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US V UK milk.

Peter

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This topic is aimed at anyone who's spent time in the UK.

I've often heard that there's quite a difference between UK and US milk so I thought it was time to ask.
Have you been in the UK and tried our milk which is only from grass-fed cows (as far as I know we don't have any cows raised on corn as we don't have mighty corn surpluses) and if you have did you tase a difference and was it better or worse?

It's an honest question and all opinions are welcome.
Fire away.
 
I live in the US, and I've never consumed milk in UK, but I have an aunt who's lived in America for half her life, and then Scotland for the 2nd half. I rarely speak with her, but I'll ask if she can tell a difference.

Up until the past year or so, I drank more milk(fat free) than all other beverages combined(by quite a large margin). I've been drinking lots of milk since I was a kid in the late 70s. As seen in a review thread I posted last year, I purchased a very effective 64oz stainless steel thermos. But for cleanliness and freshness related reasons, I only use it to hold ice and water. As a result of always having it with me, I now drink slightly more water than milk. That's a first!
 
I grew up drinking rice milk and goat milk in the US. I occasionally drank cow milk. Cow milk here in Canada is exactly the same as I remember from the states, except it comes in bags not jugs. Can't comment on UK milk, but I imagine grass fed cow milk tastes different than corn fed cow milk, if you're already used to one or the other.
 
I grew up drinking rice milk and goat milk in the US. I occasionally drank cow milk. Cow milk here in Canada is exactly the same as I remember from the states, except it comes in bags not jugs. Can't comment on UK milk, but I imagine grass fed cow milk tastes different than corn fed cow milk, if you're already used to one or the other.

In Poland, I hear milk comes in pasta strainers! Had to do a Polish joke.....
 
This topic is aimed at anyone who's spent time in the UK.

I've often heard that there's quite a difference between UK and US milk so I thought it was time to ask.
Have you been in the UK and tried our milk which is only from grass-fed cows (as far as I know we don't have any cows raised on corn as we don't have mighty corn surpluses) and if you have did you tase a difference and was it better or worse?

It's an honest question and all opinions are welcome.
Fire away.
I do not buy the grass fed cow thing, as far as I know brazil is the only country really doing that as the standard, and they only do that because everything else costs money and their country is mostly grassland.

But britain has been known for mad cow outbreaks, as has canada, the united states has had them as well but to a much smaller degree. These outbreaks occured because they were feeding cow to cow as a cheap source of protien. Mad cow is something that rarely develops in cows usually very old cows, so near never possible in a food supply normally. Mad cow is transmitted from meat in the brain and spine.

Feeding cow leftovers to other cows is how mad cow spread so quickly for a disease that had been non existent in the food supply prior, while countries like brazil had no mad cow outbreaks(though many hoof and mouth outbreaks) because theirs were always grass fed as grass was basically free for them due to how massive their grasslands are, argentina is another nation similar to brazil.

Case and point, given britain had been known for cheap proteins that led to their mad cow outbreak I do not buy the whole grass fed thing.
 
I do not buy the grass fed cow thing, as far as I know brazil is the only country really doing that as the standard, and they only do that because everything else costs money and their country is mostly grassland.

But britain has been known for mad cow outbreaks, as has canada, the united states has had them as well but to a much smaller degree. These outbreaks occured because they were feeding cow to cow as a cheap source of protien. Mad cow is something that rarely develops in cows usually very old cows, so near never possible in a food supply normally. Mad cow is transmitted from meat in the brain and spine.

Feeding cow leftovers to other cows is how mad cow spread so quickly for a disease that had been non existent in the food supply prior, while countries like brazil had no mad cow outbreaks(though many hoof and mouth outbreaks) because theirs were always grass fed as grass was basically free for them due to how massive their grasslands are, argentina is another nation similar to brazil.

Case and point, given britain had been known for cheap proteins that led to their mad cow outbreak I do not buy the whole grass fed thing.
We don't use American milk. They give them growth hormones that are illegal in Canada and Europe. It makes the cows give 10% more milk.
 
We don't use American milk. They give them growth hormones that are illegal in Canada and Europe. It makes the cows give 10% more milk.
Well growth hormones bad but feeding cows to cows alright by canada and uk? I seem to recall canada uk europe and the middle east being the epicenters of mad cow ie places where feeding cow to cow was acceptable and common.

Funny people dying is deemed better than having growth hormones in cows. What is even worse is the third world like brazil venezuela argentina russia etc have better track records than the uk and canada on their cattle.
 
