Use these questions to find out the real source of your food:
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What breed(s) of cows/sheep/goats do you have? Why that breed?
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What is a typical day for your animals?
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What are they fed?
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Do you supplement their grazing with anything? What? (It’s common and fine for farmers to supplement their dairy cows with grain or alfalfa pellets at milking time, otherwise the cows get too thin and produce less milk. Some people who are extremely sensitive to grain seek out 100% grass-fed milk. It will usually be more expensive.)
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If supplemented with grain) Is the grain/feed mix locally grown? Does it contain GMO ingredients? (Locally grown with organic methods is best, and non-GMO, no soy. Ideally, the grains would be sprouted.)
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How much sunshine do your cows/goats/sheep get
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What is your water source and is it tested regularly?
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Find out what the shelf-life of their milk is, from fresh to souring. Cold, clean raw milk should have good flavor and taste for at least 12-14 days or even longer. Short shelf life with rising bubbles in the milk would indicate high presence of coliform bacteria, which indicates that the milk is not hygienic.
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Take a look into the farmer's kitchen: does it look clean and orderly? Look at their truck, too. Personal practices often say so much about behaviors when no one is watching.
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Inspect to make sure that everything involved in the milking process looks very clean, including the milking parlor, all milking equipment , bottle cleaning area, bottling area, milk jars/bottles, etc.
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Do you milk by hand or machine? (Most will probably use a machine. The kind that milks directly into a closed stainless-steel container is best.)
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Do you exclude a sick cow’s milk from use? For how long?
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Do you vaccinate or for your cows? For what? (Ideally, they won’t be vaccinated, but some states require it.)
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Do you use antibiotics, growth hormones, or other treatments?
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If I purchase a herd share from your farm, will I be locked into a contract?
