The Truth About Organic Milk and Happy Cows

Have you shopped specifically for organic eggs or milk, thinking that like the marketing says, you're buying from a happy cow, out at pasture on a family-run farm? Think again! Last night in a health and nutrition class I learned that you can't assume companies promoting organic products are producing those products in a cruelty-free environment. You also can't assume that if the cows are "antibiotic free" that they aren't eating genetically modified corn, soy and living in confined feed lots, never seeing the light of day.

Horizon was one of the popular "organic" farmers discussed last night in my class. The issue, that the animals are not free-range, grazing happily at pasture. Rather many sources report that they live in over-crowded, confined pens. It is also reported that the cows are raised and fed to gain additional weight and produce more milk, but not allowed to move, walk, socialize, graze as a cow would in it's natural state.

One brand recommended as standing true to it's promises is Skytop Farms. http://www.skytopfarms.com/

Here's what's being reported about Horizon. These are only just a few of the articles I was able to find online.

Truth about Horizon's Organic Happy Milk Cows (http://veganica.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=247) Rebecca Clarren's article reports, "What most consumers don't know is that at Horizon's big dairies, such as the one in Idaho, the cows are raised in a manner that most experts don't consider organic. "

"...long silver barns that hold 4,000 cows are linked like barracks in some covert operation. I drive down a narrow, cracked road toward the dairy's main office and pass open-air sheds about 20 feet away, where cows laze in crowded pens atop the brown hardpan of the Idaho desert. Just outside the milking barn, more cows are jammed into an outdoor corral. Amid clumps of dirt and snow, they are lined up, their bodies touching. "


An article on Wisebread.com (http://www.wisebread.com/horizon-organic-milk-is-it-all-just-lies) states:

"Well, the cows at Horizon may have access to pasture but it’s a known industry fact that milk cows don’t spend their days grazing on green grass. They just get to look at it, cooped up in the usual factory-farming warehouses. Well, the cows at Horizon may have access to pasture but it’s a known industry fact that milk cows don’t spend their days grazing on green grass. They just get to look at it, cooped up in the usual factory-farming warehouses. "

And soundcircle.com reports:(http://soundingcircle.com/newslog2.php/__show_article/_a000195-001064.htm)
"Last year, The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy group, filed formal complaints with the USDA against three industrial dairies, including one owned by Dean Foods and another dairy from which it purchases organic milk for its Horizon label. The complaints allege that these mega-farms are violating the law by confining their cattle to feedlots and sheds rather than grazing the animals on pasture. The Institute is preparing to seek court intervention in order to force a full investigation of the alleged improprieties."