rachels.haven's Journal

[rachels.haven]

Found out we are not going to be selling milk ever here. Animal inspector did not know what he was talking about. We'd have to be licensed and inspected and put in a fully equipped separate parlor as per mass regulations do monthly testing on our bill no matter our scale, and always have a bacterial count lower than pasteurized milk after pasteurization. And the state wants machine milking. The above is why there are only 29 sources of raw milk in the state, and they are way bigger than us. Oh well. Good bye, dream.
I'm ashamed I believed the town animal inspector and even thought there was a chance here. I'm not even allowed by law to dig a hole on most of the property...Milk sales, lol!

 

[farmerjan]

@rachels.haven .... go on the website RealMilk. com. They have lists of each state, what is required, what is allowed, and other things. Also Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.. (FTCLDF)... good source of some of the legalities..... here in Va we can sell raw milk for pet consumption only. However there is a grey area with herd shares and cow shares. Both should be covered in the above websites. There are so many liabilities to consider. VT will allow raw milk sales, certain restrictions, CT used to but I haven't kept up with it for the New England states. Some states absolutely will not allow it for even pet use. The thing you can do, is "give it away" and people can make anonymous donations, in CASH, in a jar when they say, " pay for their eggs".... You have to be very careful though on some of it.... but there are ways. The cow/herd share is a way to go for many of the states like here in Va., to get around it
Most all do required that the animals be milked by machine due to bacteria that can be transmitted from hands to teats and ultimately to the milk. Again, you can "give it to them" but if it is someone that might be questionable..... you should not engage in a situation that could come back to bite you.
You can board someones animal, you do the work, and they can get the milk from their own animal....... but believe me, if anyone ever gets sick, then you could lose everything..... one of the reasons I tried to impress @Duckfarmerpa1 about having a liability policy to make sure they are covered.

Mass is not a state that you want to "run afoul of"......

 

[rachels.haven]

No, it's not. I get the impression they would be excited to soak you for all they can if you give them the opportunity as if taxes aren't high enough already. And then anyone who has a beef with you will sue you. There is an incredible amount of social butt covering here and I deeply resent it.

Real Milk . com was one of the places we consulted before we moved here, but their table is vague for Mass and it's not their fault. You apparently can only get a copy of the rules if you contact the state and draw attention to yourself (kind of like the "being allowed to shoot coyotes if your a farmer farther than 500 feet of your neighbor's house" thing, that's not public knowledge and you are only told the law in full if you ask).
I don't believe herd share or pet milk are allowed here and I don't want to get in trouble with donations or whatnot. I'll just be dumping.

I was rather upset last night and this morning. The state and local laws have already provided several obstacles to setting up a farm and even just making our property safe. It's like they support agriculture, but only the hobby and pretty looking kind that can't support itself and I was very discouraged. I'm finally getting the feeling that they're saying that you can do as you please as long as it is what they want. Anyway I was so down my husband suggested we eventually move. His job is not his favorite anyway (although much better working from home) and it may dry up or move to a location where he has a very long commute. We just moved though. But I guess if we stay long term we'll have a really expensive house with really high property taxes, with property we can't do much with, in a really expensive area, surrounded by people who don't want us here (and treat us like we're dumb trailer trash because we spend our rather sizable income eating up the mortgage instead of...appearances maybe? I like our priorities better than theirs though-stability and all), in a state that doesn't want us here either, which all totally sounds great.

I don't know. Maybe tomorrow things will look better.

Yesterday no work was done on the buck pen. I took the dog out for a walk because I didn't feel like working with cold metal in a cold, windy drizzle and then it began dumping. It looks like it's going to rain all day today. Oh well.

Lots to think about.

 

[Bruce]

Hmmm, do I Like or Frown???

Sure does sound like a tough row there Rachel. I think the Magic 8 Ball would say "All signs point to moving eventually". Hopefully somewhere more agriculture friendly with a local job for DH.

In VT you can sell raw milk directly from your farm or a store the farm owns. That said, not many do. The Farmer's Market lady and husband that I get my beef steaks from have a 180 cow dairy. They could sell raw milk but don't because of the insurance needed to do so.

 

[rachels.haven]

Yeah, we see VT as an option. There are a few others too. Tech jobs are the main issue. DH can also teach music up to a college level with is level of education, as well as in a piano studio again, but tech jobs pay better and help with retirement plans faster (and I could see him teaching college in his "retirement" like his dad is).

My mom still wants TN, specifically the one her friend left when he passed away next door. Then I can help her annoy her uppity neighbor lady who thinks farming is "appalachian" (translation from uppity: trashy) with perfectly legal and protected farming and selling very fresh, labeled "pet milk" and trash their view further with beautiful goats and bucks to go with mom's dragon goose army (ever met someone who loves african geese? that's my mom and they are her babies. They come to her for loud hugs, which blows my mind.).

Right now I think we're just surviving this. Plenty of time to think. Not planning on having to act on anything soon.

TSC curbside pickup order tomorrow.
Time to cook dinner now.
Things seem to suck today, but we're not doing so bad. That was just crushing.

 

[Baymule]

I couldn't live in a place like that.

 

[rachels.haven]

My mom's house? yeah, my husband doesn't want to be their neighbor either. The geese only listen to women-and only those who walk with confidence and look like my mother. They are crotch-bitingly, hissy, nasty to men and people they don't collectively think they recognize. They are ear-splittingly loud and make LGD's look like the strong, silent type even when just chatting. So we probably won't ever live next door, lol. I think the geese would eat Bailey.

Massachusetts? I'm temporarily stuck here. We moved here because our home in Michigan more or less kicked us out and DH needed to leave the last office to grow his career and he thought this position would be a good opportunity. We'll eventually leave. I don't belong here. No five year plan though. It appears that's how you get stuck somewhere.

On the positive side, I've gone from just dwarf goats as a novelty to bigger goats for providing milk to my family and maybe some dwarves with serious milk potential and quality over the past year. It's just not time to sell milk, which is frustrating, but I'll get through it.

 

[Baymule]

I would probably like living next to your mom. I couldn’t live in Massachusetts with those stupid crazy laws. I wonder where y’all will go next? I do think that you are doing an admirable job of doing the best you can with what you have.

 

[Bruce]

Is DH equally not enamored with MA? If so he can look for new employment in other, more suitable states. When one comes along, you move

 

[rachels.haven]

That's the plan. He's fairly flexible on where he lives. He likes walking and biking places and exploring. Here works, but just barely as it's very walker and biker unfriendly (narrow winding roads, people will avoid you, but then they will complain and/or post pics of you on the town fb page to make an "example" of people doing things they don't like, a little obnoxious-but i want my publicity post still).

He still wants his project to launch so it can not be a secret anymore and can have the pride of seeing it to the end-I guess he can also tell family and friends and put it on a resume then too. The virus put that off. His thing is cool, so I don't blame him. We'll see what happens after that (dlksjfsdkjfkfdj!!!). Moving this time has left us tired of moving-it was a very difficult move. I need out, but it's a balancing act.

Like you said, we need a good career opportunity, in a good place at a good time.

Ava's kidding date is tomorrow. Her ligs are stubbornly there, so we'll see. Summer the lamancha kids the week after.