Herdshares

While the main focus of the farm is breeding and showing quality dairy goats, they are expected to be efficient and functional as we milk all year and use the milk ourselves. Our herd is on DHI test to allow us to focus on genetic and management improvements to optimize performance.  We use the milk for drinking, yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. Although we consume a fair bit ourselves, we always have more than we can put to use ourselves. In a "herdshare," you the consumer can "buy" part of a goat for a set fee, to then be entitled to a weekly portion of milk.

Care of the Herd

The herd receives free choice forage in the form of pasture/browse or hay as seasonally appropriate- typically heavy grazing in summer, primarily hay in winter, supplemented with alfalfa during peak lactation. The milking does also receive a non-medicated grain from a local feed store during lactation. Additionally they are given 24/7 access to clean water, goat mineral, and baking soda. Medications are used as necessary, but strict withdrawal times are followed.

Milk Processing

Milking is done primarily by machine, but often does are hand-milked as well. Regardless, milk is then brought inside and filtered into clean glass jars, which are then labeled and pasteurized before being rapidly cooled.

Something that sets us apart is that all milk is pasteurized before leaving the farm, with the exception being any that is going directly for animal use (foals. calves, cats, etc - this typically isn't filtered, either). The herd is healthy but there are many pathogens that can live in raw milk even if animals appear healthy, causing serious illnesses such as listeriosis and Q fever. People consumed raw milk for generations with rare problems, BUT most of those consumers lived on the farm and thus may have had some immunity to those pathogens already. With that knowledge and my background both in dairy and animal health, I can only feel right offering pasteurized milk as part of the herdshare. We do follow low-temp pasteurization (145* for 30 minutes) which is less damaging to other proteins in milk compared to the more typical ultra-high temp pasteurization that store milk undergoes. I feel that the low-temp pasteurized goat milk has a great balance of health benefits without the risks of drinking truly "raw" milk.

Fore more information or to get started in our herdshare program, please send me (Katie) an email.