By Katie Spring, Communications Manager
Two Vermont goat dairies are taking a new approach to milking thanks to a Dairy Innovation & Alternative Management Grant.
From 2023 to 2024, Blue Ledge Farm collaborated with Tups Crossing to study and implement extended lactation milking for dairy goats. $18,745 in grant funds from NE-DBIC allowed the Vermont farms to purchase dairy goat genetics from European herds know for extended lactation, milk testing units, and pay for expert services including laparoscopic artificial insemination.
Blue Ledge Farm is a farmstead operation that milks 175 goats and makes award-winning cheese. Tups Crossing milks 450 goats and ships bulk milk to Vermont Creamery. Despite the differences in their operations, both farms deal with similar challenges, including the peaks and valleys of milk production throughout the year and its impact on cash flow, the intensity of kidding season on does and the farmers, and the issue of what to do with an influx of male bucklings in a state that doesn’t yet have an established market for goat meat.
By teaming up, Blue Ledge and Tups were able to study the impact and efficacy of extended lactation across different types of goat dairies. The farms hoped to see improved animal health, reduced farm worker stress during kidding season, and increased milk production throughout the year. Each farm divided their herds into groups so they could compare extended lactation with the standard yearly breeding schedule.
After the 18-month project, both Blue Ledge Farm and Tups Crossing found success with extended lactation.
Both farms saw even milk production with steady producers in the extended lactation group. Throughout the study, they tracked somatic cell count and found that it doesn’t rise with extended lactation. An increase in winter milk improved farm profitability – at Blue Ledge, they produced more fresh cheese all year, while Tups Crossing received a higher milk check all year thanks to their higher winter production quota. Hannah Sessions of Blue Ledge Farm highlighted the impact of this project, saying:
“We know our community will benefit if more goat farmers can build viable businesses on a model of extended lactation goat dairying, as they will produce more local food and support local vendors and businesses in turn. On each farm, we enjoyed a winter which was more financially viable due to winter milk making valuable cheese or building a winter quota, and a spring which was noticeably easier due to fewer goats freshening. When farms stay in business, they help keep our landscape open, and they contribute to our local economy in major ways.”
New genetics from farms in Europe are now established at these two Vermont goat dairies and will support the continuation of their extended lactation programs.
“Though farming is still challenging, this project has given me such hope that a more sustainable future of goat dairy exists and is attainable through extended lactations,” Hannah said. “The chance to study extended lactation and to import genetics which will bolster the potential for long lactations in our herds have given us renewed energy; we are committed to working smarter not harder, and hopefully take a role into the future helping promote this new model of goat dairy in the region.”
Dig into the farms’ results in their final report:
Studying and Promoting Extended Lactation on Vermont Goat Dairy Farms: Final Report July 2024
