Dairy discovery
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Distinguishing one lumbering, black-and-white Holstein cow from another on a dairy near this southeast Nebraska town is like trying to spot the difference between identical twins.
But with help from DNA testing on tail hairs plucked from the animals, Prairieland Dairy is the first in the U.S. to make a distinction it hopes will help it market milk some claim tastes better and is healthier.
The product, called A2 milk, was recently put on the shelves of about 100 grocery stores in the Midwest, including some in downstate Illinois.
The milk contains just one major protein -- unlike most milk, which contains a mix of different types. Genetics aren't altered to produce the milk; rather, the dairy cows' DNA is tested to identify those 25 percent to 30 percent that produce it.
Backers of the milk point to scientific research they say suggests the product has more health benefits. And anecdotal evidence, they say, suggests that the milk is easier for some to digest.
But even marketers of the product in the U.S. are careful not to trumpet the milk as an unquestionably healthier alternative to the milk most people pour on their cereal every day.
"To say there is no controversy over this would not be correct," said Timothy Thietje, CEO of The Original Foods Co., a Nebraska-based marketer of A2 milk. "But to say there's a substantial body of evidence, both in terms of science and the response from people who use the product, is correct."
New Zealand-based A2 Corp., which helped develop the DNA testing used to identify the special cows, says on its Web site studies of the "potential" benefits of the milk suggest a lower incidence of heart disease and type 1 diabetes.
Prairieland's status as the only U.S. dairy to parse out its A2 cattle from others using the DNA testing is the result of a coincidental marriage of interests and companies. Thietje, while working with business startups two years ago, happened to talk to Lincoln-based GeneSeek, which was working with A2 Corp. to identify DNA traits of cows.
Original Foods subsequently emerged, with a university nutrition researcher and Prairieland as partners.
Now the mid-sized dairy in the Nebraska countryside is experiencing the thrill and anxiety of carving out what could be new niche in the U.S. milk market.
"The dairy industry is really slow to change," said Dan Rice of Prairieland. "We're taking a huge risk."
For now, just 175 of the approximately 1,500 cows milked daily produce the A2 milk being sold in Hy-Vee grocery stores. And Grant Prentice, president of U.S. operations for A2 Corp., said there are no current plans to develop more special herds in the U.S., although that could change depending on the success of the milk in Midwest grocery stores.
Rice is a true believer in the milk -- he says it doesn't leave him feeling as bloated and prone to digestive problems. He plans to keep putting more of the milk on U.S. grocery shelves, even if it's not always inside an "A2" milk bottle.
"We know it's a different type of milk and healthier and we want to produce the highest-quality product we can," he said.