Goat's milk is on the move

Kentucky celebrates its first official shipment

Special to KAN

Todd Harp and Susan Miller didn’t set out to make history.  It just turned out that way.

On July 7, the Commonwealth’s first official load of goat’s milk was transported from Harp’s dairy to Miller’s cheese plant for pasteurization and processing. Harp, a Bourbon County dairy goat producer, received certification for a manufacturing grade goat dairy in May of this year.  Miller’s Bleugrass Chevre in Clark County was designated the state’s first certified goat dairy and cheese manufacturing facility in the summer of 2007. 

“I want to congratulate Susan and Todd on this milestone,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “This is another example of Kentucky producers combining their resources to create a value-added Kentucky Proud product.”

“It doesn’t rival the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but this is a historic and significant event,” remarked Ray Bowman, executive director of the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office.  “As a result of Todd and Susan’s work with the Milk Safety Branch of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the regulatory groundwork has been laid for the future of Kentucky’s small ruminant dairy industry.”

“This has been a dream for over five years, and now it’s a reality,” notes Harp.

Susan Miller agrees. “ It was a huge learning curve, and talking to other cheese makers around the country, it has taken many of them at least five years to actually get into business. So we were never really off schedule at all.”

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.

To find out more about the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office, click here.

To find out more about Kentucky Proud, click here.