Why 145 degrees?-Low Temp Pasteurization

Our family's journey to producing low-temperature pasteurized non-homogenized milk (and selling raw milk on our farm) started out with a very skeptical set of dairy owners, but ended with the resolution to a family joke.  In 2004 when Craig married a milk intolerant wife, he started a family joke that lasted over 6 years.  He married someone that hadn't drank milk in over a decade and moved her to live on the family dairy, and she would soon work on the dairy with the rest of the family.  Yup, that was my claim to fame in the Miller family.  

My milk intolerance manifested itself in severe migraines.  In early 2010, a friend told me I should drink raw milk.  The look on my face was probably priceless.  I remember saying, "uh, I don't think so. We don't drink out of the bulk tank that would be gross."  They preceded to tell me that I needed to drink raw milk because it was highly possible that my milk intolerance wouldn't react.  

That started us on our journey of learning about drinking raw milk and low temperature pasteurized milk.  We quickly learned that dairying for raw milk consumption is drastically different than dairying for commercial sale of milk to the cooperatives.  Through lots of research, we discovered that there is a world out there of milk, which does not limit consumers to only drinking what is on their grocery store shelves.  

And yes, I can now drink low temperature pasteurized milk (or raw) without getting a migraine, but give me something with traditional grocery store milk and I'll have a migraine within 30 minutes of consuming it.

The picture below shows a nifty illustration of how heat effects the milk.  In addition, the video and information found here http://draxe.com/video/pasteurization-homogenization-raw-milk/ is some of the easiest to understand.  We always encourage people to do their own research, but we have seen first hand how the milk that is raw or low temperature pasteurized makes a difference in people's ability to enjoy dairy.  

And the answer to the question of why we pasteurized at 145 degrees, because that is the lowest legal temperature that can be transported and sold in grocery stores in Texas.  

(Raw milk must be purchased at the farm.)

What's with the name?

We always get asked about our name.  It often gets spelled incorrectly or said incorrectly, but when you get it you don't forget it!  

Where did it come from?  

• In the late 70's when Billy and Shorty began buying registered Holsteins they had to come up with an official name for the dairy that the cows could be registered under.  With our family name being Miller, they found that all the simple names like Miller Dairy, Miller Farms, Mill-Tex and so forth were already taken.  
• So, after playing with Miller and dairy terms they came up with MILL-KING.
• Craig likes to joke that his dad came up the the name and no one has had the heart to change it, but the truth is that we really love our name. We have incorporated elements into our brand related to royalty like purple and a crown.  
• And once people get the connection between Mill-King and milking they remember us, and then since our label is purple we are easy are spot.

April Showers

A wonderful way to start out the week. Love seeing those rain clouds.

We are getting showers this morning!

This is the view out my office window this morning. You can see the cows grazing in the far background, enjoying the rain showers and green grass.  I couldn't help snapping these pics to capture the blessing of the rain-even if they're a little blurry!  ;)

Getting a Facelift

We are in the process of upgrading our labels and our logo has under gone a facelift too.  More to come......

Tales from the Farm

We've had so many people ask about the farm and about us that we wanted to start a blog to keep our customers up to date on what's happening at Mill-King. Farm life is never dull so we're never short on stories, but time to tell them sometimes runs slim.