Who would like to discuss Herd shares?

[Mini Horses]

Try these sites.....
by Pete Kennedy, expert raw milk lawyer -- for a nominal fee, you can join their Legal Defense Fund

FarmToConsumer.org

RealMilk.com

 

[greybeard]

Contracts I've seen all seem to be based on a share equals one gallon...

Maybe I should reword the question a little.
IF you buy a share that equals one gallon, does that mean when you arrive at the farm, you pay nothing more, as the gallon was already paid for when you signed the contract & bought the share?
IOW, when you sign on, and send the $$ are you actually pre-paying for the gallon or, are you simply buying the 'right' to buy (or otherwise receive "your own" milk?

Liability...this case is one that is most often brought up when the herd-share thing is brought up.
https://marlerclark.com/news_events/dee-creek-farm-e-coli-outbreak-washington-oregon

And who paid for the hospital bill of those affected in last year's Tennessee e coli outbreak?
https://www.cookinglight.com/news/raw-milk-ecoli-outbreak-children-tennessee
https://www.barfblog.com/2018/06/ra...ickened-by-e-coli-linked-to-raw-milk-in-tenn/
(I suspect the farmer will say "Oh, well, that was not our milk...they were drinking their own milk.")

According to Kristi L Nelson of Knox News, Jordan and Stephanie Schiding wanted to give their children every health advantage.

That’s the reason the Schidings, two months ago, signed up for a local cow-share program after they read about the health benefits of unpasteurized milk.

Instead, 18-month-old Genevieve and 3-year-old Anthony contracted an illness caused by E. coli bacteria and ended up with kidney failure in the pediatric intensive care unit at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital — two of 12 local children hospitalized with E. coli since the end of May.

Knox County Health Department staff told the Schidings the E. coli infection was likely linked to the consumption of raw milk from French Broad Farm. On Thursday, the health department lifted its directive that requested French Broad Farm temporarily cease operations. But health department Director Dr. Martha Buchanan reiterated that consuming raw milk is always risky and health officials recommend the public consume only pasteurized milk and dairy products.

Jordan Schiding said he and his wife knew there was “potential” for food poisoning from unpasteurized milk, which both adults drank with seemingly no serious effects, but “we were definitely not aware that anything like this was remotely possible.”

The Schiding children seem to have turned a corner, he said, with Anthony discharged Friday afternoon and Genevieve still hospitalized but out of intensive care.

But what started as a supposed stomach bug May 31 turned into a terrifying experience that traumatized both the children and their parents, who had to watch them suffer.

Schiding said the family brought Genevieve to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital May 31 after she became seriously dehydrated with diarrhea and vomiting. As she was being admitted, Anthony also began vomiting.

The hospital rehydrated the children and discharged them a few hours later. Schiding believes they were among the first children related to the current cluster of E. coli cases to come to Children’s Hospital.

Two days later, after both children continued to get sicker, the Schidings brought them back to the hospital. This time, hospital staff took a stool sample from Genevieve, which tested positive for E. coli, and then from Anthony, who also tested positive. Both children were admitted, and Knox County Health Department contacted the couple the next day, he said.

The Schidings knew little about E. coli; certain strains produce a toxin, Shiga, that can cause a chain of reactions in the body — hemolytic uremic syndrome — resulting in clots in the small blood vessels in the kidneys that cause kidney failure. The very young, the very old and people whose immune systems are already compromised are more susceptible to HUS.

Four children admitted to Children’s so far have had HUS, including Genevieve and Anthony. Though Anthony wasn’t quite as sick as his sister, both had surgery to implant central lines so they could get fluids, dialysis and blood transfusions, Schiding said. Anthony had three days of dialysis, Genevieve seven.

In addition, Anthony’s central lines became infected with staph, Schiding said, but the antibiotics typically prescribed to treat staph are too hard on the kidneys to give a child with HUS, so doctors had to use a less common medication, which has seemed to work.

“Obviously, we were freaked out a little bit,” Schiding said. “It seemed like he had started turning the corner” until he spiked a fever of 104.9 and tested positive for staph.

Schiding said his family no longer will consume raw milk.
Altogether, 10 children got sick from 'drinking milk from their own father's partial cow""
things that make you go 'Hmmmmmm'..

 

[Mini Horses]

The buy-in fee is to be a part of ownership, for shares wanted. The monthly fees to "board & milk" the animal is based on # of shares you wish to receive of the product (milk) produced...ie. 30 per share, per month, gets 1 gal per week. Want 2 gal? pay 2 shares...

