No individual has a fundamental right to own a cow or to consume any kind of food without government permission. So says a Wisconsin judge.

Wisconsin is one of the most restrictive states concerning consumption of raw milk. Those wanting to drink unpasteurized milk circumvented the law by entering into share agreements to privately own a cow and drink its milk. A judge was asked to clarify an earlier ruling about owners consuming unpasteurized milk from a privately owned cow.

Wisconsin Judge Denies Basic Property Rights and Food Choice

The judge issued the order in response to a motion to clarify an earlier ruling that livestock boarding agreements between a farmer and cow owners were in violation of Wisconsin law.

The result was this astounding ruling. The judge declared the plaintiffs’ argument was not sufficiently developed. Their argument was the Constitution.

Plaintiffs argue that they have a fundamental right to possess, use and enjoy their property and therefore have a fundamental right to own a cow, or a heard [sic] of cows, and to use their cow(s) in a manner that does not cause harm to third parties. They argue that they have a fundamental right to privacy to consume the food of their choice for themselves and their families and therefore have a fundamental right to consume unpasteurized milk from their cows. Plaintiffs contend that they have a fundamental right to contract to board their cows with a farm. Finally, Plaintiffs argue that they have a fundamental right to associate in order to promote and support their beliefs which includes consuming unpasteurized milk.

This court is unwilling to declare that there is a fundamental right to consume food of one’s choice without first being presented with significantly more developed arguments…


1) no, Plantiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd.


2) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume milk from their own cow

I believe that spiritually you can never own another living thing. Legal concepts are a different matter.

There are health risks in consuming unpasteurized milk and perhaps there are justifications for the state to intervene. The burden is on the state to explain and justify those reasons. Courts may not start from the premise that no one has a fundamental right to privacy or property unless individuals can develop sufficient arguments in each case.

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5 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Maynard says:

    I saw a post elsewhere:

    Comparing Hitler to Obama is way out of line.

    Hitler got the Olympics for his country.

  2. mediachristian says:

    Well, speaking of Cow Wednesday…I feel like what fell out of it…

    If there is a President SP, it won’t be next year…

  3. pochitatwo says:

    mark levine says BREAKING NEWS: SARAH PALIN’S 2012 ANNOUNCEMENT no!

  4. thierry says:

    these are called ” kulaks”, these bourgeois peasants who think they can own a cow and drink its’ milk without the state’s permission. killing 10 million of them proved no great problem to Uncle Joe- it had to be done to create the brave new world. now we kill them with regulations, taxes, and infringements of their liberties.

    these judges and leaders are closer to Stalin than Hitler. and the most frightening part is that in essence stalin succeeded, wildly. to this day leftists outside the old soviet block rarely dare criticize or cast negative light on dear father joe- they ignore him, omit him because it’s impossible to defend or deny him. more likely like this judge many at least theoretically rather agree with him. if more decent people in the west honestly acknowledged what happened in the creation of the USSR, socialism would never stand a chance here. the cold war manipulated by both sides has buried the dead and hidden their graves successfully from view.

    the biggest crime of the 20th c is that the ukranian famine and the great terror could have been allowed to happen after the Holocaust, ignored to this day by the west which frankly does not care because it does not suit their socialist agenda to recognize the facts of history save when they can project them falsely on to others.

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