land are pretty much "NO LIABILITES" and I want as much as I can get in acreage as possible for the money . Minimum size would be 10 acres . I have no problem with the U.S. LAND along the Mexican border . An Ibex can jump 40 feet in a single bound perhaps this will give the coyotes something to deal with maybe you should breed some in to your stock . I was glad to hear that there are no land taxes in Texas do they tax buildings? How about other property ? o RE: cheapest land per acre in the U.S.A. clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by argamonius (My Page) on Fri, Sep 5, 08 at 18:11 well theres 10-20 acres in az and nm for about 1500.00 -2500.00. that cheap enough? I don't think you can raise animals there for lack of forage land, goats can survive on weeds and brush if needed. Haven't looked into Ibex, but i'm sure I wouldn't want my goats jumping 40ft lol. depending on your needs (crops,livestock,ect) you want to spend a bit more for passable forageland or grazing land and start some goats, which will fertilize the area pretty well, thier excrement is small round pellets and melt well enough in regular rainfalls, keep your numbers to about 3 to an acre so the children (ave of 2-3 per fem) will have edible forage. after about 4-5mon sell the kids and bank the money for better or larger lands, keep moving up until you reach your max (what you can handle solo) the billyland site has easy terms, just bid the downpayment, then pay the monthly until you sell the first round of kids, and then pay off the balance. then use the land to trade up after the second round of kids are sold. Its good enough for Abraham :P Locate a sattelitte farming company and when you find your land ask them if they are willing to pick up animals, if your first round is small enough you could even go into town with them and sell them to an ethnic meats butcher/processor theres one in just about every big city in america, you'd be surprised to learn that about 25% of americans have ethnic dishes and/or religious feasts where the central component is a goat/kid (usually kids). Use the 3 goats to an acre model, and continually sell the kids, males first keep females if you lose any or wish to increase a bit, but don't let them eat too much of the forage and grass, for a couple months you may need to feed them quality hay (winter) and grains with minerals. If they start showing signs of getting worms or diarea,(easy enough to spot since they sorta quarintine themselves) give them a dewormer and feed them dannon yogurt with the immunitas stuff in it. In a year or so you'll be unpgrading land and stock, so by an RV and a livestock trailer on the cheap. If theres no river/creek/well on the land, rent a back hoe and make a manmade lake/canal and some live catfish, go fishing for the rest. give the goats a tiny bit of feed when you ring a bell as they grow, then later when you load the goats onto a trailer just ring a bell and walk in with the feed and theyll follow. Of course all this only matters if your interested in goats. As an independant/hermit like person, they are ideal, and the meat is ultra lean. Some parts of 3-4mon yr old kids sell in the market for about 24.00/lb though if you raise them you'll only get about 100-130.oo live wieght per kid or 1.10/lb live wieght depending on who you sell to. During religous feast the right kind of kid can sell for 200.00 each, selling direct to the person. chew on that :P p.s Greek,Jamaican,Muslim,Jewish,Mexican,Asian,are just a few nationalities and ethnic groups with a need for kid meat, or big smelly bucks in the case of Jamaican and South Pacific groups. p.s.s I got a 25,000.00 slot for venture capitalists if anyone is interested. Five year balloon payment is 50,000. 25k in 50k out, simple