In VA we cannot openly sell just raw milk. BUT herd share agreements are legal. Herd share members can get raw milk. I have not read all of the requirements to be a "sanctioned" herd share farm (certainly MANY are doing and not being sanctioned). I would THINK some testing requirements would be in place -- . Every State has their own laws governing raw milk, use & sales. Following gives more details per State...& states overall for general info.


https://milk.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=005192


Because there is a lot of "nitty-gritty" regarding what, when, where, how a dairy product is able to be sold and used, you have to find the exact regs for the appropriate state.

Here's an actual excerpt from the VA code regs which was added in recent years, because taken literally as written you could not even drink raw milk on your farm for your family. Additionally, a few years back our codes only stated "cows" that was changed to be any milking animal/mammal, excluding humans.

“No regulation shall prohibit or restrict a person, his immediate family, or his guests from consuming products or commodities grown or processed on his property provided that the products or commodities are not offered for sale to the public.”

In addition, the state Secretary of Agriculture and Consumer Services has acknowledged in writing that farmers can give raw milk and products made from raw milk free to the public


Notice the last paragraph?? There are farms who give free milk and suggest a donation be made to buy them "treats & hay". Yep...while there are risks, if you know the farmer and trust the farm you are often feeling ok with it. It is ALWAYS a personal choice.

 

[Mini Horses]

Geesh --- GB, you have BEEF cows. Do you even drink milk?

 

[babsbag]

Herd shares are not legal in CA but we can sell raw milk from a licensed dairy if you are licensed for raw. I am not and don't want to be. The liability is too high, both financially and mentally (for me). There is a way to test every batch of milk for ecoli on the farm but it is just too much work for me. I do believe that I would have more customers if I sold raw.

 

[greybeard]

Geesh --- GB, you have BEEF cows. Do you even drink milk?

About a gallon of pasteurized store milk every 2 days. My nearest neighbor has Jerseys tho and I sometimes get raw milk from him..gratis & mostly to cook with..he milks more some days than he can use and ends up feeding the excess to his dogs or to a hog if he has one being raised.
There is according to the local talk, a small backyard dairy in this county that is legally set up to sell raw milk..state inspected etc. I haven't looked in to it tho to confirm it.

Herd shares are legal here and I'm fine with it but...
As you can tell, I'm uncomfortable with the idea that milk may be sold and consumed off premises with no allowances or recourse if the milk causes someone to become ill or die. The "they drank their own milk from their own shared cow" 'thing' does not cut it when it comes to children's health and lives.

It is ALWAYS a personal choice.

I agree.
If a person chooses to risk making themselves ill or their children, then that is their choice 100%. A great % of the 300 million population/US public tho, probably does not feel that way.

I would much prefer legislatures just say it's legal to sell raw milk to off premises customers and junk this vodoo mask of 'cow shares' crap, but include pretty stiff fines for those that sell tainted milk. 5 figure fine$ per episode would be significant enough to help ensure the milk supply is safe.

 

[Mini Horses]

I agree with you and absolutely understand. I don't sell my milk. I have given some away on occasion but only to people I truly know. Because I AM consuming it, I do pay attention to the sanitation and handling. I do not milk into an open pail. I sterilize jars, hoses, hands, teats, wear gloves, etc. Ice immediately & all that. I don't even mix one doe's milk with another. Yep, germs happen.

When I make cheeses, those are sometimes shared with friends. Mostly it is used by myself and or fed to animals here.

If herd shares used, it should be tested regularly. But the truth is the expense and aggravation is beyond what most with a couple animals care to go thru. And many of those looking for the raw milk do so because often they were raised with it &/or want to escape the chems in today's processing. I've drank a fair share of raw cow and goat milk in my lifetime. Heck, you take a risk buying a head of lettuce.

THEN -- there's @babsbag who went the whole route!~!! And a true journey it was. Loved reading it, not doing it.

 

[Southern by choice]

Are you guys ready for my essay?

Still typing it up!

 

[greybeard]

you type like I do?

 

[Southern by choice]

you type like I do?
View attachment 57197

Yes ! I do! What is worse than just the one finger punch is my keyboard is old and some letters stick and I can never find my reading glasses so can't see either. If I try to do voice on a goat forum ummmm that doesn't work well.