Most churches and most religions today, in 2019, experience dwindling attendance and financial pressure. The Quebec government has even banned religious symbols in parliament and wearing them at government jobs.

To keep the little monastery afloat, the nuns milked a small herd of goats, make goat cheese, (no quota needed for goats or goat milk), sell homemade soaps, honey, jam, preserves, bees wax candles, religious books and provided a small religious retreat. They located and purchased two cows that produce A2 milk for their own consumption. A2 milk is the fastest growing milk market in the world now.

Centuries ago, all cattle produced A2 milk. Only cows that have the A2 gene can produce A2 milk. Most milk cows today do not have the gene to allow them to produce A2 milk.

Through selective breeding, traits like higher milk production, better feet and legs, bigger size, healthier and longer life took precedence over selecting for the A2 gene.

To make the most of the A2 gene, the cows should be on pasture. Places like China, New Zealand, Australia, middle east countries, South America, Africa and some areas in the US, Europe, and Canada market and sell A2 milk.

A2 milk is similar to human breast milk and easier to digest, is advertised to reduce cholesterol, diabetes, heart problems, and even cancer.

The nuns read about A2 milk advantages and purchased two cows with the A2 gene and can produce A2 milk which they consume themselves.

On our farm, our family has milked cows since they arrived in Canada in the 1830s and consumed about eight liters per day ever since. Almost every day it was our own cow’s milk.

My grandfather who delivered milk with the horse and wagon used to say, “If you don’t drink the milk that your own cows produce you should not be allowed to sell it!” I do not know exactly how much home produced milk we drank or used cooking since 1830-something, but to my knowledge no one ever got sick or died from it.

In Quebec you are not to milk cows without a milk quota. Before you even apply for a quota your barn and milk house must pass milk board and government inspection. Before you can apply to ship milk, you must promise to ship a minimum amount. Fifteen very good milk cows could give enough milk.

Several years ago, the Quebec milk board investigated the A2 milk market. To bring the A2 milk from the farm to the dairy plant would require a different truck to keep the regular and A2 milk separate. There would have to be sufficient farms in an area producing only A2 milk to warrant having a separate milk truck.

Due to the lack of dairy cows in Quebec with the A2 gene, the lack of pasture in winter months, the willingness of dairy farms to adjust their breeding program to bring back cattle that can produce the A2 milk, and the small demand for A2 milk, the Quebec milk board decided to not pursue the A2 market. Hence the problem arose.

The nuns wanted to drink A2 milk, but there was none to buy in the store, and there was no market for A2 milk to the milk board.

When my grandfather delivered milk with the milk wagon, most residents in our town kept a cow to produce milk for the family.

They only bought milk in the fall and winter after their cow went dry.

Before going to school in the morning, someone had to find the cow at the community pasture and milk it. After school and before supper, someone had to find the cow again and milk her. This was often a job for a school child. In the 1930s, there was a greater chance that a cow living then and eating grass pasture produced A2 milk.

Quebec farmers are not supposed to spread manure in late fall. The best decomposition of corn stock residue happens when manure which contains both nitrogen and bacteria needed to break down corn residue. Most corn is combined after the cut-off date for spreading manure. If farmers spread manure on corn residue after the cut-off date for spreading without special permission from Quebec environment, the farmer is legally subject to a healthy fine.

The one time that I can think of that in Quebec, legal and common sense combine is the compulsory Quebec snow tire law. If you question this statement just take a drive on an Ontario highway when the first snowfall makes the road slippery and count the cars in the ditch.

Remember that staying legal prevents fines but using common sense keeps you living.

Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.

gladcrest@gmail.com

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