Text Box: Text Box: Frequently Asked Questions Text Box: Do you use r-BST or any growth hormones on your cattle? Text Box: Do you use antibiotics on your cattle? Text Box: What is the difference between natural and organic? Text Box: Does your farm give tours? Text Box: No! We do not use the hormone r-BST or any growth hormones on our cattle. Text Box: Only when absolute necessary! We think of our animals the same way that we think of our children, if they are sick and it is necessary that they have antibiotics to live, then we treat them with antibiotics. We strongly believe that it is humane to treat these animals which have illnesses, rather than have them suffer and/or die from a treatable illness. When these cattle are treated with antibiotics, they are taken out of the milk string and their milk is thrown away. We discard any milk from these cattle until long after we have stopped treating the cows with antibiotics. We only allow the treated cattle to re-enter the milk string when their milk has been tested that it is free and clear of all antibiotics. Text Box: The main difference between our natural milk and organic milk is that we do allow limited use of antibiotics, rather than no use at all. People ask us often why we don't switch to organic and, as stated above, we believe that it is humane to treat ill cattle, if necessary, with antibiotics. As with organic dairy farming, our cattle are out on pasture as much as possible. We do not spray our pasture ground with any pesticides. Having the cattle out on pasture rather than in a barn eating a mixed ration of feed lowers the amount of milk that they produce, but we believe that it makes them much happier and healthier than traditional methods of dairy farming. Text Box: We currently do not give tours except during our June Dairy Month Open house and during the Skagit Valley Farm Tour Festival. If you would like more information on these tours, please check out our events page. Text Box: Is your milk homogenized? Text Box: We do not homogenize our milk. Text Box: What is homogenization? Text Box: Homogenization is when the fat in milk is broken up into smaller particles so that it no longer separates from the milk. This is accomplished by forcing the milk with high pressure through small orifices. We do not put our milk through this process. We believe that the milk tastes better without homogenization. Also, there are studies that suggest a link between homogenized milk and heart disease. Here are some links for more information on homogenized milk and heart disease. Homogenized Milk—Its your choice Homogenization—The World’s Healthiest Foods Text Box: What is pasteurization? Text Box: Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated in order to destroy any potentially harmful viruses and/or organisms. We use slow-batch pasteurizing for our milk. Slow-batch pasteurizing has both positive and negative effects. We believe that the milk tastes better with slow-batch pasteurization than with ultra-pasteurizing. The only negative effect is that the milk has a shorter shelf life, but we think that the taste is much better! Text Box: Why aren’t you in our local store! Text Box: If you would like to see our products in a store close to you, we ask that you talk to them and ask for our products. Many stores listen to you more than they listen to us, so ask, ask, ask for it. Thank you!!!