What Kind of Cow Milk Do You Feed Your Tots?

We use the organic whole foods brand, or organic valley if that's not available. OV is a co-op, so is mostly local. Horizon is owned by Dean Foods and while it practices organic agriculture, it does so at the absolute minimum standard. Ie. they follow the letter - but not the spirit - of the standard IMHO.

As for local vs. organic, I would contact the dairy directly and just ask them about their practices. You may be happy with them after you speak with someone ... or you may not.

The cornucopia institute has ratings that you might find helpful:
http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html

2 moms found this helpful

Fair Oaks Farms is so yummy and if you go to the farm you can learn all about where is comes from. Love it!

We buy Oberweis . the kids love it :) It is free of hormones etc. You can get it delivered too. It is fresh and doesn't go bad like some milk form the grocery store.

I think I remember reading that Meijer's organic has a bad reputation as well. We use organic valley but I think I would personally be open to a local non organic milk as well.

My bigger concern is the Hormones, not it being organic so we started with Oberweiss, then switched to Trader Joes because it was cheaper. Now Dean is Hormone Free and so is Lucerene (the Dominick's brand) so we buy one of those two, usually Lucerene because it goes on sale more.

Both the milk at Costco and Deans are hormone free (check out their labels). Both of these options are bit more economical than organic brands.

organic valley is a great company. I would stick with organic over local UNLESS you can verify they are not using the hormones and routine antibiotics. If they are pasture raised instead of given non organic food then that should be fine too. Milk that is organic comes from cows that have been fed organic feed and not given routine antibiotics and hormones. I would always stick with organic over non organic, but if money is an issue then that would be the next best thing. The best would be for you to find organic raw milk!

I'm wondering what kinds of things you heard about Horizon and other brands?

I have Oberweis home delivery. The milk tastes really good and is hormone/antibiotic free! You can also get it at most places that carry milk.

I give my son Organic Wild harvest, I believe it's the Jewel Brand, I tried other Cow's milk and he liked this one the best plus the others I tried either spoiled very fast and Horizon is no longer organic according to the Organic Consumers Association. Besides cow's milk goat milk is good as well. Good Luck!!

We started with Oberwiess and loved it. They claim the only reason they are not labeled organic is to avoid the cost of the USDA Organic label and therefore keep the cost lower to the consumer.
We now use Trader Joe's organic only because we go there weekly anyway.

I give my son mostly Trader Joe's organic. It's the cheapest I've found, and we both really like the taste of it.

I have been giving my little girl Oberweis
I do the home deliver.
I like it a lot

I use Organic Valley myself or Wild Harvest if Organic Valley is not available. Economically, they're always $5.99, she likes them. I ran out once and had to use non organic whole milk and she would not drink it. There is a distict taste difference. I don't think that "super brand names" should have a bearing on what to use as long as it's as good as it claims.

we always did oberweis for our son, even though it is not organic the dairy suppliers did not use growth hormones, which is my main concern with regular cow's milk. now that i'm the only cow's milk drinker in the family (just on cereal), i buy meijer's organic brand and have no complaints with it thus far.

Hi T. Try asking your toddlers doctor what milk would be best for her to drink. Actually after a child has been wean from a bottle, they don't really need milk unless they really like drinking it. they can get vitamins and calcium from the food they eat.

I find many large farms suspect organic or not. There is a lot of interesting information on www.rawmilk.com. It is controversial, however, given the state of what is in milk that is so called "safe" to drink, I highly considered this venue. We personally purchase Traders Point Creamery Milk which is non-homogenized, VAT pasturized. Benefits of this is outlined in the web site.

I do Trader Joe's Organic whole milk. Yummy. Cheapest organic I can find.