Raw milk: How much do you pay?

[Zoeanne]

Starting next month, i will be able to buy raw milk locally (a farm in VA will be delivering it to my area.

There is a one-time cow-share fee of $100, and a one-time bottle charge of $15.

After that, the monthly "boarding" fee is $35 (for one gallon of milk a week), and the weekly delivery fee is $3.50 (regardless of how much milk I buy)

Not including the one-time fees, this comes to over $12 a gallon. Is that a reasonable price for raw milk?

I have just begun investigating the idea of raw milk, and really don't know if we can afford $50/month for milk!

[tamagotchi]

We pay $3.99 per quart (plus a $1.25 bottle deposit)

[thomlynn]

I pay $10 per gallon, which is just slightly more expenisve than organic pasturized milk in my area. I'm in a coop where about every other month I drive an hour to pick up the milk and each week I drive 20min to meet that weeks driver to pick up my share (the cost of gas and travel time factors into the cost IMO).

[tboroson]

I pay around $5.50/gallon, give or take fifty cents depending on which farmer I buy from. I understand that in states where you have to go through the cow-share rigmarole, it's going to be more expensive. But... that's absurd. Seriously, I would go dairy free first.

[PeggyinNC]

We pay 5 bucks a gallon; when we first started about a year ago it was 3.75/gal.
I think raw milk is worth it. I would probably pay 10/gal if I needed to...but that might be just me...'cause I live on the stuff!

[thedomesticdiva]

In SC we pay $6.50 with no taxes and I have to pick it up.

[saratc]

I'm paying between $5.50 and $6.50 a gallon.

[~Megan~]

Wow, I think its high.

I used to pay $2 a gallon from a family that just sold their extra milk. I sure miss it!

I've found another place and its closer to $5 a gallon plus bottle depoist.

[jamie79]

I don't know where you are in North Carolina, but there is a farm where I get my raw milk in Anderson, SC for $4/gallon and $10/half gallon of cream. He also has buttermilk and will make 2% milk if you want it. Don't know why you would though...Anyways, I think he delivers to a large farmers market in Charleston. You may be way too far away for it to work out, but you never know. I get my milk every 3 weeks and it lasts at least 4.

HTH, Jamie

Oh yeah, PM me if you want details.

[snowbunny]

We paid a $50 fee per share plus $20 month boarding fee per share. It amounts to $10/gallon and it is so worth it especially considering a 1/2 gallon of organic UHT milk costs $4.76 at the HFS.

[steph117]

Our milk club charges yearly dues (between $25/50) and delivery fees (usually about 10% of each order). Depending on which farm you purchase from, milk here is roughly $4/quart, and 7.50/gallon.

[aprilibarra]

i pay $30/yr and $8/gal. its a lot, and i really can't pay anymore.

[aprilibarra]

i'm in north central texas, btw.

[tabitha]

we milk a cow, but to buy it here i would pay $4/ gallon. milk sales are legal here, though, w/o a cow share. we may be buying it soon when i dry off Niña.

[crunchy_mama]

The farmers we get our eggs, meat etc from will be milking cows soon and it is supposed to be $6 a gallon.

[Tigeresse]

I pay $6.50/gal, $20/yr cow share. We pick up every 2 weeks at a health food store. I would pay more if I had to, but right now we are only consuming about 1 gal/week.

[kbchavez]

When I can get raw goat milk here, it's $14/gallon!:

[AJP]

I can't believe no one else from CA has spoken up yet to tell you that here we pay about $16/gal. There are two dairies that sell raw milk in stores, their prices are about the same (one has much larger distribution). CSA/cow-share arrangements are usually less (it was $8/gal when I used one a number of years ago), but most raw milk consumers here get it from one of the retail dairies because there are few opportunities to get it from a local farmer or family cow keeper. CA law says that only Grade A dairies can sell milk, and there are specific regulations for raw milk for retail sale, so it's technically illegal for small farmers to sell raw milk if they're not a licenced, Grade A dairy, and anything like that is done under the table. There are a few cow-shares around, apparently, and some others in development, and a few low-profile CSA farms that keep a cow or two, but at this point those are only a tiny portion of the raw milk available here.

[ani'smommy]

$4/gallon, $4 for a pound of butter and $4 for a pint of cream. So so so worth it.

[lastrid]

I live in MD and buy from PA. I feel incredibly lucky that I pay $6.00 a gallon. MD is so expensive for everything else.