“I can’t drink any other milk, but I can drink your milk!”
At Wholly Gelato, we now hear this phrase, or similar phrases, often. This fills us with joy and makes all of the hard work that the Wholly team put in, worth it!
We have spoken about the topic of A2 milk and gut health before, but we wanted to give an update to any of our new customers, or a recap for those customers which have been there since the beginning! Why can some people, who cannot have regular cows’ milk, drink ours?
Happy, healthy cows
First and foremost, we pride ourselves at Wholly with the health, welfare and happiness of our herd. This means, whilst most people are still in bed, our farmers are up and out on the wet, cold, dark winter mornings to tend to the girls. They work long, laborious hours to make sure our cows and calves are happy, healthy and comfortable, always aiming for the highest possible welfare.
Furthermore, we sell our milk under the Pasture Promise Banner, in collaboration with Free Range Dairy. This means our cows must graze outside in the fields for a minimum of 180 days a year. The remaining days that they are inside is purely because of how wet and muddy the fields get, but we aim to get them out in the spring months as soon as possible, and keep them out for as long as possible! We believe this only further contributes to a happy and healthy cow that produces higher quality milk. (Turnout 2021 has just happened so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the video coming soon!)
Second to this is the health of our land and fields. We love the land and believe in the importance of looking after this because the quality of forage and feed we produce from the soil, will, in turn, fuels our cows to help make the milk they produce.
Exceptional Quality
We also care for our land and herd because looking after our girls, means they look after us- by producing exceptional quality, single-sourced milk. Of course we are prone to bias, but we really do believe our creamy, mildly sweet milk is far superior to many of its competitors. And if you don’t believe us, just give it a try!
Moreover, free-range milk like ours is naturally higher in Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and other nutrients such as omega fatty acids. These molecules can significantly benefit our health. CLAs are a group of naturally occurring acids present in dairy products. Unlike synthetic trans fatty acids, trans CLA have reason to be of a great potential benefit to human health with respect to cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, osteoporosis and the immune system. Other gut-health benefits of our milk include better maintenance of gut microbiota, weight management, prevention of chronic inflammatory disease as well as being a valuable source of protein, calcium, vitamins and iodine.
For more than 30 years, Jerry the farmer has been selectively breeding the healthiest and best quality cows with top sires (bulls) to make a fit and strong herd, as well as produce beautiful tasting milk. Furthermore, Jerry has only used sires which have A2 beta-casein protein genes in their milk, rather than the A1 beta-casein protein. This means that our milk has a very high percentage A2 beta-casein in it.
But what is A1 and A2 protein?
Many years ago, a natural mutation affected a small population of European cows, leading to increased production of A1 beta-casein in their milk. Now, most milk, especially commercially produced milk in supermarkets, is A1 milk.
The problem with A1 is that it has been linked to some illnesses such as type 1 diabetes, heart disease and ‘milk intolerance’, often confused with lactose intolerance. This milk intolerance often causes post-dietary digestive discomfort, pain and inflammation that is common in today’s population.
A2 milk on the other hand, has been proven not to irritate the human gut and not cause the normal milk intolerance symptoms. Furthermore, our milk is more gently processed than commercially produced milk and this, along with the high percentage of A2, means it has made consumption possible once again for many who thought they were lactose or dairy intolerant.
Also, because our gelato is made using only Wholly Milk (making up more than 65-70% of the mix), it contains a very high percentage of A2 milk, meaning that those who often can’t have ice cream elsewhere because of the health side effects, can enjoy ours! This excites us so much and makes us so proud to produce our product.
Wholly Milk and Gelato come from well cared for, free-range, happy cows who produce single-sourced, gently processed and beautiful tasting milk with a high percentage of A2 beta-casein protein. This means our milk is of exceptional quality with a vast amount of health benefits and often absent of milk intolerance side-effects associated with A1 milk, frequently found in supermarkets.
If you would like to know more information about our farm, cows or produce or would like to hear of more reviews from customers who have benefitted from or milk, please get in touch. We look forward to seeing you soon!
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