Supplements our dairy cows get for the best possible health and nutrition

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June 14, 2024

Miller's has always advertised our cow dairy as "100% grass fed". It's true. For food, the cows eat pasture (or dry pasture) only... and never grain.

But it's probably more accurate to say "100% grass fed +". This is because, in addition to pasture, the cows get a few supplements for optimal health... and therefore the best possible nutrition in the yummy food they make for us.

This is similar to you taking a magnesium supplement since our depleted soils don't provide enough in our food, drinking red raspberry leaf tea to strengthen your reproductive system, or reaching for Nux Vomica homeopathic at the first sign of tummy troubles.

I've had lengthy conversations with our farmers and supplement providers. And now, I'm breaking the avalanche of info down into easily digestible info for you (yes, the pun was intended).

What Supplements Our Dairy Cows Get & Why

Each supplement has a different purpose. On a whole, the supplements give our cows good health all around, including preventing disease, keeping good body condition, maintaining reproductive health, and so much more. Here's info on each supplement.

1- Organic Molasses

Molasses is naturally rich in antioxidants, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamin B6. But, the main reason it's given to our cows is to help them digest any fiber in the pasture.

Our molasses is certified organic, made from sugar cane grown in South America. It does NOT contain any apple cider vinegar or additives. It's 100% molasses, just like molasses you would buy for yourself.

Each cow is given about 2.5 cups of molasses per day. It's poured on top of the energy pellets.

2- A Blend of Minerals

Nowadays soils are so depleted, and that's why fortified foods and supplements are so commonplace. Although we put a lot of energy into maintaining good soil and naturally regenerating it year after year, they may be small imbalances.

Giving minerals keeps up excellent body condition and overall good health. Reproduction is better. Basically, everything is better in animals with the right balance and amount of minerals.

Our minerals are simply ground up rocks. They include phosphorous, calcium, selenium, magnesium, zinc, sulfur, potassium, etc.

Our forage (fresh and dry pasture) is tested regularly. Then, based on those results, a mineral blend is specially mixed for our cows. For example, let's say the forage was slightly low is phosphorous. Then, the mineral blend would have added phosphorous. Since they have slightly different needs, there's one blend for dairy cows and one for heifers (which are dairy cows that haven't given birth yet).

The cows are given about 1/2 pound of minerals per day. If milking, the amount correlates to how much milk a cow is making. The more milk she makes, the more minerals she gets. That's because making milk is hard work, and the cow likely needs an extra boost.

3- Homeopathic Remedies

We give our cows homeopathic remedies to both prevent and treat disease. To be clear, illness is rare in our herds since we put so much energy into maintaining their health naturally. And, we never give vaccines, antibiotics, or any kind of drugs.

Our homeopathic remedies come from Hahnemann Labs and Washington Homeopathic Products. Both companies have been around since the 1800s. All of the products we buy from them are labeled for humans, not animals. In fact, you may have the same remedies in your homeopathic collection at home!

Here are some examples of homeopathic remedies the cows may receive:

Pulsatilla - This is for a big range of things. It gives cows a stronger heat, so it's good to give before conceiving. It's given preventatively after a cow freshens (gives birth) to help clean them out and discharge everything. It also helps with mastitis. Pulsatilla is also known as "pus-atilla", because it cleans out puss.
Sepia - This is given for fertility. If there’s a cow that doesn’t want to settle, we give sepia. And most times that works. It's not a guarantee but a big help.
Belladonna - This is given if a cow has a fever.
Ferrum Phos - This is given for a cough or respiratory infection.

The remedies come as little white pills. The farmers dissolve them in water, and the cows drink it. Different amounts are given to each cow, depending on her needs. And sometimes one works for one cow and not another. Our farmers pay close attention to each cow so they can make adjustments as needed.

4- Energy Pellets (Simply Alfalfa + Flaxseed Oil)

Cows get a lot of protein from forage... but not a lot of energy. Just a little flaxseed oil can go a long way. It helps keep the cows healthy. We can see this visibly with firmer manure.

Since the farmers didn't want to simply pour oil over hay, they worked with a natural feed supplier to make some natural alfalfa pellets just for Miller's. It's just ground up alfalfa (which we often grow in our pastures) along with organic flaxseed oil.

