Meat, Eggs, & Dairy

Well, we made an outing to the new Costco in Coralville on Wednesday (the grand opening day). No purchases made that day (it was rather a zoo), but I'm planning to make another trip down for a closer look. The selection of organic foods, and items with a limited ingredient list is much better than I've found at Sam's Club. And the prices, at least on things we are likely to purchase, seem to be better.

That being said, I figure our trips there will be no more than once a month (better for the budget, and fewer trips). And I doubt I will be buying any meat or eggs there. I'll stick to our local co-op for that.

When I went thru veterinary school in the early 1990's (UGA CVM, 1991), much of our large animal emphasis was on production medicine - essentially dealing with large groups of various species, pretty much all in confinement. In this situation, you could expect regular problems with infectious disease, parasites, and foot/leg problems.


Dairy operations once were considered big with 100 cows. Now, herds of 1,00 to 5,000 are common, with some over 15.000 cows (James Macdonald, et al, Changes in Size and Location of US Dairy Farms, Sept 2007; this is a portion of the full report Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming, if you are interested in reading more).


The more reading I'm doing, the less I think that huge operations are a good thing, for the environment around them or for those of us consuming the products from them. Sure, the price at the grocery store is cheap, but what about the other, hidden costs?


So, I'm working on shifting our purchases, particularly for meat & eggs, to local producers. People I've met, and where they are happy to have us visit the farm to see how they do things. As a side benefit, some of the best tasting meat I remember eating has come from these local farms. Yes, I pay more (quite a bit more - about 3 times the cheapest sale price for eggs at the grocery store). I think the trade-off is worth it, just for the flavor. If I get more nutrients and it's better for me? So much the better.


Dairy is one animal product I'm still working on. I like milk & cheese, and so do my kids. But I have yet to find a dairy operation close enough to us to make the price point difference work for our budget. I have experimented with making yogurt at home, with great success. I've considered trying cheesemaking, but haven't made that step (yet).