Members of the recently founded Dufferin Landowners Association joined their Grey County peers last week to protest a Ministry of Natural Resources seizure of milk-processing equipment at a Glencolton Township (formerly Glenelg) dairy farm, co-founder Ron Dillman said last Thursday.

The Nov. 21 seizure was allegedly based on information that farmer Michael Schmidt had been selling raw (unpasteurized) milk to as many as 150 customers in the Greater Toronto and local areas.

When reached last Saturday, Mr. Schmidt said in a phone interview that he had done nothing wrong, and that he had gone on a hunger strike, ingesting "just a bit of water and an occasional glass of milk."

He said his customers are actually shareholders in the dairy operation. "They own the 94 cows. They pay me to milk their cows. People need to be able to choose (their diet)." He said law allows families to consumer raw milk from the cattle they own.

"But people who live in high-rises can't keep their cows (at home)."

He said 20 armed officers of the Ministry of Natural Resources carried out the raid, and seized bottles of milk, a computer, telephone records, and other things. "They could have phoned me, and I would have (cooperated). It's not a drug operation."

"I'm sitting here wondering what to do." He said the cows still have to be milked, but he is unable to do anything with the milk.

Mr. Schmidt was previously charged with similar offences, including operation of a cheese plant without a licence in 1994.

The Grey-Bruce Landowners Association intends to support Mr. Schmidt in any way that it can. In a phone interview from his Williams Lake home, president Paul Hallman said the 100-member association "supports the right to choose, and to earn a livelihood. Landowners will follow through and support him in every way we can."

Both the Dufferin and Grey-Bruce associations are part of the Ontario Landowners Association, an organization founded by Randy Hillier of Lanark.

Generally, the organizations are dedicated to establishing individual property rights, with a minimum of intrusion by government.

They are not alone in their challenges. Last week, the Owen Sound Sun-Times reported, for example, that there is a growing movement in support of relaxing the rules on pasteurization.

The newspaper said an Ottawa chartered account, James McLaren, "has been working on changes to raw milk regulations for the past four years (and) has eaten nothing but uncooked food for that period."

It said be "believes provincial and federal laws which require pasteurization of milk violate the constitutional rights of individuals to make their own food choices."

Mr. Schmidt apparently is seen as a hero by the antipasteurization movement. On the day of the raid, he was scheduled for a speaking engagement at a gathering of raw-milk supporters in Thornhill.