The study is the first large-scale, U.S.-wide comparison of organic and conventional milk, testing nearly 400 samples of organic and conventional milk over an 18-month period. Conventional milk had an average omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 5.8, more than twice that of organic milk’s ratio of 2.3. The researchers say the far healthier ratio of fatty acids in organic milk is brought about by a greater reliance on pasture and forage-based feeds on organic dairy farms.

A large body of research has shown that grass and legume forages promote cow health and improve the fatty acid profile in organic dairy products. Still, said WSU researcher Charles Benbrook, the study’s lead author, “We were surprised by the magnitude of the nutritional quality differences we documented in this study.”

Personally,  I am not at all surprised that researchers found that organic milk from dairy animals that were fed a grass based diet was healthier.   Just like our free range chickens produce MUCH healthier eggs, so too our goats who have a grass-based diet produce MUCH healthier milk that we prefer to drink raw in order to maximize those nutrients. 

You can read the whole report on the study here: 
https://news.wsu.edu/2013/12/09/researchers-see-added-nutritional-benefits-in-organic-milk/#.U4QCtvldU0U

About 3:30pm this afternoon Eve kidded with twins.   First born was the multicolored doe and the black/white buckling  was second.  Both of the kids have their dads blue eyes and it appears that it the doe kid at least may be polled as well.  She will more than likely be retained.

This was my husbands first solo kidding and I am very proud of him for sticking around and taking care it all.

Today is day 144 for Eve and we are really hoping that she will kid on her due date.  If she does her kids will all have names related to the Mt. Saint Helen eruption that occurred on that date.

Last Sunday I started out to give e Eve her maternity trim but it turned into a full body trim because she just looks so different my curiosity got the better of me.   Before she was a light caramel color and now she looks so elegant in her black and gold "evening wear".    She is bred to Elijah so blue eyed & polled kids are a possibility. 

I love the udders my first buck, Maple Sunshine,  put on his daughters and when it was time for him to move on to another home I thought I had plenty of his daughters in my herd.   And then two years later I realized I had sold or traded away all but two.   I tried to get the last doe kid he sired here back, but  no luck.

I knew the person that had purchased him from me had subsequently sold him out of state so it looked like I was going to have to be content with the two lovely ladies I had.   And then out of the I blue, I had the opportunity to acquire the last kids he sired in Oregon along with their lovely dam Bristol.

The doe kid (far right) has a little more white, but she is the same shade of gold as her sire and has his golden eyes as well.  I wanted to name her something that used at least part of his name, but I was over ruled as we watched she and her brother  romp through a patch of buttercups.   Yup after consciously not choosing that name for the past seven years I gave in and agreed.   So she is Buttercup and her brother has been nicknamed "Butterscotch" .   He will be available a a wether when he is weaned.