Pro-Goat Argument 1: Support ethically produced milk

I'm generally not one to preach about the moral and ethical issues behind commercial food production, but I would be missing a huge pro-goat argument if I didn't mention the problems with factory-farmed milk.

Lansing residents have few options when it comes to purchasing milk. We are basically forced to buy factory-farmed milk at the grocery store.

• This factory-farmed milk generally has hormones, antibiotics, and other unnecessary additives in it that may cause human health effects.
• This milk is either pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized. The choice to drink raw milk has been taken away from the modern consumer even though raw milk has been consumed for thousands of years.
• The living conditions for cows on factory-farms vary widely and are generally not nearly as good as what could be achieved in a backyard dairy goat herd. Factory-farm cows may never set foot on grass or see natural sunlight.
• Store-bought milk is a mixture of milk from thousands of individual cows, therefore monitoring for quality and disease is much more difficult than if your milk came from just a couple backyard animals.

In addition, hormone-free cow's milk or goat's milk is much more expensive to purchase, if it can be found at all. Keeping your own dairy goat is more economical in the long run. According to Story's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats (2010), a gallon of store-bought goat's milk costs at least $11 (although I've heard prices much higher and much lower than this). On the other hand, after factoring in feeding costs, goat's milk can be produced at home for approximately $2.25 per gallon (which is also less than store-bought cow's milk).