![\"Kris](\"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Kris-Unger-cow-share-farmer.jpg\")
Kris and her husband own a dairy farm just outside of Cohoctah, Michigan. Kris farms by herself; her husband has a full-time job. She works harder than anyone you may likely know, and she\u2019s feisty<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cI am the only one working the farm now,\u201d she laughs, \u201cbut the cows make fantastic employees. They show up to work every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Conventional Dairy to Cowshare<\/h2>\n
Kris\u2019 conventional operation ran through the \u201cAssociation,\u201d the dairy monopoly that requires all milk created on premises be turned over to them.\u00a0 The farmer\u2019s family may consume it, but no milk may be sold apart from the association or the farmer is kicked out.<\/p>\n
Kris decided she had enough of this coercion in 2007 and converted her operation to a legal cowshare.\u00a0 Cowshare<\/em> means that other people own or lease cows and pay a boarding fee.\u00a0<\/strong> Kris maintains the animals\u2019 care and uses her high tech milking equipment (the same used for the conventional operation).\u00a0 Every family is assigned a day to collect their milk.<\/p>\n On the Unger\u2019s farm, the 297 families often drive over an hour to get there.\u00a0 They fill their own containers from the stainless steel holding tank, which keeps the milk at the perfect 34 degree temperature.\u00a0 Although it is legal in Michigan to do delivery, Kris simply doesn\u2019t have the time or the desire. \u201cPeople need to have a connection to the farm and to their own animals,\u201d she asserted.<\/strong><\/p>\n When I gawked at the number of 297 families, Kris told me, \u201cI should really send a \u2018thank you\u2019 note to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, because every time they cause problems, my cowshares grow. I increase by 10 families whenever they hassle anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n The word \u201chassle\u201d is an understatement.\u00a0 Kris is not alone in her story of governmental overreach, especially in the fine state of Michigan.\u00a0 For her, the trouble started when a dad, son, and an overnight friend got sick.<\/p>\n The mom made tacos \u201cso they wouldn\u2019t get food poisoning\u201d at the Detroit Tigers game that evening.\u00a0 The boys and Dad loaded up on food at home, and<\/em> on all the goodies at the game (in spite of Mom\u2019s concerns).\u00a0 The dad and son didn\u2019t feel well for a few days, but the overnight friend became very ill.\u00a0 His first hospitalization was for e-coli, the second for complications from the previous hospitalization.\u00a0 When the health board called, the family answered the raw milk question honestly, a question that always appears at the top of the list on the Health Department\u2019s questionnaire.\u00a0 No one remembered the guest having any raw milk.<\/strong><\/p>\n Not one member of 296 other families became ill.\u00a0<\/strong> The only commonality to the sick boy (likely without the milk) and the father\/son (likely with milk) is that those three attended a ballgame together.\u00a0 Remember, Mom also ate tacos and did not get sick.<\/p>\n On October 26, 2016, officials came to the Unger\u2019s door demanding lists of all cowshare owners forgetting that under our judicial system they need a proper warrant for such \u201cfact finding\u201d efforts. \u00a0When they came back with the warrant on September 1st<\/sup>, they also did an \u201cinspection,\u201d which would be more aptly labeled \u201ccontamination. \u201c<\/p>\n A lot of food wholly unconnected to E.coli (or to the \u201cokay\u201d cows) was disposed.\u00a0 This food is legally produced and privately owned. All in all the toll was $360 of honey destroyed, 2 dozen eggs confiscated, sauerkraut dumped, $610 of butchered chicken absconded, and (in an effort to protect the general public) cookies and apple muffins were properly dealt with (read: \u201cstolen) to uphold the law.<\/p>\n Kris asked the inspectors, \u201cIf one of my families had a baby and everyone left meals for her, then\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026then you would be illegally warehousing it. Against the law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAgainst the law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Legal culture develops out of property rights; this has held true for centuries of stable common law.\u00a0 The fact that there is an agency inspector presupposes that there is a just law to protect in the public\u2019s interest, even to the furthest extent of organic cookies and apple muffins.\u00a0 I am sure that the Dept of Ag inspectors for the great and beautiful State of Michigan had to take some science classes with labs<\/em>, so where is their adherence to sound scientific practices?<\/p>\n Does legal angst forego getting a warrant (editor\u2019s note: rookie mistake) or proper field sample collection?\u00a0<\/strong> Since when is it in the public\u2019s interest to contaminate and therefore ruin a bulk tank of milk without using aseptic collection methods?\u00a0 Are nitrile gloves not in the budget for the Great Lakes State?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s try out a hypothetical: let\u2019s say this well-meaning inspector got his ungloved hand in the milk sample after not washing his hands in the restroom\u2014of course the milk will test contaminated for coliforms!\u00a0 It is far from just law<\/em> to stand behind a legal fog of scientific principles poorly applied by those chosen to defend the common good.<\/p>\nLegal Farming Suffering Loss Due to Government Overreach<\/h2>\n
![\"milking](\"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/milking-machine-attached-to-udders.jpg\")
The inspector\u2019s conducted their \u201ccollection\u201d without hairnets or gloves, leaving machinery valves open as the security cameras in the barn later revealed.\u00a0 The coup de grace that this was a \u201cprofessional investigation\u201d was when one inspector unprepared to vault himself to the bulk tank\u2019s lid, opted to stand on Kris\u2019s coffee table (until her objection) and insert his upper body (without gloves or hairnet) into a food storage vat.\u00a0\u00a0 An inspector from the Department of Agriculture needed to \u201ccheck the cows\u201d, but wouldn\u2019t get closer than 20 feet away, never taking a manure sample. \u00a0Brilliantly, he declared, \u201cThey look okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"What](\"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/What-Happened-to-this-Michigan-Cow-Share.jpg\")
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