Bill would milk farmers dry of business

Durham (WTNH) - Connecticut farms that provide and sell raw milk say they may soon see a serious hit. They say a bill that would take raw milk off store shelves would be devastating to business.

Melynda Naples gets up at 4 in the morning, every morning to milk the cows; she does it twice a day.

She sells raw milk, right from the cow into the jug. There is even an honor box in the little family store.

Alan Astromowicz, a customer, is talking about hearings this month; the state wants to require more testing and the farmer to pay for it.

"There is no way we would be able to survive between that and them wanting to take it out of retail stores," Naples said. "It would be devastating."

Back in the old days, the farmers used to milk the cows by hand; it was less sanitary and there was no testing. Now the farmers have progressed and they use machines and there is a lot more testing going on. But there are now permit fees and farmers say if they have to pay for the testing it will put them out of business.

"They want to do monthly pathogen testing instead of quarterly, and it was thought to be about $16,000 for a 20 cow herd," Naples said. "But, as the commissioner said in his testimony, it would be more like $80,000 a year."

Naples is for more testing but doesn't want to be tested out of business. She has customers who drive to Durham from as far away as Hartford and Fairfield counties for the raw milk.

"We have many customers that are lactose intolerant," Naples said. "They can drink it very easily; we have people who can't drink homogenized milk and they can drink it."

The state is looking at all sides of the testing issue and no decision has been made.