This is a very low percent of their diet. Each cow is given up to 1.5 pounds of energy pellets per day. If a cow produces a lot of milk, a little less is given. If a cow is having trouble producing milk, a little more is given.

Omega 6/3 Ratio Should be Optimal at 1:1

We pay attention to the details, and that includes the omega 6/3 ratio. Humans should consume a 1:1-4:1 omega 6/3 ratio. But, the conventional American diet is currently providing a 20:1 ratio (thanks corn and soy... but mostly corn). And that can result in a host of diseases including chronic inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, asthma, depression, fatigue, etc.

The good news is that truly grass fed dairy naturally has a 1:1 ratio, which is optimal. When selecting supplements for our cows, we keep this in mind. We want to provide our animals and customers with the best health.

For example, we could have chosen sunflower oil for the energy pellet, but sunflower oil has a 40:1 omega 6/3 ratio. That would have put everything out of balance. Instead, we went with flaxseed oil, which has a 1:4 ratio. The 1:4 ratio of flaxseed oil combined with the 3:1 ratio of molasses brings us about a 1:1 ratio in our feed.

We are Above & Beyond the Grassfed Certification

Basically all dairy cows everywhere get a supplement of some sort. Do you know what the grassfed certification requires? We're NOT certified, but it's an important comparison.

The American Grassfed Association (AGA) is the most popular grassfed certification in the US. When you buy grass-fed milk in the store, it's likely allowed to be labeled like that because they have this particular certification.

The AGA's certification allows all the supplements we feed, including molasses, minerals, alfalfa, and flaxseed oil. Plus, a lot more, too.

The AGA's certification requires cows to never be fed grain or cereal grain (including corn, soy, wheat, oats, sunflower meal, etc). But... pseudo-grains are allowed (including peas, lentils, buckwheat, canola, etc) grown to maturity and fed as the grain/seed only. And they may also be fed in manufactured cubes and pellets.

The amount of supplemental feed of pseudo-grains can be up to 25% of the total daily intake (or 0.625% of body weight). I mean, wow. That's a lot of food other than pasture!

What do you think about supplements? Do you personally take any? Are you ok with our dairy cows getting some?

I'd love to hear from you. Comment below.

Our bone broth tested A+++ for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

