Happy Independence Day from Hope Refuge Farm!  My prayer is that we will not lose the freedom we have left to raise our own and provide our family, friends & neighbors with fresh, nutritious foods from our family homesteads.  I enjoy being as independent as possible from the commercial food industry.  Last week I had a mini celebration as I walked past the shelves of milk in the grocery store, giving thanks for my little red cow.  Having our own fresh, raw milk and knowing it’s not tainted with pesticides, hormones or antibiotics has been wonderful.  If you’re hoping to soon be milking your own family cow, here are some ideas on what you’ll need to get started.

My parlor includes a sturdy stanchion with a neck chain and a movable feed trough.

Ready!

First of all, you need a clean milking area, and believe me, it’s nice to milk somewhere that you have storage space for your equipment so you don’t have to carry it all out to the cow each day. I decided I wanted a nice, well-lit, easily cleaned parlor with work & storage area right there.  It’s probably more than necessary if you just have one cow, but the last thing you want is dirt or soiled bedding getting flicked into your pail of milk. (more…)

A Review of the A2 Milk controversy for Dexter Owners

Jeffrey L Newswanger DO

Here at Hope Refuge Farm, we recently acquired a very nice polled, red bull from the Belle Fourche farm.  The seller informed us that, in addition to his other great traits, he is homozygous for A2. At first, this information meant nothing to me. However, when I learned that A2 referred to characteristics of the milk his off-spring might produce, I was immediately interested.   Our breeding goal at Hope Refuge is to develop Dexters suitable to be family milk cows.  As a primary-care physician and small scale farmer, I am very interested in the relationship between health and agricultural.   Thus, I began a thorough review of the scientific literature in a quest to understand the mystery of A2 milk. The literature trail that I discovered proved at various times to be intriguing, confusing and occasionally downright disgusting.
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