I posted this in the Southeast Permies group, but I thought I'd throw the idea out here, too.

I live in the north Gilbert area (Baseline & Greenfield), and was wondering if anyone would be interested in a milk "cow-op." The idea is that we share a milk cow. This means we share the cost of a cow & setup (we have the space), share the milking and cleaning duties, and share the product, which is raw, non-homogenized milk. It would work something like this:

Benefits:

  • Raw milk and cream from your own cow.
  • You only get the milk you use, and don't have to deal with excess.
  • You only milk once or twice/week, according to your needs.
  • The costs are shared by all "members."
  • You can have a cow and milk even if you live in a subdivision.
  • You get training on how to milk the cow.
  • You don't have to be a cow expert. Most of the care, breeding, calfing, etc. would be taken care of for you.

Duties:

Each contributor would be assigned times to milk & clean, based on their membership.

Costs:

  • There would be a "membership" cost, to fund the initial setup, including the cow.
  • There would be a periodic (monthly or quarterly) payment to fund supplies, maintenance, replacement costs, breeding costs, etc.

I don't know what all this would add up to yet, but it will definitely be less than keeping a personal cow. If there's enough interest, I'll research the costs to see if it's feasible.

The way we're thinking about this, the membership can be sold, so the initial funds can be recouped if you decide not to continue.


If you're interested or have any questions, please respond to this post or email me at FarmAndGarden@i4ie.com.

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Replies

  • Raw cow mik is wonderful it is actually legal to sell raw milk in arizona if you are liscensed and certified.  there is  a Dairy

    in queen creek that sells raw milk.  go to saveyourdairy.com.   I belong to goat milk share as well  and I have known of some cow shares.  I do not think it is illegal but un sure if you go to Realmilk.com it has a list of cow/goat chares and certified raw dairies in every state.  also the Weston A Price Foundation is very informative on laws and reasons we should use raw instead of pasturized.  I only use raw milk now and and seen improvement in my health.

    Save Your Dairy Provides Raw Milk
    Save Your Dairy provides Fresh Raw Milk.
    • Thank you, Treasa. I agree, it's much better for us. Homogenization is great for shelf life, but not for us.

      At $10+/gallon, I can't afford to buy from a dairy. I can get my own cow, but I don't want to be tied to milking daily and I don't need that much milk. We considered goats, but we'd like the cream. As we find enough like-minded people, we might do both.

    • Getting your own cow is awesoe but with the price of feed, veterinary care, regular hoof triming, time, supplies for milking  etc  you will probaly spend 10.00 per gallon anyway

    • There are a lot of costs to it, that's true!

      We priced everything out after interviewing a number of cow owners. The cost per gallon will average about $8 for the first year while paying off the initial investment, and then drop down to under $4/gallon. Side benefits: manure for the garden, a calf, and a mowed pasture.

      So, we found a lovely Jersey cow who will deliver her 2nd calf in October, and she now resides in our pasture. By the time she delivers, we'll have a milking station built and will have a milking machine. We're also looking into building an aquaponics fodder system. If that works out, it will reduce the price of her food even more.

    • Jersey are so sweet.  Please let us know how you do Sheri.  You may also want to invest in a cream separator.  Lots of accessories but then you have lots of options for the milk. :-)

    • Yes, we are planning on a cream separator. I don't like the price of some of the equipment, but the time savings is tremendous over the long run.

      I didn't know you could separate a goat's milk until you mentioned it, though. Yet I knew you could make goats milk ice cream. Well, duh!

    • While the goat's milk is 'naturally' homoginized more than cows, a separator will do the job - seems to me my friend Kathy let the milk sit (in the frig of course) for a day before spinning in the separator.  Because of the higher percentage of butter fat there was still cream in the milk so it was not 'no-fat' but more closer to whole cow than skim.  Don't know if anyone has done any specific research on the proportions. :-)

    • even a goat or cow share will be very expensive especially with the cost of hay these days

      as I also get mild from a goat share and the board is about 40 a month and that is for a 1/2 gallon a week. 

      the expense is either in time or cash and if you have alot of different people milking you have a larger potential for problems either with pathogens in the mil if some one milkingone day is not a careful with cleanliness as the next or if they are a rough milker althoug a manual milking machine would take care of the cow or goats teats. . 

      I have not found goat shares to be any cheaper then the dairy infact it is more expensice.  sometimes doing it your self is more expensive.  the plus side is you know your cow/goat and you know how they live. 

    • That's good information, Treasa. I appreciate hearing about your experiences.

      We have an acre of irrigated pasture, which reduces feed costs and eliminates space issues for either goats or cows. We raise our cattle for beef which, as you pointed out in regard to dairy, is more expensive that regular store prices, but it is less expensive than organic prices.

      I'm not as content with the mass-produced organics than some; while they're certified to certain standards, more often than not the food just meets those standards. Home produced food exceed those standards by a long shot. Knowing what goes into the animal and the health of the animal is a huge plus.

    • We took a visit to Tallamook cheese in Oregon, and one of the displays said that the average cow ate 100 lbs. of feed a day and 50 gallons of water. EACH day?! WOW. And, it takes 10 pounds of mild to make 1 pound of cheese...

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