A herd share is an agreement between farmer and consumer where you purchase a portion of the herd’s ownership and care, and in return, you receive a share of its milk. This is the only legal way raw milk is available in Kentucky.
Herd shares are popular for those who want fresh, unprocessed, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized milk.
It allows access to raw milk, which is illegal to sell in Kentucky.
It supports small, local producers. In 1982 Kentucky had over 10,000 registered dairies. Today it only has 360.
It provides transparency which is what we at Brownings value above all — you know exactly where your milk comes from and how the cows are cared for. You drive past our cows on the way to pickup your milk. We publish all of our genetic and disease testing and you can see the area our cows are milked and the equipment we use.
Our herdshare members pay a nonrefundable, one time buy in fee of $50, and then pay upfront each month with a credit card on file for the milk they pickup. Each member has a designated day of the week they pickup their milk, pickup is only available from our farm (We do not deliver or have drop locations).
Pickup hours are 9am to 6pm. If you do not pickup your milk within 48 hours of your designated pickup day your milk will be dumped. No refunds are given for missed pickups, missed weeks, out of town vacations etc. Some prior arrangements can be made where milk goes into the freezer but this changes the taste, texture, and quality of the milk.
Our cows milk and goats milk is filtered into single use, food grade, plastic bags for cleanliness and convenience. We no longer offer jar swap. We only offer 1 gallon shares, ½ gallon is not available. We have integrated an on farm lab where our milk is tested each week for Coliforms and Standard Platelet Counts to ensure the safety of our milk for our customers. Our raw, A2/A2 cows milk is $12/gallon and our raw, A2/A2 goats milk is $20/gallon. We require a signed contract/liability release by every herdshare member and a credit card on file that is charged monthly for your milk pickup.
Not at this time, but some products may be available seasonally when milk is abundant and this will be communicated to customers via our private, members only Facebook group ‘Brownings Herd Share’.
Our milk is raw, not pasteurized, irradiated, homogenized, or heated like commercial dairy is. We do however take the cleanliness and safety of our milk very seriously. We use all stainless steel equipment and we immediately filter the milk with single use filters and cool on a small scale, all while caring for each individual cow and goat in the stanchion. Our cleaning and preparation process of their udder is extensive, utilizing sanitary wipes and medicated teat spray and betadine, and we use commercial and specialized dairy stainless steel cleansers after each milking to sterilize our equipment. We are currently integrating an on farm lab that allows us to test our raw milk for Coliforms and SPC’s (Standard Platelet Counts) before the milk is ever sold to ensure the safety and health of our raw milk for our customers.
Yes, absolutely. We would never expect a breastfeeding mother to be on an all vegan diet, and we don’t expect the same out of our cows or goats. Our dairy herd is always on fresh grass and we rotate pastures seasonally. During the winter months we supply hay weekly and throughout the year at every milking, whether once or twice daily, our girls are given a heavy feed ration of specified, high protein percent dairy grains, alfalfa, sweet feed and molasses powder for calories, and a veterinary prescribed mineral powder for supplements.
They also have mineral, salt, and selenium blocks in their pastures. None of these are organic, instead they are mixed or purchased from our local feed mill due to the difficulty and expense of sourcing these things in such a small town. Our main priority will be in keeping our animals in good body condition and overall good health and that means graining them as a crucial role to support them while they supply us with such large quantities of milk.
Our dairy herd is entirely A2/A2. Our jerseys are all genetically tested and goats milk is naturally A2/A2. A2/A2 milk refers to milk that contains only the A2 beta-casein protein, a variant of the milk protein that some people find easier to digest than the more common A1 beta-casein protein.
Here’s a more detailed explanation: Beta-casein, which makes up about 30% of milk protein, exists in two forms: A1 and A2. A2 milk contains only the A2 variant of beta-casein protein. Cows with the A2/A2 gene produce only A2 milk. A1/A1 milk, found in most grocery stores and on most commercial dairy farms, has a mutation in the B-Casein variant.
It is a single nucleotide mutation of the 67th position which converts the proline (found in A2/A2 milk) to histidine. Some people have discovered, though they formerly thought they were lactose intolerant, that they can digest raw, non pasteurized, non homogenized A2/A2 milk without problem.
Raw milk should be kept as cold as possible, which includes utilizing ice packs and coolers during transport, and should only be kept in clean, single use, food grade plastic or sterilized glass jars with lids. The cleaner the container the longer your milk will last. Our milk has a shelf life of 2 weeks.
We no longer offer half gallons. One or more gallons each week are required to be a part of our herdshare.
No, we have switched to single use, food grade plastic as part of our commitment to the cleanliness of our milk and convenience for our customers.
Yes, we vaccinate, medicate, and deworm our cows and goats when medically necessary. We do not use annual standard vaccinations recommended for dairy animals and only utilize modern medical interventions when an animal is deemed ill by a veterinarian. Instead we carefully disease test every animal that we bring on our property, and we keep a closed herd. We run disease testing on our farm once a year. We are proud to have a disease-free herd and all of our genetic testing, disease testing, and milk testing is available to our herdshare members to view.
We currently have a waiting list for our cows milk herd shares but are adding new cows to our dairy herd this summer to keep up with the demand. More interested customers are contacting us each week so to get your name on the waitlist, as we operate on a first come -first served basis.