Raw milk is regulated twice. The federal rule is short: milk in its final package, sold for people to drink, can't cross a state line unless it's pasteurized. Everything else is state law, and the states fall into four groups. Some allow raw milk on store shelves from licensed farms. Some allow it only at the farm where the cow was milked. Some allow no sale but leave room for herd shares, where buyers own part of the animal. And some don't allow it for people at all. The same jug of milk can be legal in one state's farm store and illegal across the river. Minnesota, for example, allows only occasional purchases at the farm for personal use. Wisconsin allows incidental sales at the farm. Washington licenses farms to sell it bottled and labeled "raw". Laws change, often after a legislative session, so check your state's agriculture department before the first sale. In the example below, a Minnesota dairy farm sorts out which raw milk requests it can say yes to.
The short version
- Federal: raw milk in final package form can't be sold across state lines (21 CFR 1240.61).
- Inside a state, the state decides.
- Four kinds of state law: retail sale, farm sale only, herd shares only, or no sale for people.
- Minnesota: occasional purchases at the farm, for the buyer's own use.
- Wisconsin: incidental sales to consumers at the farm.
- Washington: licensed farms, bottled on the farm, labeled "raw" with the producer's name.
- Check your state's current law before the first sale, and again each year.
- TaroStack keeps each day's milk as a lot and records who bought it, so a problem can be traced. More below.
The four kinds of state law
| Kind | What it allows | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Retail sale | Raw milk on store shelves, from licensed and inspected farms | The license, testing, the label wording |
| Farm sale only | Sales to consumers at the farm where it's produced | Whether "at the farm" means a farm store, delivery or a market |
| Herd shares | No sale, but owners of a share in the animals take their milk | Whether the state allows, bans or says nothing about shares |
| No sale for people | Raw milk only for animals, or not at all | Whether "pet milk" labeling is allowed and how it's policed |
A state can sit in two groups, for example farm sales plus a separate rule for herd shares. Raw milk cheese is a different question: FDA allows certain cheeses made from unpasteurized milk if they're aged, and cheese labeling requirements covers how they're named.
The rules, in four places
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Federal | No milk or milk product in final package form for direct human consumption delivered into interstate commerce unless pasteurized (21 CFR 1240.61) |
| Minnesota | Milk sold for drinking must be pasteurized, except milk, cream or skim milk occasionally purchased for personal use by a consumer at the farm where it's produced (Minn. Stat. 32D.20) |
| Wisconsin | Milk sold to consumers, restaurants or retailers must be grade A and pasteurized; incidental sales directly to consumers at the dairy farm aren't prohibited (Wis. Stat. 97.24(2)) |
| Washington | Dairy farms inspected before a license; raw milk cooled to 40°F or less within two hours of milking, bottled on the farm and labeled "raw" with the producer's name (RCW 15.36.111, .221, .231) |
Minnesota's and Wisconsin's exceptions are narrow. "At the farm" leaves out farmers markets, stores and delivery, and "occasionally" or "incidental" means a few neighbors, not a route. Eggs, vegetables and baked goods sold from the same farm follow other rules, in how to start a farm stand and Minnesota cottage food law. This is general information, not legal advice; your state agriculture department has the last word.
An example: a Minnesota dairy's raw milk requests
Crow River Jerseys, a made-up 40-cow Jersey dairy near Hutchinson, Minnesota, ships its milk to a cooperative. Word got around, and in one October week it had five requests:
| Request | Allowed in Minnesota? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A neighbor buys 2 gallons at the milk house, in her own jars | Yes | Occasional purchase at the farm, for her own use |
| A family buys a gallon of cream for their own kitchen | Yes | Cream is named in the exception |
| A café in town wants 6 gallons a week for lattes | No | Not personal use, and not occasional |
| A customer asks for delivery to Hudson, Wisconsin | No | Not at the farm, and across a state line |
| The Saturday market manager offers a stall | No | Not at the farm where it's produced |
The farm says yes to the first two and keeps a simple log: the date, the buyer, what they took, the milking date, and the bulk tank temperature at the time. Twelve sales over October came to 26 gallons at $8, or $208. One reading, 42°F on October 14, was above the 40°F the farm aims for, so it checked the tank's cooling that day. The café got a polite no and a pointer to the cooperative's pasteurized milk. If a buyer ever calls to say a child is sick, the log says which milking it was and who else took milk from the same tank.
Get the log
Download the raw milk farm sales log. Two sheets: a sales log with the date, buyer, product, gallons, price, whether they brought their own container, the milking date and the tank temperature, with the amount and a temperature check worked out; and a state check with the four kinds of state law and the rules above, and a row for your own state. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The log tells you who bought milk on which day. When a farm also makes cheese or butter from the same tank, sells to a co-op and keeps some for calves, the milk splits several ways, and a notebook can't show where each day's tank went. A cheese vat's own records are in cheese HACCP plan.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each day's milk as a lot, and records where it went.
Each milking a lot. A day's milk can be received or recorded as its own lot with its date, so "the October 14 milking" is one record.
Who got it. Each sale records the lots it came from, and one recall report shows every buyer of a lot and what's still in your own cooler.
Your own fields. Fields of your own on the lot can hold the tank temperature and who checked it.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which milking a buyer took | Written, sometimes | The lot on the sale |
| Everyone who bought from that tank | Read back through pages | One recall report |
| Tank temperature at the time | A separate chart | A field on the lot |
| Milk made into cheese | Not linked | A batch that uses the lot |
Lots, recalls and your own fields are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.