If your state senator voted no on HB 245 on Saturday (see list below of dissenting senators), please call him/her now and politely ask him/her to change his/her vote to yes.

If the phone number you call does not work, use the legislative website here to ask your senator to vote yes on HB 245; just fill out the form to send a message.

• Enter your name, address, email, etc
• Select the legislator bubble and select your Montana state senator
• Type in HB 245 for the bill number
• Click on the "for" bubble to show you support raw milk
• Include a short message as to why in the box below
• Hit "send" and it will go to the selected legislator

List of MT Senators Who Voted NO on HB 245:

Dick Barrett (D), Missoula, 396-3256 [email protected]

Jill Cohenour (D), Helena, 227-1144 [email protected]

Tom Facey (D), Missoula, 240-4242 [email protected]

Bradley Hamlett (D), Cascade, 799-5885 [email protected]

Christine Kaufmann (D), Missoula, 439-0256 [email protected]

Jim Keane (D), Butte, 406-723-8378

Cliff Larsen (D), Missoula, 544-6263 [email protected]

Sue Malek (D), Missoula, [email protected]

Mary McNally (D), Billings, 671-1376 [email protected]

Mary Sheehy Moe (D), Great Falls, [email protected]

Mike Phillips (D), Bozeman, 599-5857 [email protected]

J.P. Pomnichowski (D), Bozeman, [email protected]

Diane Sands (D), Missoula, [email protected]

Jon Sesso (D), Butte, 490-7405 [email protected]

Sharon Stewart-Peregoy (D), Crow Agency, 639-2198, [email protected]

Gene Vuckovich (D), Ananconda, 560-2313 [email protected]

Lea Whitford (D), Cut Bank, [email protected]

Jonathan Windy Boy (D), Box Elder,  [email protected]

Duane Ankney (R), Colstrip, 740-0629, [email protected]

Taylor Brown (R) Huntley, 252-6661 [email protected]

Pat Connell (R) Hamilton, 370-8682, [email protected]

Llew Jones (R) Conrad, 289-0345, [email protected]

Eric Moore (R), Miles City, 234-3562 [email protected]

Rick Ripley (R), Wolf Creek, 562-3502

Bruce Tutvedt (R), Kalispell, 253-9732, [email protected]

Don't know who your state senator is? Call your county clerk and recorder or the Montana Secretary of State at 406-444-2034 or find out here.

• We should have the right to make our own decisions as to what foods we choose for ourselves and our families.
• Raw milk has a good overall track record for safety. People get sick from consuming vegetables, meat and pasteurized milk, yet these foods are not being banned.
• The underground raw milk market will continue to grow unchecked if HB 245 does not pass.

HB 245 creates a small herd exemption from the existing mandatory pasteurization requirements as well as from the cost prohibitive Grade A dairy construction and equipment standards. It allows a small farmer to have up to 7 lactating cows and 15 lactating goats or lactating sheep and sell raw milk. The farmer must have a permit. Milk can only be sold to people coming to the farm to buy it. Lactating animals must undergo yearly Tuberculosis testing and Brucellosis testing per current Montana state laws. Fluid milk and milk products will be tested eight times in a year (all animals' milk co-mingled together, not individual animals' milk tested). Signs and labels indicate at the farm and on the products that the product is unpasteurized.

The bill also allows Grade A dairies to sell raw milk directly to consumers who come to the farm. Since Darigold and Meadow Gold forbid the sale of raw milk and 99% of the dairies in MT are members of those pools, this would apply, in practice, only to the three independent dairies in the state, or to those dairies having the means and desire to leave the pools and become independent.

Updates will be posted on the Raw Milk Montana Facebook page. Please use this URL as many people are being directed to an inactive page that is not associated with this bill:

www.facebook.com/rawmilkmontana