Learning to Farm: Part I
So as I continue to flirt with the idea of having a small scale subsistence farm beyond the backyard, I am grounded in the reality that I have much to learn. For example, this cottage industry law thing got me thinking “Wow! Maybe it’d be possible to sell milk and cheese too.” Yet, the regulations are so tight around milk. A fellow blogger El, from Fast Grow the Weeds, directed me to some resources to understand the history of milk regulation, Milk by Anne Mendelsohn and Real Food by Nina Planck.
Another reader commented that “The regulations started when they connected cattle to tuberculosis.” I did a cursory search for information and found a paper from UC Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine, entitled Tuberculosis in Cattle. Apparently, bovine carry a form of tuberculosis that can be passed to humans with one source of bacterial exposure being raw milk products. It appears goats suffer from tuberculosis far less than cows. Technically they can be infected but it is less common. Good to know.
Though my summer reading list is ever growing, I am adding Milk to the list and will keep writing on the topic. I like the direction of the cottage industry laws, no, I love the direction of the cottage industry laws and eager to understand their economic, public health and political context.
We raise goats and plan to use them from milk and meat. If you are able to have a closed herd you can avoid many diseases. Unfortunately living in urban/suburban areas this isn’t possible because you don’t want a buck under any circumstances in close proximity to people. LOL
The line I have for mammals is livestock will get put down if the injury/illness is severe enough. If the illness is contagious, the whole herd has to go. Pets on the other hand fall into a different catagory – of course depending on the situation I’d easily spend $1,000 on a vet bill for one of my cats or dogs (that is of course if it was a fixable problem).
It’s difficult, ethically speaking, to draw that line. Why is one animal more important than another? Why are the less useful animals likely to get more care? To me it’s because the companion animals I’ve allowed myself to get attached to, while the others I’m not because I know I’ll have to kill them eventually.
But what am I talking about? I spent $300 on a chicken’s vet bill once much to my husband’s chagrin. LOL In my defence though the majority of that cost was for lab tests to ensure it didn’t have Mareks.
July 27th, 2010 at 4:29 pmDog Island Farm: Its a tough issue, it really is. It is something i think about. I also have pets and I just took one to the vet for a blood panel. I would not do this for a chicken unless I thought the bird had something dangerous to humans.
July 27th, 2010 at 4:47 pmOy, the pets/livestock line is hard, and I’d have more trouble drawing it for cuddly mammals than I do for avian food sources. I wish we could do more vetting at home, and I wish that pet care wasn’t so ferociously expensive, but at least you’re thinking about it. That’s the beginning of unknowing, I suppose. And a step that I’m afraid too many urban farmers don’t take.
July 28th, 2010 at 4:33 amStefaneener: Good point. I’d like to hear more about your take on pets vs. livestock.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:18 pm