HERD SHARES

There are many wonderful benefits to consuming raw milk. Our family does and loves it. We recommend you do some research to find if raw milk works for you and your family prior to buying into our herdshare program. We test our milk monthly for common pathogens and bacteria to promote good safety for our share holders and family.

Some helpful links with good information:

https://www.westonaprice.org/raw-milk/#gsc.tab=0

https://www.realmilk.com/milk-as-medicine/

With all farming, there is risk involved. We put the health and happiness of our dairy animals as a priority and are proud to say our diligence has paid off and we have a very healthy herd. In the event of a catastrophic illness or loss of an animal, you may have a decrease in milk available to you while still paying your share of the boarding fees to help pay for veterinary costs, etc. Milk may also have to be dumped and not safe for human consumption due to a medication withhold during an illness. We do try to treat and prevent everything as naturally as possible to prevent this.

Ideally, raw milk will be stored in the jars in the back of your refrigerator. Storing your milk in the door or close to the front can cause your milk to start souring early. Fun fact: raw milk doesn’t smell like something died when it starts to age like pasteurized milk does. It simply ages and begins to sour and is still absolutely fine to consume, bake with, or make cheese. When picking up your raw milk from our farm, please bring a cooler with ice packs to transport you milk back home, otherwise your milk will begin to sour/clabber and will not taste fresh as long! Milk will also be available in glass jars for a deposit or you can bring your own containers. If you use our jars, please bring them back clean at your next pick-up or you will have to pay another deposit fee.

Goat milk is a naturally homogenized, easier to digest milk that cow milk, and also higher in protein, vitamins, and minerals. Folks who cannot tolerate raw cow milk are encouraged to try raw goat milk. Goat milk gets a bad rap from the store bought stuff due to it’s “goaty” taste caused by that pesky caproic acid. We mitigate this flavor by cooling down our milk very quickly to slow the caproic acid production. Most folks cannot tell the difference between goat and cow milk if it is handled properly. We use our raw goat milk to drink, and also to make cheese and ice cream! One Alpine goat can produce 1/2-1 gallon + every day!

Cow milk is naturally unhomogenized and if you let the milk sit in the refrigerator, it will separate, forming a nice cream line at the top. You can skim this cream off and make butter or use as “heavy cream” and drink the remaining milk, called the skim milk. Dairy cows can produce several gallons of milk every day!

Both our goats and cows are on a primarily grass and forage diet. They are given a well-rounded grain supplement with vitamins and minerals they need during milking twice a day. Our milk cow, Sage, also enjoys oranges as a treat and our goats get animal crackers or homemade granola. They work hard for us and in return we spoil them rotten!