Milk Containers for Dairy Herd Share

If doing a share where the same customers come every week, you can do it like we do. We have TWO sets of jugs. One set is with the farmer and one set is being brought to drop off the day they pick up milk. So they pick up full jugs and drop off clean, dry jugs to you for next week.

Except, you will still have to wash and sanitize glass jars. I haven't had one milk customer return a glass jar to me clean enough to use. We ended up having to wash nasty smelly jars out before we could use them...created more work than they were worth. Be aware that that is what is going to happen if you go the glass route. Also, have you priced everything out? Glass canning jars, plastic tops, glass milk jugs verses the plastic jugs and caps? Plastic will also give them the option of safely freezing milk.

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Great site thanks for the link. It dosen't look like they have much in stock right now though.

I thought the Amish jars were really cute .


I use 1/2 gallon canning jars. They are easy to clean also.

You should resanitize any jar brought back to you ...you just never know.


Patty

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This thread has been very helpful, thanks so much for the links! I too am looking at herd shares next year and was looking for proper bottles.

These are 2 procedures that I have seen work:

Require 1/2 gallon canning jars. They can either pay you for them or provide their own. For example, if a person picks up 1 gallon of milk in 2 jars, they give you in exchange 2 jars with lids. If they don't have jars, you charge them a deposit. Be sure it is enough to cover how much it would cost you to buy new jars plus a little extra for your trouble.

All jars turned in go through the dishwasher (or however you sanitize) no matter how clean they look. That way you do not have to wonder about other people's washing habits.

Or, alternatively:

Each time they pick up they get their milk in a brand new plastic jug with a sealed lid, just like from the store. The plastic is NOT returned to be reused for milk but is recycled or whatever. The price of the new plastic containers is figured into the herdshare costs.

JMHO

Jean

The way my friend, who we buy milk from, does it is this...for legal reasons to sell milk off the farm, her customers have to bring their own containers. She does as mentioned in above post...they buy "two" containers. One they take with them full of milk and they leave an empty one for next time. When they come to pick up milk, they switch, trade in their clean, empty container, take the full one. They are required to bring their containers back CLEAN, but she also rewashes them before use so she knows they are properly clean right before putting the milk in them.

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This is a source of new plastic one-gallon jugs and replacement caps. Prices don't include shipping.

http://www.freundcontainer.com/product.asp?pn=37598-b

Alternative is to use supermarket jugs and then put on a new cap each time.

If you are doing this legally, check with your state to determine sanitation requirements.

We use these, no handle, half gallon:
http://www.villagekitchen.com/mfg/ar.../quadro_p.html

If you shop at Walmart, they sell them there for something like $5. They're thicker than a canning jar and have a pour spout thingy at the lip.