Family’s herd of goats becomes a labor of love

A baby goat flicks its tail wildly as it feeds from a bottle in Eva Lorusso’s garage. The goat is only a month old, but it will grow up to provide the sweet milk for which Dolce Latte Farm gets its name.

The Lorussos began keeping goats at their Chelsea home in 2007, when they bought three Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats to provide raw, unpasteurized milk for their family. A doctor suggested raw milk to Lorusso because one of her sons was ill and was unable to gain weight. What the Lorussos did not expect, though, was to fall in love with keeping goats.

“They all have such personalities. We didn’t expect them to be so personable,” Eva Lorusso said. “They become part of your family.”

The goats’ milk was also a pleasant surprise. Lorusso had tasted goat milk before, which she described as tasting “like a dirty goat smells.” Her whole family, however, enjoyed the milk, cheese and yogurt from their own herd.

Now, the family’s herd has expanded to about a dozen adult goats that they milk, breed and show. The Lorussos also keep a flock of egg-laying hens, a vegetable garden and blueberry bushes. Lorusso’s five children are heavily involved in the farm’s work and recognize the connection between the quality of their work and the quality of the food they eat.

“It’s helped my children learn responsibility. They know where their food comes from,” Lorusso said.

The Food and Drug Administration discourages drinking raw milk because it can contain dangerous organisms such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria. Lorusso and a growing number of raw milk advocates, however, believe that unpasteurized milk is easier to digest and more nutritious.

“There’s a big movement for people fighting for the right to drink and obtain raw dairy,” Lorusso said. “Just in the last few years, a lot of people want milkers [dairy goats] just for their own use because they want the raw milk.”

While raw milk cannot be sold for human consumption in Alabama, the Lorussos do have a license to sell raw dairy products for pets. They sell these products, along with organic eggs, goat milk soaps and lotions, online and at the Pepper Place Market during the summer.

Lorusso has considered moving to a larger property to expand the Dolce Latte herd, but her focus remains on feeding her family and making sure her children are thoughtful about the food they eat.

“They think about the animals they eat and how they were treated. Did they have a good life? Were they fed healthy food that’s going to be nourishing to their bodies or not? They know all that stuff,” Lorusso said.

Dolce Latte Farm goat milk soaps and lotions can be bought at dolcelattefarm.com.