organic milk vs. hormone-free milk

kimarino13

We give the girls organic fruits, veggies, cheese, chicken, etc. and I am trying to decide what to give the girls when it's time in a few months.  I was hoping Costco had organic whole milk but I don't think they do.  I think they only have organic lowfat milk.  Their brand of whole milk is hormone-free, but not organic.  I think?

What do you guys use, and is there a huge difference in organic milk vs. hormone-free milk?  Is it just the pesticide thing, being grass fed and the room they have to roam free, etc.?  Anyone care to educate me on this one?

(I know this makes me sound dumb, but I am too tired to google.  Been up all night with a teething baby. 

 

sourpop

My friend who is a nutritionist sent this to me when I asked her the same question a couple of weeks ago.

"I always check the milk we get and it says comes from cows that are not treated with bST which is a growth hormone."

alchris

I make sure milk is hormone- and antibiotic/pesticide-free.  We actually switched from Whole Foods organic to their regular milk because it's guaranteed to be hormone- and antibiotic/pesticide-free and is half the price.  I'd still be willing to pay more if organic were better, esp. being pg and also with Kira, but I don't think it is; the only difference we were able to figure out is that the organic milk cows' feed is certified organic.  You should be able to ask at Costco about the difference in the Kirkland milk too, or if they don't know, they should be able to give you a number to call -- Costco is usually wonderful about helping with such things!  Good luck!

qtpa2t

A friend of mine whose mother recently retired as the dean of agriculture at Cornell said the most recent studies show that the hormones given to hormone-fed cows are not showing up in their milk.  In fact, the same levels of mastitis are showing up at the same rates in large production hormone-fed cows and large farm "organic" cows.  Where you see a difference is in small production dairy farms.  The conclusion is that the organic label in milk is a reason to charge more but otherwise bears no weight.  If you want to make choices that make a difference, the key would be to patronize small dairy farms rather than large production ones.  There's more to this, and I wish I had the exact studies to point to but I suppose I could find out if you really want to read some scientific research.

alchris

qtpa2t:

If you want to make choices that make a difference, the key would be to patronize small dairy farms rather than large production ones.

This is true.  VERY hard here for milk and yogurt, but true.

kimarino13

Thanks for all the info, ladies.  Very helpful.