Got organic milk?Maybe it is, maybe not (Cornucopia;boycott Horizon,Aurora

[lindisfarne]

How many hours do cows need to graze a pasture to produce milk that's organic? It's being hotly debated. Even the USDA is jumping into the fray.
Matt Mckinney, Star Tribune
Last update: August 10, 2006 – 8:40 PM
A simmering national debate about -- of all things -- organic milk comes to Minneapolis today, when several of the largest names in the business gather at the Minneapolis Women's Club to talk cows, pastures and the spirit of the organics movement.
The event will center on the question of an organic dairy cow's feeding practices, and whether the animal is truly "organic" if it eats feed from a trough rather than nibbling on pasture grasses.

Some farmers, especially smaller operations such as New Prague's Cedar Summit Dairy, say cows need time to roam in a pasture to produce nutritious milk, while some larger producers have argued that it makes the milk more expensive.
<snip>
A strident critic of some of the nation's largest organic dairy operations filed a complaint Thursday with the USDA's office of compliance, charging that Horizon Organic, owned by Dallas-based Dean Foods and one of the country's largest organic dairy producers, does not give its cows enough pasture time. The complaint from the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, a pro-organic consumer association, is its fifth in two years against Horizon and Aurora Organic Dairy, based in Boulder, Colo.
<snip>
http://www.startribune.com/535/story/608015.html

[lindisfarne]

1. Ratings of organic dairies (to find alternatives to Horizon & Aurora)

http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html

Trader Joes and CostCo, unfortunately, get at least some of their organic milk from Aurora.

If you really can't afford to switch to something else, organic milk of any kind is still better than conventional.

[cornermouse]

2. Land is very expensive and they probably need the hay for the winter.

As far as feeding from the trough. What's in the feed that they just put in the trough? I'm not sure it should still be considered organic.