I’ve been curious about the homesteading movement for a long time, albeit from a non-tradwife perspective. For a few years I subscribed to Mother Earth News, whose pages of solar panel installations and gardening tips filled my head with pastoral fantasies. (It’s possible that growing up in rural Pennsylvania planted a seed of affection for farm life, even though I suspect I would be terrible at it.) So I have nothing against people who decide to abandon the corporate world, or soulless suburbs, to live close to the land. I’m just not so into oppressive gender roles and unpasteurized milk.
It’s not about need it’s about efficiency. Milk lets you get calories, especially protein in a way that doesn’t kill the animal with less effort than hunting and gathering. That allows for a time and labor surplus that can enable specialization and society as a whole to exist. It’s not just drinking, butter, cheese, baking, and fermentation with it are super common uses.