Sold-out farm shops, smuggled deliveries and safety warnings: US battle over raw milk grows

In the US, raw milk is seen as anti-government by the right, anti-corporate by the left. Photograph: herazeusmom/Getty Images/500px

It’s 8am, and Redmond, an 11-year-old Brown Swiss dairy cow and designated matriarch of the Churchtown Dairy herd, has been milked in her designated stall. She is concentrating on munching hay; her seventh calf is hovering nearby.

The herd’s production of milk, sold unpasteurised in half-gallon and quart glass bottles in an adjacent farm store, sells out each week. It has become so popular that the store has had to limit sales.