Trautman Family Farm

I have taken time away from the raw milk movement.

We have much on our minds that needs our focus.

The survival of our farm. Money. Need it.

Working towards getting our milk paid for - into artisan cheese.

Got the milk; got the artist, got the tank, what we don't got are ze proper permits. So I have been busy.

I would have bet money the hearings would have been canceled.

I am very happy to be wrong.

"Only 2325 Wisconsin dairies call it quits last year". - Hoard's Dairyman Feb 1 2010

Whooo! Hoooo! Party! We got'r on the run now!

But Wait. What's that number going to do when milk prices come back, cows become worth something again? The bank goes Flick! Here's another one! According to Pete Hardin of The Milkweed, stacks of them go on the market. And the big get bigger. Think the poultry and pork industry. Very vertical. A handful of farms with mega thousands of cows. For each of them: 1000 family farms must die.

Legal Raw Milk really does stand in the way of a lot of good business done at the expense  of dairy farmers, doesn't it? With Legal Raw Milk, we can say Stuff your crappy price. $70/cwt with the equipment we have now. That's $6/gallon. Safe. Our own customers.

That's $4000 - 6000 per month our herd of 22 milk cows was contributing to our farm. But imagine if it was just $1000 per month. Or $500. Ask the local hardware store, ask the local grocery, ask the implement dealer, dairy dealer, restaurants, what they think about dairyman having more money to spend at their stores would mean. That contact with the customer - that is ALWAYS a good thing. You'll have higher quality raw milk.

Give us Legal Raw Milk, and I will paint a New Golden Age of Dairy for Wisconsin. Farmers Win : We All Win. Not a decline of a couple thousand being a good thing, but gaining dairy farms being a good thing.

Support this bill by coming out to Eau Claire March 10th. Let your presence show you stand with your farmer. You have drawn the line - no more rights being taken away - give us back our rights - the right to choose what we take in our bodies. The right to support good farms.

Wisconsin -- RISE UP AND SHOW YOUR LOVE FOR OUR DAIRY TRADITION. Be there, Eau Claire, March 10th 2010 : A historic day.

Scott Trautman