The only time cows are not grass fed in the UK is during winter when the grass doesn't grow.
I would love to see the evidence you have that cattle in South America have better track records than those of UK or Canada.

Does South America have cattle passports?
 
This topic is aimed at anyone who's spent time in the UK.

I've often heard that there's quite a difference between UK and US milk so I thought it was time to ask.
Have you been in the UK and tried our milk which is only from grass-fed cows (as far as I know we don't have any cows raised on corn as we don't have mighty corn surpluses) and if you have did you tase a difference and was it better or worse?

It's an honest question and all opinions are welcome.
Fire away.
Unfortunately the milk industry is not a simple straight from the cows teat to you kind of thing. Modern technology is such that all milk is put through a process where it is turned into powder and then reconstituted and sold in bottles. It is the reconstruction that gives you the quality of milk. So it really makes no difference what the cow is fed on. It is what process is used before the milk gets to you.

I am not sure whether england or america has a raw milk industry but if they do and you get the chance to try. Then the difference between real milk from a cow and the processed equivalent from the industry are two entirely seperate things.
 
I've noticed that British milk has an odd but familiar accent and often tastes like tea.
 
I spent the first 10 years of my life of Dairy Farm, and the cows ate a lot more grass than anything else.
The only time they were given grains, was the feed trough at milking time.
The routine was the girls were all waiting at the gate at about 6:00 am, having been out eating and sleeping at night.
First milking, and they went back to pasture until about 4:00 pm, when they would head back to the second milking.
All told about 4 pounds of feed per cow per day, It seems like I remember that a cow can usually eat about 100 pounds of grass per day.
For winter time, Hay from summer spring and fall is put up.
 
I've noticed that British milk has an odd but familiar accent and often tastes like tea.

Considering the amount of tea we drink it wouldn't surprise me if it somehow managed to find its way into the water system and then into the cows.
I'm a coffee person myself.

I've done a bit of a google search and it seems that UK milk is indeed different to US milk. US milk is pasteurized and homogenised and UK milk is just pasteurised.
Again I'd be interested in people who've had time with both just to hear what they think.
Which milk makes better tea and coffee?
 
Let's say you have a tiny island with shitty weather and you need to produce food for a population. The worst food:land ratio possible is cows. Do they have cows in Japan? No. Should they have cows in England? No. So, fundamentally it's ****ed up. It's unnatural. We should expect something terrible.
 
I spent the first 10 years of my life of Dairy Farm, and the cows ate a lot more grass than anything else.
The only time they were given grains, was the feed trough at milking time.
The routine was the girls were all waiting at the gate at about 6:00 am, having been out eating and sleeping at night.
First milking, and they went back to pasture until about 4:00 pm, when they would head back to the second milking.
All told about 4 pounds of feed per cow per day, It seems like I remember that a cow can usually eat about 100 pounds of grass per day.
For winter time, Hay from summer spring and fall is put up.

That sounds like what I've seen here.
I think what shocks me is the sight of the vast megafarms you have where there's no grass to be seen and they only seem to feed on what we call sweetcorn.

I'd imagine the corn for cows is somehow different than what we have in tins in the supermarket?
 
Let's say you have a tiny island with shitty weather and you need to produce food for a population. The worst food:land ratio possible is cows. Do they have cows in Japan? No. Should they have cows in England? No. So, fundamentally it's ****ed up. It's unnatural. We should expect something terrible.

They do indeed have cows in Japan.
I'd love to one day be rich enough to try Kobe beef which is the most expensive beef in the world.

We've had cows in the UK for thousands of years I'm unsure what the problem is.
The UK is not tiny, it's not the size of the US but it isn't tiny.
 
That sounds like what I've seen here.
I think what shocks me is the sight of the vast megafarms you have where there's no grass to be seen and they only seem to feed on what we call sweetcorn.

I'd imagine the corn for cows is somehow different than what we have in tins in the supermarket?
I do not think the price of milk would allow a dairy to make a profit only feeding cows corn.
Dairy's are barely in business as it is.
 
That's trying too hard, Peter.

I'd just like to try it.
The UK has a breed of cow called Aberdeen Angus which is considered pretty darn good.
 
The only time cows are not grass fed in the UK is during winter when the grass doesn't grow.
I would love to see the evidence you have that cattle in South America have better track records than those of UK or Canada.

Does South America have cattle passports?
For one brazil and argentina only grass feed, and always have, it is not a thing of health or bragging rights, it is simply because grass is abundant year round there, which is also why their beef is so cheap, they do not have to buy feed, their own nations naturally grow enough feed to support massive cattle farming.

