Do most or all of you use iodine as an antiseptic? I know that in big commercial milking they do. You see, I'm trying to figure out how I can get some iodine free milk. Reason being that I have celiac disease in the rash form. Iodine is needed to create the chemical reaction to the gluten antibodies in my skin which makes the rash break out. Now, we can't live without iodine so going iodine free is impossible. But there are times when I need to limit my intake of iodine. Among the foods high in iodine are milk & soft cheeses, butter etc.... because of the use of the iodine as a cleaning agent.
I guess, in short, I'm asking if this is common among small farms? Is it possible I could find a local, small dairy outfit where I could buy milk? Because I LOVE my dairy!

When we milk, we use a bucket that has two compartments. One compartment has hot water, a bit of dish soap plus 4 drops of tea tree oil.

The second compartment has just water and 4 drops of tea tree oil. Each compartment gets its own little towel.

I thoroughly wash the udder and teats with the first water and towel from the first compartment, then using the towel and water from the second compartment I clean everything off.

Doing this delivers a squeaky clean udder, and we've never dealt with mastitis mid-lactation.*

* We've dealt with mastitis, but it came on directly after calving due to various complications and wasn't a result of unsanitary conditions.

Thanks Dave! So I need to find someone locally who does it like you do or another equally good method without the use of iodine. Would you say calling my local Ag. Extension Agent might be how to find such a farmer?

Just FYI, I did call "organic dairy" companies from making a list of the ones sold in the grocery store. They all replied that the iodine is used in their production.

I suspect it's more about iodine in the feed than in any sanitary practices. I believe you have a very difficult challenge ahead of you to find what you're looking for. Maybe you need a nice little dairy goat.

I knew there was iodine in the feed too. Why is that Dave? What is in the iodine that it needs to be put in the feed?

Hummm.... goat milk. Not sure. Truth to tell I've never had goats milk. Guess I ought to find someone who has one & at least taste it.

I'm not educated on that at all, Ann, sorry. Surely Anna or Kathleen or someone else can speak much more on it than I can.

As for goat's milk, I never found it objectionable. I actually liked it.

With all the flap about getting milk directly from the farm(er), I would recommend you NOT contact your extension agent. It is a VERY hot topic here in Wisconsin. Since I was not in charge of nutrition when we had the dairy herd (SU was, I did the milking) I can't say what was in the mineral pack we added to the TMR. But, I know that iodine is a necessary element for health. Probably a trace mineral/element, like selenium.

Oh. Thanks Anna for the heads up about the extension agent. Yes, I know iodine is a necessary element but the amt. of it we need is far less than we get these days. And with my condition; I have to sometimes limit the amt. I take in to the min. requirement & sometimes even go low iodine for no more than a 2 week period at a time.
This means I have to make choices. Here are some of the foods high in iodine: Egg yolks, seafood of any kind, spinach, turnip greens & all the other greens, ham, lima beans, asparagus, many of the dried bean family, milk, butter, cheeses made from cow milk (except the really hard cheeses). There are plenty of other foods containing iodine which are lower in content. So you see I have to do a balancing act between getting calcium & B vitamins from food & not getting high levels of iodine. I am taking vitamins but I believe it's better to get your vitamins from food than from pills. If I could get iodine free milk then I could "have my cake & eat it too" (except I can't eat cake anymore).

Anyway, thanks for your input.

In Hoard's Dairyman January 25,2012 there was this note under Farm Flashes:

THANK YOU Kathleen!

I never did the spray thing, always dipped. I figured that the spray had less of a chance to get where it actually HAD to be to do the work for which it was intended..........spraying spastically all over the cow just didn't cut it for me.

The thing about contacting dairies for milk is that it wouldn't be pasteurized unless they have their own processing plant, and if you've never had raw milk, you would probably end up with more trouble than you have now. Most Americans have lost the ability to digest raw milk because it just isn't available, an in many states, illegal to sell. My husband says you could buy a cow ;)

Don't think I haven't thought about buying a cow. I do love cows. I don't know why.

Kathleen, the article you posted demonstrates my point perfectly. The US RDA for iodine is 150 mcg per day. So you can see what with drinking milk & eating butter & cheeses, as well as using them in cooking PLUS the iodine we get from different foods we eat that we are getting far more than that 150 mcg per day that we need. Normally, I don't suppose this hurts people but who really knows huh? However, for people like myself as well as people with certain thyroid conditions that much iodine can be in a certain sense "toxic".

Now, I'm crossing my fingers because I've found a dairy operation locally who pasteurizes but doesn't homogenize. They sell their milk AND CHEESE through, among other places, a fresh fruit & vegetable store just about 2 miles from me. I have a call in to them inquiring about the iodine in the milking process. I don't think there is any iodine in their feed as they grown all their own feed for the cows. But I have inquired about that as well.

http://wainwrightdairy.com/

I hope, I hope, I hope.......

Good luck! I don't know whether it is true for dairymen, but beef producers offer their cows free choice minerals in addition to the feed - home grown or otherwise. The minerals I feed contain 60 ppm iodine.

Thank you Porkpal. That is good to know. I hadn't considered the mineral blocks (salt licks?). I'm not really sure how the iodine in feed or in the mineral blocks affect the end content in the milk if at all. I know that it isn't an issue with the meat itself. I will have to do some further research on the subject. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

I have done much research & am unable to find anything concrete as to how much iodine ingestion by cows ends up in the milk or any of the meat. The only thing I can find is that organ meats are much higher in iodine content which makes sense.
I did hear back from Wainwright Farm as to their use of iodine in the milking process. They do not use iodine pre milking. They do use an iodine wash on the cows after milking. There are conflicting opinions in the scientific community as to how much if any topical iodine is absorbed through the skin & this applies to humans as well.
I have bought some of their milk as well as their cheddar cheese. My thoughts are that their products have to contain far less iodine than anything else I can lay my hands on at present. I will just have to do food challenges to see how it affects me.
I would like to thank you all who have responded to this inquiry.