High Vitamin Butter Oil Updates from Dave Wetzel and Q&A

Dave Wetzel is the owner of Green Pastures makers of High Vitamin Butter Oil, excerpt from his blog

High Vitamin Butter oil will start to roll into completed stock by late July or first wk of August. There will continue to be a shortage on products that use this as a main ingredient.

High Vitamin Butter Oil is not the same as Ghee or other grass fed butter oils. There is a specific grazing protocol to maintain product intent. It is not just ‘green grass’. As a result of our focus on quality product there have been times in the past, as now, that we have had to endure a shortage. High vitamin Butter Oil is not made with any old ‘green grass’. And there is no magical switch that can be turned on and off as demand dictates. We hope to have all caught up and back to normal by late summer +/-

This is the reason why I plan to order as a group buyer on 25th July. I emailed him with the following query:

Hi Dave,

I really value your integrity, though we have to compromise and use lower quality butter oils while waiting for HVBO. At least we know that when we purchase HVBO from you we are buying the real thing. Anyway, I am currently organising a group buy here in Singapore. You mentioned that you will have HVBO and Royal Blend stock by late July. Can I confirm that I can order a group purchase of HVBO/Royal Blend by 25th July? Just need to set the expectations of the Singapore group buyers.

I will be posting his response in this blog soon. Just to respond to some Frequently Asked Questions sent to me and I responded to via email.

Q1:any updates on your business of providing fermented CLO/BO in SG?

A1: Unfortunately, I dont have enough capital to buy my own stocks and then wait for the buyers to buy.Thats why for now I arrange group buying, so they pay me first before they order, the good thing is we all get 20% discount.

 Q2: Do you have a list of the items you do buy as a group?
A2: as a group buyer, now I am allowed to buy a combination of any of these

 http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Products/index.cfm

Q3: Also, curious – have you found any sources for good grass fed butter in Singapore?

A3: Short answer NO. Long answer read below

I cant find any good grass fed butter in Singapore so I compromise on Anchor Butter. Rammi Nigel believes Anchor Butter (from New Zealand) is from grass fed cows (I was asking my friends in NZ to investigate 🙂 seriously)..

I do find raw cheese at NTUC Finest in Bukit Timah Plaza and some specialty chesse maker here in Singapore, but again not from grass fed cows. 

 Q4: Dare I ask about raw milk??

A4: Short Answer NO. Long answer, read below

There is a local dairy farm here in Sngapore, who sells local milk, and you can buy raw milk too (but you have to go to the farm).. they claim their cows are grass fed (but actually its not grass, its hay.. so HAY FED)..  I havent really had the time to check it out though.

Q5:

 I understand that you recommend the FCLO Green Pastures Blue Ice but i was wondering why not the Blue Ice Royal Butter Oil / FCLO blend (non-flavored) since the latter also contains the recommended butter oil.

answer:

Reason # 1: For practical reasons, with this liquid form, I only need to buy 1 bottle for my daughters 3 months dosage. For the capsule form– it will only last her a month.

reason #2:

In addition, she had some allergic reactions when she took the blended form (cod liver blended with butter oil). I do not know which ingredient trigerred her allergies.. so I tried to isolate, by giving her FCLO and butter oil separately.. e.g. for 1 month I gave her pure FCLo without butter oil — NO allergy… when I gave her FCLO and butter oil (either separately or blended)– she gets allergic reaction..

so I concluded that butter oil triggers her allergy not the FCLO. Nevertheless, I am addressing her allergy, so she can take butter oil later on.

reason #3:

3rd reason, butter oil supply is very inconsistent.. there are times when it is out of stock– it is hard for me to do the logistics because of this.

Q6: It seems there is a market in Singapore for Green Pastures products, why dont you set up a retail online store?

Answer: As above, I dont have enough capital yet to burn and number 2, oils go rancid, I am not sure how long I can keep stocks waiting for buyers (in addition to the 4 to 6 weeks delivery time)…. at least for fermented oils, the older it gets the better it becomes, for non-fermented oils like the butter oil, it can easily go rancid… and I think I dont have the patience for returning rancid oils back to where it came from. At least for group buys, I only buy based on demand — the return for me? oh well, aside from lowering my acquisition cost, I hope I can find like minded individuals through this community. My ultimate dream though is to have a sustainable neighborhood coop buying local produce from local farms and also growing/trading some veggies with my neighbors….I have started by giving out moringa tree cuttings.. (moringa is a very generous tree, the more it gives, the more it flourishes).

Anyway, who know, I may actually set-up a retail online store soon (let me just figure out the logistics first- by starting small)…