Dairy Goats
Goat milk production has come a long way since Susan Miller began Kentucky’s first certified goat dairy and cheese plant in 2007. A little more than a month passed from the time Todd Harp received certification for Kentucky’s second goat dairy in early July of 2008 before Mike and April Hitch of Germantown, KY got the go-ahead for number three. On August 15, cheese maker Giovanni Capezutto picked up his first load of milk from the Hitches’ Shady Lawn Farm, destined for his manufacturing facility in Jessamine County.
Is goat and sheep milk on the fast track in Kentucky? “It looks that way,” muses Ray Bowman, Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office Executive Director. “There’s certainly a lot of interest in small ruminant dairies and cheese making right now.”
“This has been a goal of April's for a long time and a lot of people told her it could never be done,” says Mike Hitch. “We’ve gone through a lot to get here, but I just want people to know that it’s possible.”
Future small ruminant dairy ventures may find things a little easier than Harp or the Hitches did, mainly because of their groundbreaking work. Now that the way has been paved, Lewis Ramsey of the Milk Safety Branch thinks the goat’s milk will start flowing like, well, goat’s milk. “This is a product with potentially high profitability. Until now, it was simply going to waste in many cases. We hope that the efforts of our branch and other segments of the small ruminant dairy industry will help Kentucky become a top sheep and goat milk producing state.”
The output from Kentucky’s small ruminant dairies is expected to be used in value-added products like cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
Additional information on the December 2 meeting or on the Kentucky Small Ruminant Dairy Initiative may be obtained by contacting the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office by phone at (502) 352-2434, by e-mail at info@kysheepandgoat.org or on the web at www.kysheepandgoat.org.
