The cows, about 75 of them, graze and enjoy an unseasonably warm day on the 260-acre Bellevale farm in Baltimore County, about 20 miles north of downtown. It's a few hours until milking time.
Together they produce hundreds of gallons of raw milk that is sold to organic milk producer Horizon for about $3 a gallon. It's pasteurized and turned into cartons sold at the grocery store. Part of farmer Bobby Prigel thinks that's a shame.
There are enough people in Maryland who would pay $6 a gallon or more for the unpasteurized, or raw, milk directly from him - if that were legal. State health officials say raw milk is dangerous because it can carry E. coli, salmonella and other nasty bacteria, and has already made many people around the state and nation sick.
"It would be easy for me to sell it," said Prigel, a fourth-generation dairy farmer who drinks the milk from his cows. "I wouldn't have to change a thing."
Raw milk consumers are a small and not-yet-mainstream faction of a larger movement of people who have turned to food grown locally, organically and unadulterated by excessive processing in an effort to lead a healthier lifestyle. They reject the safety warnings because they believe raw, also called "real" or "fresh," milk is more nutritious.
Many are getting it from illicit drop-off sites set up by farmers in Pennsylvania, where it's legal.
The demand has reached such a pitch that Del. J.B. Jennings, a Republican who represents Baltimore and Harford counties and who recently gave up cattle farming to join the military, introduced legislation Friday to make it legal for farmers to sell raw milk to consumers who buy a share in one of their cows. It's legal in Maryland to drink the milk if you own the cow, but the state has refused in the past to allow such "cow shares."
He is the third Maryland legislator to offer a bill in three years. He believes the bill will have more support than ever, though its prospects for passage remain slim.
The General Assembly has already approved a pilot program that will allow a handful of Maryland farmers to sell cheese made from raw milk as long as it's aged 90 days, a process that mimics pasteurization. Three farms are expected to begin selling the cheese in the spring or summer. A small amount of raw-milk cheese made in Pennsylvania with Maryland milk is already available in local stores.
