Milk Shares

http://www.realmilk.org/

In most states, purchasing or selling raw, unpastuerized milk, is a crime. In many states, including mine, you can purchase shares of a cow or a goat and are then entitled to a share of their production. You can do the same thing with meat.

One of the best reasons for getting milk directly from a farmer is that ones that sell shares typically don't give hormones or prophylactic drugs, and most will pasture the animals on grass and just supplement with grain.

The ideal situation would be to have dairy goats but for many of us, its not possible due to space or time considerations. In many cases, shares are a more a more expensive way to buy milk, but the one I found isn't. Look around. Talk to the person raising the cows or goats, and look at their operation. It should be clean, although be realistic. You're going to see and smell poop on a farm. :)

It's always good to know a farmer and with the raw milk, you can make cheese, butter, buttermilk, yogurt. All delicious and inexpensive.