Switzerland does not have the monopoly on that. I know people here like to think it's true but it's not.

There are lots of small farms in the U.K. too where animal welfare is of the utmost importance. On some of them, lots of the cows have names and distinct characters.


On the photo below - it's an English farm. The milk from these actual cows produced some of the products sold at U.K. Starbucks.

It's not all bad in the rest of the world.

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How do black cows produce such brown calves?

They're mixed race.

No actually the calves are Jerseys and the older ones I think are a Gloucestershire cross-breed.

They're together in the same field along with a few sheep too.

Shouldn’t your first sentence be ‘Switzerland doesn’t have the monopoly on that.’ ?

Yes, thanks!


On the topic of milk here though, and having talked to local farmers here. They have the same problem as those smaller farmers in the U.K. - namely they don't make much money, if any from milk production.

It always amazes me how cheap milk is. Would anyone stop buying it if it was twice the price? I wouldn't.

Indeed, 1.20 CHF per liter

I had exactly the same question some time ago to the local farmer from whom we buy our milk and he told me that actually there's less demand as the Swiss are apparently drinking less. However, these dairy farmers are somewhat stuck with their cows and supply seem to be pretty static and are driving prices down simply due to oversupply. I have no figures to back this up, just the story of the local guy which does look credible

Some farmers around us (central Switzerland) are switching from milk production to other farming including raising beef cattle.

But making the transition is expensive with medium term losses so I guess some are indeed reluctant to switch.

Yeah and the natural response would be to scale up the farm to still make a margin on volume, driving the prices further down. That's what happened in the EU. And then after trying to put quotas they started dumping it in Africa. Swiss milk is better because it doesn't destroy local farmers in africa and does not contribute to creating famines and poverty.

I lived in the United States most of my life, back before they started experimenting with food, and in Switzerland for last 5 years.

Without any further discussion needed...

The dairy products including milk are by far better here in Switzerland than the USA.

I visited the US just a few months ago and what I would consider as the best normally available Organic Milk at a national level is Horizon Vitamin D. Of course at a local level better choices may be available for the proper price.

https://horizon.com/organic-dairy-pr.../organic-milk/

Coop charges about 10 francs for 6 liters of Swiss Bio milk, which is about 1.5 gallons in the US. Horizon Organic milk will command about the same equivalent cost of about $10 for about the same amount.

I do like the Horizon Full Fat 3-4% Vitamin D...

But, I will definitely say the Swiss Milk Bio (is definitely better) Non-Bio, (probably still better)

I would also add that the Chicken Eggs in the USA are basically terrible compared to Swiss Bio Eggs.

Here one can purchase Swiss Farm fresh eggs (10-12) for about 6 francs or so maybe a bit more. They will have a golden sunshine like yolk and cook well and leave one satisfied.

In the US the crap they are calling eggs these days should be illegal. A dozen eggs for $1-2... yah right???

Best I could find in the local area of the US I visited recently, was Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs about $6-7 for 12.

https://peteandgerrys.com

They were about 95% the same as a person can get from Swiss Bio Eggs.

Raw milk (if that's really what it is) carries a much higher risk of carrying dangerous bacteria for no real benefits. https://theconversation.com/raw-milk...re-real-124595

The risks are mitigated with proper care which is being taken when you buy directly from the farm automats which are both sterile and if i remember correctly at a constant 4c. Re benefits, i keep culturing raw milk and making cultured butter from raw milk simply because the taste and texture are very different from the pasteurized milk. Our family have been drinking it for years, well before we came to Switzerland and see no reason whatsoever not to continue. Cultured raw milk butter is something that literally has nothing to do with the butter you buy from the shelf.

And the worst regarding to preserving quality of the milk.

Similar here though, Migros do 15 imported eggs for chf3.30

Wrong. It comes also in carton containers!

Why do you write that?

Thanks for worrying but we boil it before drinking it. After boiling it, a thick fat layer forms at the top, remove it, add some sugar, spread it on bread....heaven

OP here. Very appreciative for all the responses. Am replying to a few below but appreciate all the responses.

Agreed. I'm interested in both health and taste "betterness," a question that can pursued along different tracks if results diverge. Am asking partly for the sake of our milk-loving toddler, and partly to settle a dispute with a EU-native friend new to CH who's fanatical about such things (and insists without much evidence that we buy only bio milk even here).


I've always thought that Swiss cows have the "best" (or at least unsurpassed) conditions so must produce the best yogurt, too, but surprisingly have come to prefer Monoprix bio plain yogurt over just about any Coop/Migros plain yogurt I've tried. I've also been really puzzled by the list of ingredients on Swiss plain (Nature) yogurt labels, which almost always contain "Milchprotein," "Magermilchpulver," and/or "Rahm" -- in addition to Vollmilch. Shouldn't Vollmilch be the only ingredient? Why are those other milk byproducts added? Is this just a different labeling practice?


Thanks for this reference. Do such food regulations for the EU/EEA automatically apply to CH as well (since CH doesn't strictly belong to those entities), and/or does CH usually follow suit in such matters while drafting its own regulations, or does CH have separate and perhaps still stricter policies? As part of the bigger picture, I'm wondering about the extent to which the perception of Swiss food purity (compared to the rest of the world in general, not just agribusiness-fraught US) is grounded in real policies/practices.


Interesting; I too have heard it said in CH that (Irish brand, also sold in the US) Kerrygold is the best-tasting butter around.


Do you mean you believe food regulations are weaker in DE, or the cows there graze on duller grass or…?

Thanks, also helpful to know.

Agreed on Coop LF milk, and we also ended up shopping at Coop more often than Migros due to the milk.

Thanks to this comment and several others pointing out the barriers to bio certification. Agreed on beets in plastic, though I continue to buy them.

Thanks for these and subsequent posts re: the low prices. Fascinating background and slightly sad. This encourages me to drink more milk while we’re still here!


Among US organic milks I like Horizon as well as Organic Valley, Maple Hill, and Amish Country Farms (available on the east coast), but yes, the milk enthusiast in my family agrees that Coop bio full milk is still better taste-wise than those.