Raw Milk: Nourishing When It’s Safe

Raw milk is one of the most nourishing foods you can bring to your table—when it’s produced with care and tested for safety. At Twisted Ash Farm, we’ve always believed in education first. Our loyal supporters already know the questions to ask and why testing matters, but we also love helping those who are just beginning to explore raw milk feel confident that it can be enjoyed with low risk.
Here’s the reality: all foods can contain pathogens when not handled properly—even spinach or lettuce. But handling milk safely goes far beyond shiny equipment or a clean-looking milking parlor. “Visibly clean” has been proven again and again not to be enough. The difference lies in the invisible safeguards—blood work on the herd, consistent health monitoring, and strict testing before milk ever leaves the farm.

Four Questions to Ask Any Farmer

✅ Do you test the milk for bacteria daily, before it’s sold?
✅ Do you regularly do blood work and health screenings on the herd?
✅ What systems are in place to ensure the cows stay healthy and the milk stays safe?
✅ How transparent is the farm with their testing and results?

Standards Compared

FDA’s Grade A Raw Milk: SPC < 100,000 cfu/mL
FDA’s Grade A Pasteurized: SPC < 20,000 cfu/mL, Coliforms < 10 cfu/mL
RAWMI Standards: SPC < 5,000 cfu/mL, Coliforms < 10 cfu/mL (rolling 3-month average)
Twisted Ash Farm Standards: We cut the RAWMI numbers in half—and we don’t wait on rolling averages. We test every single day, and no milk leaves our farm unless it meets our stringent, ultra-low bacteria threshold.

Somatic Cell Count (SCC) and Mastitis

Another critical factor is somatic cell count (SCC), which measures udder health and mastitis risk. Pasteurization kills mastitis cells, but it doesn’t change the fact that high SCC milk comes from unhealthy cows.
FDA allows up to 750,000 cells/mL, measured at the bulk tank. Because that’s just an average, milk from sick cows with very high SCC can be “watered down” by healthy cows.
Industry considers 200,000 or less a sign of a healthy udder.
At Twisted Ash Farm, we are typically below 50,000 SCC—four times lower than the healthy threshold. We don’t just rely on averages. We test each cow weekly on-farm and also send samples monthly for full milk component analysis, including SCC. This ensures that milk from a cow with mastitis never enters your bottle.

Transparency Matters

Many small raw milk farms don’t test at all, or only test monthly, often from the bulk tank. Others may not understand the full range of testing that should be done—SPC, coliform, SCC, and blood work.
If you love your small farmer but live too far away to enjoy our milk, you can still help protect your access to raw milk by asking your farmer these questions and encouraging them to look at the Raw Milk Institute for best practices. This simple step protects families and helps prevent new anti-raw legislation from being created due to unintended consequences.
Another key difference: while most farms test at the bulk tank, we test from the finished bottle—the exact milk that ends up in your hands. That way, your family’s milk has been verified safe through the entire process, not just part of it.

Putting It in Perspective

The FDA’s Grade A raw milk standard for pasteurization allows up to 100,000 bacteria/mL, while pasteurized milk is allowed up to 20,000 bacteria/mL. Our milk consistently measures far below even pasteurized milk—while still being raw.
By choosing farms with strict safeguards like these, you’re not just protecting your family. You’re protecting everyone’s access to raw milk for the future. Because when safety is neglected, outbreaks of pathogens like Campylobacter or E. coli—or milk from cows with mastitis—can lead to restrictive legislation that hurts the entire community.
At Twisted Ash Farm, our RAWMI-inspired approach, our voluntary twice-as-stringent standards, our daily testing, cow-by-cow SCC monitoring, and our finished-bottle testing are what allow us to confidently provide milk that is both nourishing and low-risk. We’re proud to walk alongside you on this journey and to give your family peace of mind that your milk is backed by more than appearances—it’s backed by science, testing, and trust.

One More Way We Protect Families

By the way… another way we protect both your family and the future is by bottling only in recyclable glass—never plastic. Glass keeps milk colder, fresher, and free from microplastics, while also reducing waste. Like our testing standards, it’s one more way we show our commitment to doing things the right way.

With Gratitude

From our family to yours—we are deeply grateful for the support you’ve shown our little farm and our new Pantry venture. Every purchase and kind word encourages us to keep doing what we do best: bringing wholesome food from our farm to your table.

💛 With gratitude,
Angela & Tony — Twisted Ash Farm & Dairy
Stacie & Martin — Rustic Hen Acres