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A Jesusfreaks tales of farm life with soon to be Six kids
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GardnerHomestead
Loving the herd life
Impressive udder, I have dwarves so the udder isnt as big, those look so nice to milk!
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Jesusfreak101
Herd Master
sweethearts teats where at firsr really odd. herd has gotten better.
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Jesusfreak101
Herd Master
Okay so outside of the kids, homeschooling been off all this week kids weren'tfeeling well. don't know if we all had a virus or if its the extremely high mold in our area but either way i sick of seeing snot its snot okay. Lol moving on now. My husband wants me to look into opening a Dairy, I am not completely against the idea but still the legal requirements and all the work involved I am honestly one not sure about if its more then what i already do or if even manageable for me to handle. I do have some friends who like the milk but i havent been saling it. but it would help us financially. Just trying to figure it all out. And if i would have to bottle feed of if i could still dam raise kids i guess that would depend on the amount of does and the amount of milk i was to sale. I currently firgured it to be about 4 dollars a gallon of milk, in our area i know it goes for 16 a gallon which i would think is pretty high for most families to afford. What are yalls thoughts and advice? no need for tactfulness just lay it out please...
farmerjan
Herd Master
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The state regs would have to be seriously looked at. The better thing would be to look into a herd share or a milk share type deal. " Realmilk. com" and "Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund" (FTCLDF) are 2 places to research for herd or cow shares.... well, goat shares. Some states allow raw milk sales... some absolutely not... some are good with "cow shares" some kinda turn a blind eye.... You need to really research it. It can really help pay for the feed bills and such. But you need to really be concerned with the cleanliness factor and such..... I wanted to do a cow share deal and then with the ankle replacement didn't.... and once the knees get done, I need to decide what I am going to do. VA is a NO RAW MILK , uh-uhn, no how , no way.... herd shares/cow shares are a grey area and I am thinking that I may just not want to get into the hassles at this age.... wanted to have a small dairy forever.... but I'm not getting any younger and don't know if I want the aggravation.... But then again... all according to what keeps on happening in this country, herd/milk/cow shares might be a necessary thing.
You have to know the requirements/restrictions of your state for starters.
Co-sharing with letting the kids be dam raised may not work...... bacteria and such cannot be controlled when the babies are nursing....near as well as if the babies do not have access to the teat....
Getting the milk tested for bacteria and scc count should be required for health reasons..... I have my cows milk tested for the scc a couple times a year just for my own use, when I am milking for the house.... just for peace of mind.
You have to know the requirements/restrictions of your state for starters.
Co-sharing with letting the kids be dam raised may not work...... bacteria and such cannot be controlled when the babies are nursing....near as well as if the babies do not have access to the teat....
Getting the milk tested for bacteria and scc count should be required for health reasons..... I have my cows milk tested for the scc a couple times a year just for my own use, when I am milking for the house.... just for peace of mind.
Baymule
Herd Master
There is a raw milk dairy near us, 100% Guernsey. They charge $12 per gallon and can’t keep up.
$4 per gallon isn’t worth your time. No less than $8, preferably $10 to $12 per gallon. People will buy it.
When we lived in Livingston, sometimes we went to a Jersey dairy in San Jancinto county, their milk was $8 per gallon, they used half gallon mason jars. Customer paid a deposit on the jars and had to bring them back or pay another deposit. People drove from Houston to buy their milk.
I’ve seen raw milk, dyed blue with cake coloring on Craigslist for “pet” purposes only. We all know that is a ruse to skirt the law, but it meets law requirements. You might could do that to test the market.
$4 per gallon isn’t worth your time. No less than $8, preferably $10 to $12 per gallon. People will buy it.
When we lived in Livingston, sometimes we went to a Jersey dairy in San Jancinto county, their milk was $8 per gallon, they used half gallon mason jars. Customer paid a deposit on the jars and had to bring them back or pay another deposit. People drove from Houston to buy their milk.
I’ve seen raw milk, dyed blue with cake coloring on Craigslist for “pet” purposes only. We all know that is a ruse to skirt the law, but it meets law requirements. You might could do that to test the market.
Bruce
Herd Master
Good to think seriously about that. Given all the current chores and young children I think it would be a heavy lift to start and run a dairy.
Baymule
Herd Master
Maybe a few dedicated customers would be a better idea than going for a full all out dairy. If you like it, you could expand or just keep it small
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Jesusfreak101
Herd Master
I like what all of you had said I look in ti the share thing, I know Bruce I am not sure how much extra work it would be. Baymule I agree.
Baymule
Herd Master
I have a few customers. They buy pork and chicken. It's enough to pay for what we consume plus a little left over. We actually do quite well on our chicken. If we grow our chicken customers, then we'll need to spend several thousand on a drum type plucker, scalder, small building for a slaughter facility per USDA specs. And that doesn't include some kind of septic for water treatment. I don't know what would be required for disposal of guts and feathers. Small meat chicken production can be USDA approved for up to 2,000 chickens or the next level is 20,000 chickens.
Right now, we scald, pluck, gut and pack on ice under the shade of a couple of oak trees. It is time consuming doing all that by hand. Then I have to process them inside, cut and vacuum seal. We usually process 10 chickens a day, then I cut and package the next day. If we had the processing equipment and building, we could process a lot more per day AND have an air conditioner!!!
On the pigs, we have one pig customer who gladly pays our price for excellent pork. We have the pigs processed at a USDA inspected slaughter facility. Their pig pays for all the feed and processing for both pigs. Sometimes I have as much as $50 left over! LOL But we eat for free and that is worth a lot.
Sheep-we take the lambs to the auction. I can't get a slaughter date for them. I was doing pretty good selling the meat, but right now it's not worth the hassle.
Yes, our farming is small, but it fits us and we are not over whelmed.
Right now, we scald, pluck, gut and pack on ice under the shade of a couple of oak trees. It is time consuming doing all that by hand. Then I have to process them inside, cut and vacuum seal. We usually process 10 chickens a day, then I cut and package the next day. If we had the processing equipment and building, we could process a lot more per day AND have an air conditioner!!!
On the pigs, we have one pig customer who gladly pays our price for excellent pork. We have the pigs processed at a USDA inspected slaughter facility. Their pig pays for all the feed and processing for both pigs. Sometimes I have as much as $50 left over! LOL But we eat for free and that is worth a lot.
Sheep-we take the lambs to the auction. I can't get a slaughter date for them. I was doing pretty good selling the meat, but right now it's not worth the hassle.
Yes, our farming is small, but it fits us and we are not over whelmed.