*Originally published on 3/14/25. Updated on 4/15/25. Over the past few months a bunch of people asked us if we tested our bone broth for toxic heavy metals. When we get the same question a lot, we of course look into it. My first question was --- Is there an issue with toxic metals in bone broth? As it turns out, yes, there "can" be an issue! Heavy metals are naturally present in our environment. We need the "good" heavy metals to thrive: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc. But, we can 100% do without the toxic heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. Too many toxic heavy metals can lead to a host of pretty awful issues: nervous system damage, cardiovascular issues, cancer, endocrine disruption, kidney damage, and so on. Our body is designed to excrete heavy metals through urine (and a little bit through sweat, hair, and breastmilk too)... but only so much. There's a limit. If you're overloaded, your body will store those heavy metals in your bones, blood, tissues, and organs. Similarly, if an animal is exposed to heavy metals via food, water, air, dust, or soil, those heavy metals accumulate in the body. Depending on the metal, it can accumulate in the bones, muscle, skin, brain, etc. Maybe the farm's soil or air is contaminated from a nearby factory. Maybe the pipes for the water has lead solder connecting them. Maybe the feed a farm is buying was grown on contaminated soil or processed on contaminated equipment. And, of course, a main purpose of bone broth is drawing out as much as possible from the bones. If there are heavy metals in bones, they will make their way into the broth. This is especially true when you use apple cider vinegar to draw everything out and make it thick and gelatinous and nutrient rich (like our broth). And that led me to my second question --- Should I be concerned about every bone broth? Where is the fear coming from? Well... it seems it might be a little political. There was a study done in the UK in 2013 that scared a lot of people. It's titled "The Risk of Lead Contamination in Bone Broth Diets". This study found high levels of lead in organic chicken bone broth, which is quite concerning. And, in fact, this one study is still cited in articles written today! Let's dig a little deeper. Let's go farther than the short abstract. Here are the broths tested in the study and their test results for lead: (9.5 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage(7.01 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus bones(2.3 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus meat(0.89 parts per billion): Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control. But, they only used organic chicken from one farm. And, there's zero information about that farm, their practices, the feed, and the broth recipe. Did they use vinegar or wine in the broth? Was the chicken's water contaminated with lead? What was the quality of the feed and the soil? Were the chickens raised indoors or outdoors? So many unanswered questions! All we get is that it was one "organic chicken" that created a lead issue with broth. Another curious thing is that the broth with skin and cartilage contained more lead than the broth made with just bones. Bones are where lead is stored, so why wouldn't the broth made with bones only contain more lead? It's an odd result. Moreover, the abstract of the study specifically called out "bone broth diets" like GAPS and paleo. They even go so far as to write, "In view of the dangers of lead consumption to the human body, we recommend that doctors and nutritionists take the risk of lead contamination into consideration when advising patients about bone broth diets." That's quite curious. Why are they worried about these diets? Are the researchers anti healing through food? Who funded the research? Is it political? My opinion? This study is not comprehensive. It does not speak to all bone broths. But it does cover a potential issue if the water or animals are overloaded with heavy metals. And, as we know, our poor planet is becoming more and more contaminated with toxins like these toxic heavy metals 😢 What I glean from this study is that we need more research. We need to stay vigilant and test from time to time. We don't need fear to spread and people to stop drinking broth from this one study. Regardless of whether the fear was fabricated or legit, we tested our bone broth anyway. After all, it's always nice to validate that your food choices are as clean as you think. For Miller's, here were my concerns before testing: What if there's mercury in the fishmeal in our chicken feed?What if the soil that our animals live on is contaminated?What is the well water that the broth is made with is contaminated?What if the Celtic sea salt has lots of heavy metals? We actually tested twice. As it turns out, the first test results from March had a LOQ (limit of quantification) that was to high. So, we sent new products in April for testing at a lower LOQ. The results are in! Our bone broth tested A+++ for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. You can find the actual Eurofins test results right here! For easy reference, here's a chart summarizing the results: You'll notice that, for every sample, the results are "<2.0 μg/kg" and "<4.0 μg/kg". The "<" indicates the limit of quantification (LOQ), the lowest concentration that can be accurately tested using the test procedure in that sample type. So if a "<" result appears, it means that none of that metal was found in the sample above the specific reporting LOQ. Whether or not they were present below this LOQ is information that's not provided by the test. It's also important to note that a μg/kg is a part per billion (ppb). So, for 1 μg/kg, in every billion grams of that food, there would be one gram (or 0.0000001%) of that particular heavy metal. The small numbers matter when it comes to toxic heavy metals, since it doesn't take all that much for your body to become inundated and start experiencing issues or damage. These results are excellent. It means the broth definitely isn't overloaded with toxic heavy