Michigan Herd Share Laws
RFK Jr. and the crunchy side of social media got you hyped about raw milk? That’s great! We’re right there with you!
But now where to get this magic liquid that the internets are talking about? Well, that depends on your state and their laws!
On the federal level, raw milk is illegal. They bumped the regulation of raw milk back to the states so that each state can decide what they want to do. In some states like California, Maine, Arizona, and more, you can buy raw milk at retail stores. In other states like Kansas or Texas, on farm sales are legal where you can buy the milk on the farm that produces it. There are a few states that sell “pet milk” that is a loophole for raw milk sales. Then there are states like Nevada and Hawaii where sale of raw milk is completely illegal. Lastly, there are herd or cow share states. In Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Tennessee, and North Carolina, you can access raw milk by coming into a contractual agreement between consumer and farmer. In these states, you may drink raw milk if you own the animal whose milk you are drinking. The farmer sells shares of their herd or their cow to others so that they can provide the herd or cow owners with raw milk for consumption.
Each herd or cow share state regulates their herd shares differently.
In Michigan, there is no governmental regulation of herd share farms. There is no government testing or inspections that are required by the state. Does this make it dangerous? Maybe if you think that the government fully is looking out for your best interest! (Haha.)
While there are no regulations as for testing of milk or inspection of the farm, this means that quality is pendant on the farmer. Trust between farmer and owner is absolutely key to knowing that the raw milk you are getting is both high quality and low risk. Also, the lack of standards does not stop the government from inserting themselves if they think they can or if people were to get sick from contaminated milk. Ideally, a farmer would do all that is possible to assure the owner of safety by doing their own testing or sending out milk for third party testing. There should be practices in place to assure that cows are kept clean and heathy, proper sanitation of equipment and bottles, and overall health of animals and people are front of mind.
Though they say there are no regulations of herd shares in Michigan, there are some rules. Only whole milk is allowed by Michigan herd share laws. Butter, yogurt, kefir, and cheese is illegal to sell from farmers to owners. Even just separating the cream from the milk is illegal! These thing would be considered processing. All processed dairy items would have to fall under MDARD regulations. With the exception of a cheese aged more than 60 days, MDARD requires that milk be pasteurized to be sold. Herd share laws only cover fresh, unprocessed, whole milk. Nothing more, nothing less.
That being said, while farmers cannot make products with raw milk for the owners, the owners can make their own products! People can make their own cheese, yogurt, and kefir! They can separate your own cream to use as desired (in coffee is LIFE CHANGING.) It’s frustrating, yet empowering. People are capable of making incredible food on their own!
Will things change as there is a growing movement for more real food? Maybe! Maybe not. To change anything in law takes years of work and the right incentives. But if they do, we’ll be the first to tell everyone about it!
In the meantime, we will keep doing what we can while we can. We at MarGro Farms will do all we can to build trust between us and our owners. We will do all in our power to provide people with high quality, low risk fresh, unprocessed, whole milk.
