Mr Gfunk refuses to drink milk ("It's juice from a cow. Why would I drink cow juice?") mostly because when he was a kid in Ireland the non-homogenized milk grossed him out.

There is a local farm here that sells raw (unpasteurized) milk at a couple of the local natural grocery stores. I tried it out of curiosity once and thought it tasted good but not good enough to risk salmonella or listeria or whatever could be in it...

I would expect non-homogenized milk to be pasteurized. Raw milk not, of course. Milk stopped tasting good to me when it became more uniformly homogenized at, what, 3.5%? That means skimming cream from milk that was naturally higher in fat content.

Only 1% for us. Easy to get used to and much healthier than whole.

Much healthier than whole is debatable. Recent research suggests otherwise.

Have any of you seen Gold Top.

Its milk but 5% fat and almost yellow. I use it to make rice pudding even creamier.

The "almost yellow" part is a bit off-putting. Even 36%+ heavy cream is still very white IMHO.

What makes it yellow? Aeration and oxidation?

I used to drink raw milk in the 70’s and never suffered any ill health. Kinda tasty, as I recall. Never enjoyed skim or 1% milk. These days only use milk for cereal. Had some UHT box milk last week, and it reminded me a bit of grody powdered milk I had as a kid.

Beta-carotene from pasture raised/grass fed cows.
Milk from Guernsey cows is particularly high in carotene.

What Orchids said.

It really is the most delicious milk money can buy and typically comes from Jersey and Guernsey cows, it's not a commonly used milk because of the fat content.

Signifies milk from cow breeds that come from the Channel Island (or Îles anglo-normand to the French). In addition to Jersey and Guernsey cows, there is the Alderney breed. The cream is still yellow even if the cows aren't from anywhere near the islands. Bought some raw Jersey cow milk (mostly went into making a Halloumi cheese) where the cow is locate an ocean and continent away from Jersey and the cream was still rather yellow.

The cows aren't very popular with dairy producers because they're small (so produce less absolute volume per cow) and, I understand, less productive overall. The Holstein is the favorite dairy farmer's cow breed for those reasons.

Not sure if it comes solely/primarily because of pasture-raised cows. If so, New Zealand dairy (lots of rain, mild climate = lots of grass for dairy cow pasture) or perhaps even California (substitute irrigation for rain) would have lots of Beta Carotene (or at least yellow-coloured fat). AFAIK, it doesn't. I think breed of cow is more important

Response was in reference to Gold Top milk which comes from Jersey or Guernsey cows. I guess my edit wasn't clear enough. I tend to get wordy. So yes, breed matters.

True.

Well, I´m German and I like my afternoon tea with milk ...;) - and certainly with whole milk only (3.8%)

milk tea is delicious ! I wish it was more common in the states.

Important update from me, the OP: The 2% has been back in stock in the grocery stores for a month or two now, so I'm once again buying that.