HERDSHARES
HERDSHARES
Hey there, my name is April, and today on the Tide Creek Farms Podcast we’ll be going over what a herd-share is, why we use this method to supply raw milk to our community, and the pros and cons of being a herdshare member. So let’s dive in
2- WHAT IS A HERD-SHARE
Simply put a herdshare has multiple individual members who have joint ownership of several cows.
3 - WHAT CAN & CAN’T A HERD-SHARE DO
A dairy that runs a herdshare can legally milk the herd and produce dairy products without needing a dairy license from the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA)
You must become a member of that herd to get your share of milk. However, none of the milk and/or milk product(s) can be sold or given to the public.
Drop-off sites are used for herdshare members to obtain their share of the milk produced. The ODA has allowed herdshares to use farmer markets and ODA-licensed facilities as drop-off sites for members to pick up their products. Provided that NO SALE or PROMOTION of PRODUCT occurs at these sites. Product promotion includes but is not limited to registering new members, giving products away, or providing samples.
A herdshare cannot provide product promotion or samples at any public event.
4 - THE END
There ya go folks, that’s as clear as I and the ODA could make it. But wait
WHY NOT JUST SELL THE MILK?
With as shitty as a herdshare criteria sounds following the ODA standards for the sale of raw milk is actually worse. According to them if a person wants to sell their raw milk they can own no more than three dairy cows and only two can be used to produce milk at one time.
And I almost forgot everyone purchasing the milk must pick it up directly from the farm.
5 - WHY WE CHOSE TO GO HERDSHARE.
When I decided to start milking cows again I was going to just “sell” the milk and have everyone pick up on the farm as needed. In order to do that our main insurer asked that we hold liability insurance for the raw milk. Everything was running smoothly until Dec 2022 when randomly one day out of the blue our insurance agent called to inform us that we were no longer insured for liability for our raw milk. Not a big deal except they were the ONLY company to offer raw milk liability insurance in the state and they just pulled everyone’s contracts.
In order to continue to offer raw milk to our community we had to insure ourselves and switch over into a herdshare. This way it’s viewed by our main insurer that we are selling cows… not milk.
The bonus of doing this is 3 things. We take responsibility for our own food choices. We can grow with more cows someday bringing more raw milk to our community. And we are able to offer drop site locations so folks don’t have to drive out to the farm each week.
6 - TAKEAWAYS
I think it’s important to point out that a herdshare is not allowed to provide product promotion or samples at any public event. It’s legal at this time in Oregon to buy crack & meth off the streets but we can’t promote our micro raw milk dairy at a public event or even hang a sign at our drop site location.
I’m gonna leave ya with that for now. What’s your take on a herdshare? Have you ever be a part of one? Did this help explain it better or leave you with more questions? Please leave your thoughts in the comments. Have a wonderful day and we’ll chat more soon.
