Forensic Biology Meets Raw Milk
Raw milk farmers come from all walks of life. Sarah Williams, from Bees Knees Farm in Virginia, has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She has worked in Virginia’s crime laboratory, spent time in Iraq helping to get crime laboratories started, and is now an Associate Professor who performs research in Forensic Science. It may seem surprising that Sarah is also a goat milk farmer, but actually her experience with forensics complements her work to produce clean, safe raw milk.
In her work as a forensic molecular biologist, Sarah was already familiar with systems and techniques for keeping things clean and preventing contamination. These skills naturally carried over into Sarah’s work on the farm, since proper cleanliness and hygiene are foundational to the production of low-risk raw milk. What a great synergy of skills!
Animal Husbandry to Rejuvenate Their Land
While Sarah focuses on raw milk production at the farm, her husband Dennis concentrates on raising forested Berkshire pigs and pastured poultry. They have worked hard to rejuvenate the land on their property in Virginia. Previously a commercial pine forest, their land turned out to have poor quality, acidic soil which was in dire need of improvement.
By purposefully keeping a variety of animals, Sarah and Dennis are successfully rebuilding their soil as they provide sustenance for their own family and many others. The Williams’ use intensive rotational grazing of their goats, chickens, pigs, rabbits, turkeys and horses on fresh pasture and woodland. This maximizes the benefits to both animals and land.
Continual Improvement
Hygienic milking practices along with management of farm conditions are important steps towards producing safe raw milk. Regular bacteria testing is essential. Milk bacteria testing serves as a verification step to assure that milk is being produced to meet high standards and dramatically reduces the potential of pathogen growth. RAWMI Listed farmers agree to test their milk at least once a month, and many choose to test even more often.
As a recent improvement, Sarah built an on-farm laboratory at Bees Knees Farm, to enable her to perform frequent bacterial testing of her goat’s milk. On-farm labs allow dairy farmers to test their milk more frequently and inexpensively, and such labs are also quite useful in allowing farmers to measure any impacts from changes in their milk production practices or systems.
Sharing Nutrition and Knowledge
In addition to producing a wide range of farm fresh foods for her local community, Sarah also has an online Herdshare School. What started as a hobby became a passion for producing clean, safe raw milk and encouraging others to do the same. Through her Herdshare School, Sarah mentors other farmers who are getting started with their own herdshares. We welcome Sarah Williams and Bees Knees Farm to the community of RAWMI Listed farmers.
