Milk shares vs owning a dairy animal

[Looking4ewes]

Greetings,

I am a new homesteader with sheep, 35 acres in pasture and a full time job. I am considering either buying into milk shares or owning my own dairy animal. A local goat farm offers raw goat's milk for $75 buy-in and $30/ month board. This gets you about 1 gal milk per week. I am interested primarily in cream and butter, as the DH and I use about 1 gallon milk per week for drinking. I don't know if I'll have the time to do my own milking, but the goat share program won't give enough milk for my needs. If I get my own animal, I don't know a thing about cows; I could consider a dairy sheep, but then I am burdened with mechanical cream separating. I was hoping that you could contribute your thoughts to my dilemma.

Many thanks,

Wendy

ps. I will be feeding out some pigs this year, so excess milk would possibly go towards their feed. Just another wrinkle. ;-)

[texican]

If you squeeze your own, you'll be able to control the entire process...

If you're wanting cream and butter, you're going to be looking at cows. We have milk goats, and the cream is naturally mixed into the milk... there 'might' be a process of extracting it... I haven't heard about it if there is... If there is, requires equipment, and work... compared to cows milk that separates on it's own...

...nothing like fresh cows milk separating out a couple of inches of cream on the top of the container...

[Beeman]

$75 up frt and $30 a month for 4 gals of milk a month?

[roachhill]

It sounds like you should get some dairy animals and start selling. $75 to buy the right to pay $7.50 a gal for milk. That's just nuts. I'm in the wrong business.

[chewie]

no kidding roachhill! i have dairy goats, and if i could get that much per gallon, plus the upfront fee, i'd not sold any does this year! i'd be buying several!

a jersey cow isn't as big, and makes the best cream. it will separate by just letting it get cold in the fridge. if goats didn't work out for us (they did), i woulda went with a jersey happily. breed it to angus for freezer beef. i think a jersey is a great family cow. and pretty to look at!

[Alice In TX/MO]

Actually, that's about right, price wise. Good raw goat milk goes higher than that in metropolitan areas of Texas.

[sammyd]

Even the crap goat milk sold in cardboard quarts goes for over 12 a gallon at the store.
I'm with Texican on controlling your own food supply and would recommend looking at getting an animal for yourself.
Look for small separators on Ebay. Even if you buy into the goat share you'll need that.

[Joshie]

The goat place is way overcharging. We're in IL and friends sell raw milk for about $3/gallon. All you have to do is provide the glass container.

[Callieslamb]

Well, I have a heifer I hope to milk eventually - so from what I am experiencing.....a cow is expensive unless you have your own hay already. They eat, they poop. You have to provide for both. With a milk-share, you can take a 2 week vacation. I would definately check to see how clean their entire operation is too. I looked into one cow share earlier this year...but they wouldn't allow me to look at their facilities. HUM?????Now, if Blackwillowfarm would move closer to me - I would gladly buy a milk share from her - she does it RIGHT.

I am making the effort towards a cow because I want to provide for myself - so I will have a cow. My heifer costs me easily more than $30 a month - NOW - before I am buying milking equipment, breeding, cleaning chemicals etc. Yes, I will get more than 4 gallons of milk from her (probably daily). I would total up the costs for yourself and see how you come out and if it is worth it to you. Being there 2x a day 24/7 for 10 months a year is a commitment not everyone can make.

I would also look for others that want to sell milk shares in your area too = compare prices and see what you are getting. Look for a friend to go into milking with you - so you can both have a vacation.

Love the plan to feed a pig the extra milk. Chickens can eat it too -

[chewie]

just a couple good milker goats provides more than our family of 4 needs. i will freshen 4 this year, and use extra for cheese and soap. many cheeses freeze, as does the milk, so i can get them all dried up and ahve some time off. however, that's usually in the deep wintertime, not much to do then anyhow.

IF you could get a neighbor to go in with you somewhat, and be able to count on them to do chores if you cannot, that'd be nice, you could then share the milk. i was selling my raw milk but now its looking like our state want to make me get permits to do that, and i won't go thru it all. i have my family to back me up if i need to leave town for a few days, but honestly, i enjoy it enough, wanted my own dairy forever, so this doesn't seem like a chores anyhow.

[MullersLaneFarm]

What state are you in?

Check out http://www.realmilk.com to see if it is even legal in your state to sell raw milk.

Here in IL raw milk sales are legal as long as the customer comes to the farm brings their own container, pours the milk from the farmer's container into their own and the farmer does not advertise.

Next door in IA, raw milk sales are illegal ... even with a 'share' program.

[BlackWillowFarm]

The easiest route would to buy the goat shares. That way you aren't tied down to the farm, can leave for the weekend or stay out late if you feel like it.

