Milkman

Hi I'm glad to see that you are not here to knock one or the other , 'cause in some of your earlier posts you came across rather hostile towards milk ( without really giving any credible reasoning ) . Milk , being one of the oldest nourishing substances in the world , has been tested to death by science throughout the world . And after all these years , and numerous trials , the overwelming majority of scientists and dieticianists in the world ( and I'm not talking about conspiracists here )see milk as a primary source of nutrition .The bottle of milk you get from your local Spar or P & P has also been tested ( Antibiotics , added water , e-coli , coli , bacteria , butterfat , protein , lactose , total solids , sommatic cell count to name some tests)and is deffinately more scrutinised than 90% of all the other products on their shelves . So , don't think you have to worry to much about having some milk with your Kellogg's in the morning . Not wanting to knock soya here ( we also use soya in our rations for dairy cows ) but cannot say that the same amount of scrutiny is applied to soya .I am also sceptical of finding any certified soya products where they will be able to identify the source , and or distinguish whether it is geneticaly modified .

The food tech at Woollies was correct when they stated that they cannot test for rBST in their milk , as BST is naturally found in all milk ( no , not because of artificial hormones ).The injection of rBST that some cows receive , is in fact a protein based rBST , so not steroid based , and cannot be destinguised from natural BST in lab testing. Farmers have to give sworn statements to their milk buyers that they are not using rBST , and that is the only way to know wich farmers use rBST . Of course you can also find out quite easily fro the reps that sells it , so no use in lying about it . I have quickly phoned the milk producers orginization ( 012 8435600 ) to make sure that I might not miss something here , but can assure you that there is no other steroid , or hormone in the country that I am aware of , or that they are aware of , that are being used in dairy cows for whatever reason . If you are aware of any ( AND HAVE PROOF ) I will be glad to hear about it . ( Who knows , might make some extra money - ha,ha ) It is a pity that some people give milk such a bad rap , seeing that honey and milk are the only 2 natural foods found in nature . Everything else ( whatever fruit , veg , or meat you can think of ) is for reproduction . It might also help if you go read about soya , and how much genetic manipulation is being done there .

Hi Not to get into a heated debate here , but as you can see from my name , I am in the dairy industry , and have been for the past 25 years . Yes I know that it is possible to get a cow , or any other mammel to produce milk by manipulating them with hormones . But , like in any business , you will have to have a reason to do so ( that is if you don't morally or for whatever other reason have a problem with it ) , and as in any business it will have to make financial sense . In the USA only about 17 % of dairy cows are being injected with rBST ( which is approved by the Food and Drugs adminastration in the US )and in SA only about 4 % of dairy cows are being injected with rBST . The reason for the low numbers ; probably because most farmers ( unlike what you think of them ) know that their cows are their livelyhood and therefore treat their animals really as well as they possibly can . In all honesty , even if there were farmers that didn't care , it just makes no financial sence , because the injections are pretty expensive , and the farmers are not getting that much for their milk , therefore the increase in yield is not so significant as to make up for the cost of the injection . As to your statement about cows not giving birth , and starting to produce milk : Once again , you will need a reason if you want to manipulate them , and once again ( appart from the morral and other issues ) it doesn't make financial sense . You see , a calve is worth a lot of money to a farmer . Farmers keep their bull calves to sell later for their meat ( an ox of about 14 - 18 months will bring in between R 7000 to R 9000 ) , and they keep their heifers ( females ) to replenish their herd . Therefore if you can show me one farmer in SA that won't look after their calves , and make sure their cows give birth every year , I will show you a farmer that will not last one year in the industry . It is dangerous to pass on opinions as facts , 'cause some people might read them and be misled .

I think you are a bit confused about when mammels have milk . Cows , as all mammels ,start producing milk after they have given birth .They only stop producing milk about 2 months before they give birth again , or if you stop milking them for more than 3 days .Therefore it is quite possible to milk a cow for more than 365 days , and has nothing to do with hormones .

Hi Don't have an epic , so cannot really comment on the epic , but I have a Scott spark (which is also a more xc race bike ) and an s-works stumpy ( 26 " ). Although the Stumpy is no dead horse , I would recommend it more for trail riding . It is a fantastic bike for the right type of conditions , and my favourite bike . But when I do a race or training ride with more dirtroad , I choose the spark . I think you will have to decide what type of riding you do most ,( xc races on open roads - epic , trail rides - stumpy ) and choose your bike acordingly . Hope that helps , 'cause they are both excellent bikes .