metals and are within safe levels. Our amazing customers mentioned Mike Adams to me numerous times after we released the first set of broth results. Mike Adams is an outspoken consumer health advocate, investigative journalist, activist, and science lab director. It turns out Eurofins, the lab we used, is a lab that he recommends. Moreover, our results land us in his highest rating when it comes to heavy metals! I think we're doing pretty great when it comes to providing clean, natural food. But, one result did make me pause. You might be thinking what I first thought -- "But wait, you got a reading above 4.0 μg/kg for arsenic. Isn't that bad?" Let's dive in -- What's up with arsenic? First off, it's important to note that there are organic forms of arsenic as well as inorganic forms. Our body can handle the organic kind pretty well. But, the inorganic kind is carcinogenic. Our test results show the level of all arsenic, and it doesn't divide inorganic and organic. Second, as you can see from the Health Ranger rating above, your body can tolerate way more arsenic than the other three toxic heavy metals. It can handle 6x more than cadmium, 25x more than lead, and 103x more than mercury. Third, it was a mystery to me how arsenic had a reading in the ground beef but not the beef bone broth. Thankfully, that has a pretty easy explanation. Whereas lead mainly accumulates in the bones, arsenic accumulates more in the organs and muscles. And, of course, meat is muscle. And finally, it was also quite perplexing how arsenic showed in our beef as well as our chicken. You see, our beef and chicken are grown on two separate farms (hours apart) and are processed at two separate processors (also hours apart). They're fed two completely separate diets, too! My only explanation is farmland in general or maybe even our environment in general. Organic arsenic has always been naturally present in the soil and water. It's just there in small amounts. But, levels nowadays are likely higher due to overuse of products laden with inorganic arsenic over time. Starting in the 1940s, conventional farmers would include drugs filled with inorganic arsenic in the feed for pigs and chickens and turkeys to encourage fast growth and prevent disease. Ugh. This actually led to concerns about arsenic poisoning, and that that practice was banned recently, in 2016. It makes me think that all the agri-waste has contaminated our farmland a bit, perhaps in both the soil and water. And then of course there are synthetic pesticides and herbicides and fertilizers that may contain inorganic arsenic. And their use on conventional farms might runoff everywhere else. Since our meats are grown on farms that have been naturally managed for some time, I think that's why our arsenic levels were so low, especially compared to conventional meat. Now, let's compare our results to food in general. Ours are extremely low. The data below is based on a few scientific studies: Arsenic: Rice contains anywhere from 90-450 ppb (that includes that rice cereal for babies, too). Meat and poultry in general typically contain 100-200 ppb. The max ours has is 6.8 ppb.Cadmium: Spinach contains 117-222 ppb. Rice contains 6-19 ppb. Meat and poultry in general contain about 10 ppb. Our has less than 2 ppb.Lead: Meat and poultry in general contain about 25 ppb. Our has less than 4 ppb.Mercury: The larger the fish, the more time it has to accumulate mercury. Swordfish and king mackerel can have about 1,000 ppb. Meat and poultry in general contain about 10-50 ppb. Ours has less than 2ppb. Wow! Putting that into perspective, it looks like our broth and meat are quite clean and extremely low in toxic heavy metals! Are you satisfied with our heavy metal results? Do you think we should take further action? Should we test other products? Do you worry about toxic metals (or other junk) in your food? Where have your fears stemmed from? I'd love to hear from you. You can comment below (no account required) or contact us 😊 ----- Sources The risk of lead contamination in bone broth dietsBone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical HypothesesBone Broth, Collagen, and Toxic Metals: A Research ReviewInorganic arsenic toxicosis in a beef herd Consumer Wellness Center Labs Heavy Metal RatingsArsenic in Meat and Animal ProductsInorganic arsenic toxicosis in a beef herdArsenic in brown rice: do the benefits outweigh the risks?A Survey of the Levels of Selected Metals in U.S. Meat, Poultry, and Siluriformes Fish Samples Taken at Slaughter and Retail, 2017–2022Arsenic in your foodDietary exposure to cadmium from six common foods in the United StatesMercury Content in Commercially Available Finfish in the United States Author links open overlay panel

Raw milk or fermented dairy and lactose intolerance. Why might it help?

I was misinformed. At some point, I read that raw milk contains lactase. As it turns out, this is not true! It is true that raw milk contains many live enzymes that are inactivated during pasteurization. But, what about lactase? I’ve heard many anecdotal stories from people who are lactose intolerant... but can handle raw milk or fermented dairy. If raw milk, yogurt, kefir, or cheese doesn’t contain lactase, then why is that?

Celebrating the Heritage of Corn on National Popcorn Lovers Day

You've probably heard a lot about GMO corn and its controversies, but did you know that corn, or maize as many Native Americans call it, is a cherished heritage food? Let's take a closer look at corn and learn about its history.

Supplements our dairy cows get for the best possible health and nutrition

What Supplements Our Dairy Cows Get & Why

Omega 6/3 Ratio Should be Optimal at 1:1

We are Above & Beyond the Grassfed Certification

What do you think about supplements? Do you personally take any? Are you ok with our dairy cows getting some?

More from the blog

Our bone broth tested A+++ for heavy metals 🥳 NATURAL AND CLEAN

Raw milk or fermented dairy and lactose intolerance. Why might it help?

Celebrating the Heritage of Corn on National Popcorn Lovers Day

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566