# Goat Milk Shares- How do YOU do this?



## Muddy Boots (Jan 23, 2010)

We have recently purchased a few goats and had SEVERAL people tell us right away that they wanted some milk! Problem is that in Indiana it is illegal to sell raw goat milk, except with a Goat Herd Share Policy. 

I was wondering who all has to do this, and HOW do you do it? I have heard different ways of charging a purchase amount in the beginning then a per gallon charge, then several other ways...

Please share what you do and your costs, if you don't mind. We would LOVE to purchase more goats, and start something like this but we just don't want to charge too much or too little...

Thanks ahead of time!

(If you would like to PM me, that is fine also!)


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

We do herd shares. Each share is 1/14th of a goat. We sell the share at the actual market price of our goats, which works out to $25 a share. As the owner of 1/14th of a goat, our shareholder must pay for room and board and are entitled to the milk that portion produces. We charge $5 a week to feed that much goat and it usually produces about half a gallon of milk (for ease, we choose 1/14th so you get one milkings worth). During the dry period (or really for about a month before and a month in the beginning when I make cheese and we feed kids), the shareholder will stop paying boarding and therefore their product (the milk) is forfeit. 

Some people balk at paying what can be seen as $10 a gallon for milk. The local grade A raw dairy (cow) nearby sells for $7. I usually tell people "if you want cow milk, then by all means buy from them!". The Meyenburg stuff at the store is running around $14 a gallon right now I think (haven't checked in awhile). Several farther away grade A raw goat dairies sell between $7 and $20 a gallon!!!

I also did "cheese shares". For a fee, I would turn the shareholder's milk into soft cheeses. It worked for us because we could not find enough fluid milk customers. But I don't think it was very cost effective. Sure jump started my education into cheese making though!


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## Muddy Boots (Jan 23, 2010)

Thanks! I am just afraid of charging someone too much for the milk/ shares combined. I don't want to be ripping anyone off, but don't want to loose money either! $20 a gallon would be wonderful, but I don't think I would have any buyers!  I will have to call around and see if any local store sell it, I'm not sure if they do or not....

I like that you sold "1/14th of the goat" as a share. That is a good idea. 

Thanks for the info!


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Just adding my two cents here from a cow milking perspective. If you sale these shares in "advance", aren't you then under pressure to produce the product? What if you end up with goat health problems, udder problems, animal needs antibiotics, etc? Just wondering if there's provisions for these situations in the deal?


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

That's a good question. I did a lot of research on this before we started out. Most herd shares pool the milk - so they milk 5 goats (cows) and then you get a percentage of it - so it would be 1/14 of 1/5 of it for us. So it's actually built into your plan that if an animal is sick (or being medicated and you can't use their milk), then each customer gets a little less. It's like a CSA with vegetables - good crop, you get more - bad crop, you get less - but you always pay the same amount.

With us last year, we only "sold" about 2.5 of our 4 milkers. So we didn't have a problem when one of them came down with mastitis and we took her milk out of the customer pool. But I think even if we had "sold" all 4 of the milkers, we could have contacted customers and asked if anyone would voluntarily forfeit their milk (i.e. by not paying the boarding fee) either for a set amount of time or perhaps every other week. Most folks that sign up for things like CSAs and herd shares are in it because they want to be closer to the farm and their food production. They know to expect that things are different than buying from the grocery store!


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## fols (Nov 5, 2008)

Here's a link to somneone who does herd shares in TN with a pretty detailed description that may help you answer some questions.
http://www.standingstonenubians.com/Raw_Milk.html

I live in OH and we're not allowed to sell raw milk at all! I think we need to move...

Good luck - Diane


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## Muddy Boots (Jan 23, 2010)

Fols- Thanks for the link! 
This all seems like a lot of $$ for the customer... I guess you have to cover all of the right bases tho! Just looking forward to start getting the milk for ourselves tho, first!


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

fols said:


> Here's a link to somneone who does herd shares in TN with a pretty detailed description that may help you answer some questions.
> http://www.standingstonenubians.com/Raw_Milk.html
> 
> I live in OH and we're not allowed to sell raw milk at all! I think we need to move...
> ...


Pretty interesting link. Goat shares almost seem like a racket! I could see a person making a profit if they were the one receiving the boarding fees and jar deposits. $50 + $20 deposit + $45 per month for for gallons of milk. That's $540 per year after the initial deposits with the share holder receiving 48 gallons of milk per year. Let's see, that's $11.25 per gallon. 

Thanks for sharing this.


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## Heritagefarm (Feb 21, 2010)

Thankfully, we live in Missouri, and can sell uncertified raw milk. We WERE selling our milk for $4 per gallon, but raised it to $5 per gallon, becuase $4 simply wasn't cutting it. And unless you live in a rich community, I don't think you can get $10 per gallon!
And if I didn't answer your question about 'shares', it's because I have no clue what that is.
THF


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

http://www.sycamoreacresfarm.com/default.asp

This place is in north-central Indiana. Maybe this lady can help answer your questions!!


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