Dairy drops state license (Adopts herd-share)

[Recursion]

Calling Oregon Department of Agriculture's policies misguided, owners of the Siskiyou Crest Goat Dairy on Monday voluntarily renounced their state-sanctioned Grade A creamery dairy license.

In addition to giving up the highest ODA rating achievable for an Oregon dairy, Michael "Mookie" Moss and his father, Roger, co-owners of Boone's Farm half a dozen miles south of Jacksonville, launched a herd share program — allowing customers to own a portion of the herd — to make it easier for them to provide raw milk and other raw dairy products.

Although they were allowed to sell raw dairy products before giving up their license, he described the red tape as too much for even a goat to chew through. Moreover, when offering their wares at a local farmers market, they often had to either trade their product or simply give it away, he said, noting the restrictions were such they invariably turned away five to 10 customers.

I love herdshares and cropshares; it's a kind of socialism that involves the consumer as well.

Regulation is a good thing, but then again so many regulatory processes have been captured by the giants of the relevant industry that they just serve as another way to stamp smaller competitors out. I wish there were an easy answer to that.

[FedUpWithIt All]

1. K and R I agree with you completely. n/t

[mike_c]

2. if I was selling raw milk though...

...I'd have all my customers sign a waiver acknowledging that they know and accept the risks. Raw milk should only be consumed directly from the nipple-- it should never be stored and transported outside of the female's body for more than a bacterial generation or two.