Dora is the queen of the herd. Next to her is Soupy (her family lineage is Campbell-Baxter, hence Soupy). The dairy, owned and run by Jon Cook, is Dora’s Dairy and is one among the very few that supply raw milk for the many customers who drive miles to buy it. They know what makes it different to milk from the shops which is homogenised or pasteurised.
But, I hear you ask, what’s special about raw milk? Isn’t pasteurised safer, didn’t “the science” as designated by Louis Pasteur declare that all pathogens in unfiltered milk are destroyed when it is heated to a certain temperature?
What “the science” doesn’t disclose is that most of the valuable nutrients also get destroyed- nutrients such as enzymes or proteins which break down lactose, 400 different types of fatty acids and something called the Walzen factor that prevent arthritis and calcium that is actually absorbed by the body. Allergies, gout, asthma, eczema and digestive problems are all improved by ingesting unpasteurised milk.
Pasteur was the propagator of germ theory which principle is hotly disputed by alternative health practitioners, who are also sceptical of vaccines. Alternative- non-allopathic- medical belief asserts that the composition of the body attracts or repels sickness and this, of course, is the absolute opposite to what most people have learned. Squillions are made by Big Pharma following the germ theory, which in an important sense takes agency away from the individual and puts it in the hands of the expert scientist who can present any old gobbledegook as God’s own truth. However, some of us are seriously questioning the motives and veracity of these powerful dictators in white coats, as more and more corruption and lies are exposed and brought into the light of our understanding. Statistics, research methods and most importantly motives are all being re-examined; certainly not taken on trust any more.
When I was a child growing up in New Delhi we had what was quaintly known as a family doctor. Dr Chuni Lal Sahni lived and worked next to his great friend our family dentist, Dr M.L. Kapoor, both kindly men who practised with the best of motives. Dr Sahni in fact had a very basic medical qualification (an MBBS?). He administered injections, lanced boils, prescribed simple antibiotics and barley water drinks! We were rarely ill. We three children got mumps, measles and the occasional sore throat and no one in the family took prescription medicines. I think my childhood nutrition and habit of exercising probably contributed to the good health I am blessed with today. Our milk was delivered by a milkman on a bicycle from cows or buffaloes that lived in natural conditions and the milk was rich enough to produce a large mound of white butter every day. It was quickly brought to the boil, because it was most definitely not produced in pristine conditions, but otherwise was left untreated.
Even though I only buy organic milk from Riverford or other organic suppliers, a taste of Dora or Soupy’s milk was a revelation. It was delicious! Creamy of course, with a benign nutty more-ish flavour.
Agency is an important new challenge, where I make decisions based on my own research and experience rather than blindly follow the paths of traditional wisdom, which have created an inert kind of passivity which might also be termed laziness. Yes, there is a risk in drinking raw milk, but it is very low if the herd is reared and milked in hygienic conditions.
Jon Cook whose family have been dairy farming since the 1950’s cherishes his cows. Muppet, Roll, Vanessa, Hollie, Priscilla, Bones, Maggie, Daphne, Elsa, Daffodil, Greta, Violet and the other sixty odd girls who are milked every afternoon. He grazes Jerseys, Guernseys, Flecviehs, and Brown Swiss on the rich grass pastures of Wiltshire and herds them into the milking parlour where they are mechanically lightened of their load.
Finding Dora’s Dairy takes some doing as I drive through some of the unloveliest built up suburbia in England, huddle after huddle of dull looking housing. (What happens to children brought up in such uniformity?) Finally I come upon the narrow track that leads to the dairy, where other people have also found their way to buy their supplies of raw milk, beef, sausages and delicious ice-cream churned by Jon’s partner and her 14 year old son who is manoeuvring a small tractor in the course of doing his farm chores.
Who would guess the acres of housing estates just to the right of this peaceful Wiltshire landscape?
“The girls” lining up to deliver their quota.
Its a bit of a business stocking up on raw milk (some to be frozen in plastic bottles- not ideal), so someone from a group in Highworth (closest to Jon’s farm) will drive down, pick up orders for their village, Faringdon and Bampton after which the individual punters collect it.
Raw milk really is a revelation and you should try it. It is superb as cocoa or golden milk, which has a paste of turmeric, black pepper and raw honey whisked into it and sends you into a sound sleep at night.
Jonathan Cook, Dora’s Dairy, The Hyde, Purton, Swindon SN5 4EA, tel. 07702719908