If you decide to buy a cow/goat and do your own milking, you could share milk with a calf/kid. I did that the first year and it worked good. I would pen the calf up at night, milk in the morning and turn them out together all day. I was getting enough milk for my family that way. The downside is, the cow held up her cream for the calf. I milk twice a day now, get close to 6 gallons a day, have a few herdshare members, feed a pig, a calf, make hard cheeses, butter, skim the cream and I'm still dumping milk. I milk a Jersey.

My dairy farmer friend says it costs $7.50 a day for one dairy cow. That's in Michigan. I never figured it, but it might be cheaper to do the cow/goat share instead of owning your own. It's definitely less work.

If you really want the cream, then try to find a cow share instead. Goats milk won't give you the kind of cream you need to make butter, or skim cream for coffee, etc. Skimming cream is as easy as letting it rise, then spooning it off. That's what I do.

I started out with a cow share and decided I wanted my own cow instead. We had the facilities to house a cow. The barn had stalls, the pasture was in place and I have a dry lot in spring to keep the animals off the pasture while it gets growing.

If you don't have that set up, your costs of doing it yourself just increased significantly.

I really love milking my cow. People think I'm crazy, but I can't imagine not having all that delicious, fresh milk. I like spending time in the barn with my animals and I don't mind the hard work. I own my own business and work about 35 hours a week.

[Looking4ewes]

Thank you for all your replies. I am looking into a cow share program now. I might start out that way and move into owning my own animal in the future. I have so much to learn about dairying, that it is daunting to jump in without much research.

I have rudimentary barn facilities (a large run-in shed with electric and water), excess pasture that produces plenty of hay, and 3 dry lots. What I am lacking is knowledge and time and equipment. Since I am adding different species, meat chickens and feeder pigs, for the first time this year, I will wait until I get those operations in place before I branch into dairying.

The easiest route to a dairy animal for my situation would be a dairy sheep. I run about 50 ewes already, could easily keep her bred, and already have a market for the lambs. I prefer a cow, and would love to raise a meat calf, but branching into another species is intimidating. Does anyone have experience with milking a sheep?

Many thanks,

Wendy

[Callieslamb]

If you want to learn about cows and dairying -http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cgi?

Great place to learn.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Michigan, eh?

The sales of raw milk are illegal in Michigan. They have some of the toughest milk laws on the books. If you get into a cow share program, make sure it is airtight, written like a co-op.

A few years ago the state tried to make it illegal for even the owners of milking animals to drink raw milk!! I belive the state came down on the Hebrown's (sp?) milk share pretty hard about 4 years ago.

[NamasteMama]

We pay 12.50 a gallon for raw milk here.

[Looking4ewes]

"If you want to learn about cows and dairying -http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cgi?"

I agree, it's a great board. I've been reading all afternoon. ;-)

Thanks,

Wendy

[springvalley]

Wow, 12.50 a gal. thats a bit high, but I guess it is supply and demand. A share will allow you to get a product and be able to do what you want and go on vacation. Always keep that in mind, not all people should own cows. Keep in mind it`s not all fun and games, as you will have fun with it , you will also have heart ache. Get to know someone that owns a cow and learn all you can. Before you buy a cow!! Thanks Marc

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by MullersLaneFarm

.......The sales of raw milk are illegal in Michigan. They have some of the toughest milk laws on the books. If you get into a cow share program, make sure it is airtight, written like a co-op............

Which is why folks do milk shares. You can drink it if you own the animal.

[Ken Scharabok]

"A few years ago the state tried to make it illegal for even the owners of milking animals to drink raw milk!! I belive the state came down on the Hebrown's (sp?) milk share pretty hard about 4 years ago."

As I recall they got them for selling raw milk by the gallon to others than those in their milk share program and selling milk products across a state line without a federal license.

"If you decide to buy a cow/goat and do your own milking, you could share milk with a calf/kid. I did that the first year and it worked good. I would pen the calf up at night, milk in the morning and turn them out together all day. I was getting enough milk for my family that way. The downside is, the cow held up her cream for the calf. I milk twice a day now, get close to 6 gallons a day, have a few herdshare members, feed a pig, a calf, make hard cheeses, butter, skim the cream and I'm still dumping milk. I milk a Jersey."

I suspect if you need to go out of town for a couple of days you simply leave the calf on the cow full-time. I doubt a cow can 'hold back her cream' as it is intermixed with the milk itself.

On milking sheep, try to Google the North American Milking Sheep Association.

Be aware there are dairy breeds of sheep and meat breeds of sheep. You aren't going to get much milk from a meat breed.

There is an section on milking sheep in my eBook on "How to Earn Extra Money in the Country". See the stickies for the Home Business forum.