Sherman now relies on organic grain, hay, alfalfa, soy, organic corn and natural grass and grazing for his cows’ dietary needs. The Jerry Dell farm has also stopped all dry-treating of its cows, a process that includes administering animals antibiotics when they are not sick.

Instead, all organic farms employ homeopathic measures for treating cows’ illnesses. The use of essential oils, herbs, probiotic enzyme treatment and nutraceuticals (oral and injectable vitamins and minerals) for cows’ health is remarkably effective.

Common cow illnesses, such as mastitis and somatic cell, are treated with holistic practices including massaging the udder with hot peppermint or camphor. Similarly, one pint of strong coffee is suggested for udder edema.

Essentially, the tenants of organic farming include homeopathic treatment, organic feed for livestock and the prohibition of the use of genetically modified organisms in production. By not using these processes and products, organic dairies have become much more independent and self-sufficient.

“If you’re at the mercy of a market, you just take it… Now, when we grow our own, we know what we’ve got and we know how much it’s going to cost us to plant it. It’s so much easier,” says Vaughn Sherman.

The simplicity of organic farming as well as the general economic superiority has led many to ask the question, “Why not organic?”

Between 1994 and 2001, organic cropland grew from 557,000 to 1.3 million acres. According to the website, “Dairy Farming Today,” almost 65,000 American dairy farms organically grow and produce their products.

Although Vaughn Sherman’s white, immaculately-kept farm may not look exactly the same as the 64,999 other organic farms in the country, he carries the air of a farmer with him wherever he goes. From the middle of Times Square to the hay field, Vaughn Sherman is a farmer.

His dirty fingernails, meaty hands, cuffed denim shirt and low farmer’s grunt all give away his position as a dedicated dairy farmer. Even if Sherman gave his fingernails a healthy scrub, donned a new black suit and made sure to conceal his grunts, the dozens upon dozens of wrinkles lining his forehead would reveal the decades he’s spent weeding, milking and raising heifers.

Sherman’s wrinkles undoubtedly come from years of hard work, sun exposure, and skeptical expressions. However, the horizontal wrinkles found on most organic dairy farmers’ foreheads may also originate from a fourth common source: Incomplete, unaddressed and convoluted problems in the nationwide organic business and regulations.

I Fought the Law and the Law Won

Certification issues have existed since the late 1980s when commerce problems began emerging as a result of variation in standards among the private and state-run certifying bodies operating throughout the United States.

A movement by the organic community sought to remedy these problems and collectively pursued federal legislation. Consequently, the Organic Foods Production Act was passed in 1990. The law required the creation of the National Organic Program, a body that passed national organic standards.