There have only been 2 cases of mad cow from brazil, both from old cows and neither hit the food supply, britain on the other hand had quite a few enter the food supply and even had to wipe out millions of cows over mad cow.

Here is an archived article from nytimes in 1996 talking about britain having to kill 15k cows a day to combat mad cow spread, something an extent no other nation ever had to do, the only places close were canada and the middle east.
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/040396mad-cow-disease.html
 
For one brazil and argentina only grass feed, and always have, it is not a thing of health or bragging rights, it is simply because grass is abundant year round there, which is also why their beef is so cheap, they do not have to buy feed, their own nations naturally grow enough feed to support massive cattle farming.

There have only been 2 cases of mad cow from brazil, both from old cows and neither hit the food supply, britain on the other hand had quite a few enter the food supply and even had to wipe out millions of cows over mad cow.

Here is an archived article from nytimes in 1996 talking about britain having to kill 15k cows a day to combat mad cow spread, something an extent no other nation ever had to do, the only places close were canada and the middle east.
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/040396mad-cow-disease.html

Firstly that report was from 1996 and we've sorted the problem and secondly, the reason the UK was slaughtering so many was we went massively overboard and slaughtered herds in the vicinity of cases even when they had no cases themselves.
I remember because there was much discussion at the time about the fact that so many healthy animals were being killed.
 
Firstly that report was from 1996 and we've sorted the problem and secondly, the reason the UK was slaughtering so many was we went massively overboard and slaughtered herds in the vicinity of cases even when they had no cases themselves.
I remember because there was much discussion at the time about the fact that so many healthy animals were being killed.
Most of the problem then was the uk and most of europe then used meat and bone meal, which was usually other cows and also sheep leftovers as cheap protein, which greatly spread the problem. Such methods were unused in south america as feed costs money and it is abundandtly growing for free, america used corn or soybeans as cheap protein.

It was just the point that poor choices and standards were used for many decades, the scottish angus cows were the only ones really free from the problem because they were actually grass fed the entire time instead of using cheap commercial feed.
 
Most of the problem then was the uk and most of europe then used meat and bone meal, which was usually other cows and also sheep leftovers as cheap protein, which greatly spread the problem. Such methods were unused in south america as feed costs money and it is abundandtly growing for free, america used corn or soybeans as cheap protein.

It was just the point that poor choices and standards were used for many decades, the scottish angus cows were the only ones really free from the problem because they were actually grass fed the entire time instead of using cheap commercial feed.

What you feed animals will effect the way it tastes. The moose in Newfoundland have a pine taste to them they eat a lot of pine needles
 
Unfortunately the milk industry is not a simple straight from the cows teat to you kind of thing. Modern technology is such that all milk is put through a process where it is turned into powder and then reconstituted and sold in bottles. It is the reconstruction that gives you the quality of milk. So it really makes no difference what the cow is fed on. It is what process is used before the milk gets to you.

I am not sure whether england or america has a raw milk industry but if they do and you get the chance to try. Then the difference between real milk from a cow and the processed equivalent from the industry are two entirely seperate things.

The milk in the states comes straight from the cow to the pasteurization vat to the bottling plant or bulk distribution for manufacturing. It is only dehydrated and rehydrated for either making powdered milk or for manufacturing of other foods. Raw milk unpasteurized has been made illegal by many states. We used to have thing called a milkman, where milk was delivered daily in glass bottles straight from the dairy after pasteurization and bottling on site.
 
What you feed animals will effect the way it tastes. The moose in Newfoundland have a pine taste to them they eat a lot of pine needles

I can vouch for that.

I was present in a very small (converted from an old farmhouse) dairy in Wisconsin when they brought the milk in from one farm known for its grass fed only cattle. They had to split the milk into different batches because of the grassy smell/taste.

In addition when we lived in northern Florida and didn't have that much money we would buy ground beef from a local butcher who had his cattle eating the local scrub brush .... The smell from cooking burgers was bad and there was a not so pleasant herbal funk to the beef patties.. Ketchup and mustard werent condiments. They were necessities.
 
Let's say you have a tiny island with shitty weather and you need to produce food for a population. The worst food:land ratio possible is cows. Do they have cows in Japan? No. Should they have cows in England? No. So, fundamentally it's ****ed up. It's unnatural. We should expect something terrible.

Actually cattle uses land that typically cannot be used for row crops or grains and the like, making the most of the ground that is available.
 
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