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About A2 milk

/ dairymilkmaid / 9 Comments

Thank you to Fussy Eater’s Mum for asking about A2 milk, which has been expertly marketed in Australia as the solution to everything from autism through to digestive discomfort.

First, what is a2 milk? A trademark owned by A2 Dairy Products Australia, a2 milk is a brand of milk sourced from cows that only produce one particular type of protein. As the company explains on its website:

“Most dairy milk today contains 2 main types of beta-casein protein, A2 and A1, while originally all dairy cows produced milk containing only the A2 type of beta-casein protein. a2 Milk™ comes from cows specially selected to produce A2 beta-casein protein rather than A1. Because a2 Milk™ is rich in A2 beta-casein protein, it may assist with your digestive wellbeing.”

Regular milk is about 60 per cent A2 beta-casein protein and 40 per cent A1 beta-casein protein.

Dairy Australia, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and the European Food Safety Authority reject the claims that milk containing A1 beta-casein protein poses any cause for concern.

Unfortunately, there is also a perception that milk containing only A2 proteins can be tolerated by those with cows milk allergies. Not so, according to a study by AllergySA reported in the Medical Journal of Australia. To be fair, even A2 Dairy Products Australia warns on its site that: “If you have been diagnosed with lactose intolerance by your doctor, a2 Milk™ will not resolve any digestion problems.”

It seems milk containing only A2 beta-casein protein is no silver bullet for those missing out on a refreshing glass of milk due to allergy. If you do suspect an intolerance or allergic reaction to dairy products,  I really recommend taking a look at the very informative fact sheets on cows milk allergy by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) and Dairy Australia.

Farming and the carbon tax

/ dairymilkmaid / 3 Comments
Cow wearing a monitor to detect methane gas production

Cow wearing a monitor to detect methane gas production - pic by DPI Victoria

Donald Rumsfeld could have been talking about the impact of the carbon tax on farming and agriculture when he infamously said:

“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

The politics of carbon are still in full swing and it’s too early to say for sure how we will be affected but there are some things we do know:

1. Agriculture is the second biggest source of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions – just ahead of transport

2. Much of current best-practice farming minimises emissions

In a recent study (see link at point 2 above), Department of Primary Industry researchers say:

“We calculate, therefore, that in 1980 an Australian dairy cow emitted approximately 33 gm of methane for each litre of milk produced. But, in 2010, because of better feeding practices, genetic improvements, higher per cow milk production, and efficiency improvements adopted by the Australian dairy industry, this number has fallen to approximately 24 gm of methane per litre of milk produced.”

Great news! We are doing well, you say? The only problem is that until science provides us with some more tools, we cannot achieve a lot more. As the researchers go on to say:

“As a greenhouse gas, methane is about 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and methane emissions from cows constitute about 65 per cent of the total dairy farm greenhouse gas emissions.”

Meanwhile, as Neil Lane of the Carbon Ready Dairy Demonstration Project notes:

“Highly digestible feed and cereal supplements, along with products like Rumensin, are the best way to minimise emissions at the moment. Many dairy farmers are already doing this.”

This may be why agriculture has been excluded from the carbon tax, although our inputs, like fertiliser and fuel will not be exempt. On the other hand, the much-touted Carbon Farming Inititiative seems equally as impotent to this dairy farmer.

Reforestation and revegetation isn’t really an option because each planting needs to be at least 2ha and 10 metres wide. Soil sequestration sounds wonderful but the fact is that the rich fertile soils of dairy farms are generally already high in carbon content. The other options of reduced fertiliser emissions and effluent management are already being practised on our farm and, as I understand it, would therefore be ineligible under the CFI.

Will be interesting to see how it all pans out and I would love to hear from anyone who sees lots of emerging opportunities for dairy farmers to actively participate in the carbon economy.

Sustainable and cheap food: how does a farmer get there?

/ dairymilkmaid / 2 Comments
On the path to slow food

Slow food versus cheap food conundrum for farmers

Quality food, lowered emissions, biodiversity, soil health, maximum animal welfare, cheap food. So many messages coming from consumer groups, so many implications for how we farm.

Slow Food Australia has a philosophy that resonates with me as a farmer:

“SLOW Food fosters community awareness of food that is good, clean and fair – that the food we eat tastes good and should be good for us; that it is grown and made in ways that respect animals, the environment and our health; and that the producers who grow or create it should be fairly rewarded for their endeavour.

Slow Food Australia’s website also carries a media release that says, “Almost $40 of every $100 spent by Australian households now lands in the cash registers of either Coles or Woolworths”. In light of the milk wars, this is a worrying statistic. While Coles denies the price cuts will be passed on to farmers, Woolworths admits they will. Even consumer advocate group, Choice, agrees farmers will bear the brunt. It’s hard to imagine that any company wielding that amount of market power won’t put pressure on suppliers to lower costs, which will inevitably flow on to those with the least market power – farmers.

The milk wars will have their greatest impact on farmers in states like Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales but the story is no more rosy in my state, Victoria. According to official figures, most of the state’s dairy farms have a return on investment of 1 to 3 per cent, forcing a focus on financial survival.

Our farm is similarly affected. We want to improve the farm, so Wayne and I are both holding down second jobs. The plan is that these improvements will make the farm more profitable and sustainable. We are making progress but farm life is currently anything but sustainable from a personal point of view. You just can’t work this many hours forever.

So what’s the answer? For our family farm, in the short-term, it means no compromise on milk quality or animal welfare, while planting as many trees as we can afford. At the same time, we invest in anything that will make the farm more efficient and profitable.

In the long term, it means incorporating more and more organic principles into our farming methods and marketing our own milk directly to consumers who appreciate what we’re trying to achieve. The problem is that none of this comes cheaply and is out of the reach of most farmers (including us, right now).

If consumers really do care about sustainable food, driving prices “Down, down, down” is not the way to make it happen.