By Whitney Hull, UVM Extension
The University of Vermont Extension is partnering with Cornell University’s Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS) to offer milk quality services to goat dairy producers in Vermont. These services are part of a larger Small Ruminant Dairy Development project, funded by the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center and conducted by UVM Extension.
The 2023 Vermont Goat Dairy Research Report identified milk quality support services as a crucial need for Vermont’s goat dairy producers. This Small Ruminant Development project aims to directly address this need by providing these services at no cost to qualifying Vermont farmers. Additionally, the project aims to build on the previous research by further developing an understanding of the cost of production, opportunities, and challenges facing goat dairies in Vermont and regionally.
UVM Extension’s team of service providers will work with Cornell’s QMPS to provide milk quality services and direct technical assistance to Vermont goat dairy producers. So far, 17 farms have been enrolled in the program, and we hope to be able to offer services to additional farms in 2025. UVM will also conduct interviews and financial analysis with these enrolled farms in order to enhance our understanding of the regional goat dairy sector’s needs and strengths.
We aim to serve goat dairies of all types with this program; enrolled farms include both those shipping milk to a processor and farmstead creameries, large and small-scale farms, and farms that employ non-family employees and those that do not. This program will be conducted from fall 2024 through the summer of 2025, with project results planned to be shared in the fall of 2025.
For more information about the program, please contact: Whitney Hull: whitney.hull@uvm.edu / (802) 279-7517 and Dan Baker: daniel.baker@uvm.edu / (802) 363-6477