Cow Boarding is legal in Tennessee

Cow (and goat) boarding is legal in Tennessee!

Cow (and goat) boarding is legal in the state of TN. You do not know what that is you say? Allow me to explain. Cow boarding is where a consumer owns a cow, either one sold to him by the farmer or one he brought to the farmer himself. A farmer can set his own price for a cow and many people could split the cost of one cow. If 20 people, for example, all split the cost of a cow, then 20 people would own it. A contract is, of course, in place, that states that as long as the cow is on the farmers property, the owners would not have any controlling rights over it. In other words, the owners could not have the cow vetted or moved or bred without the farmers consent, etc. It would all be in the contract. Then as part of the agreement, the farmer would keep the cow milked for them and give them their own milk. This removes liability from the farmers as it is the consumers own cow. If anyone was thinking of sueing, they could not, as they would be drinking milk from their own cow. Not that anyone would, but you know, it is good insurance.

I have heard some setups of cow boarding where the farmer sells the cow for, say $10, and then if a family gets 2 gallons of milk each week for $4 per gallon, the board for the cow for the family for that month would be $32. If 20 people each paid that for the cows board fee that would be $640 a month for the one cow. If a farmer has 10 cows all boarded with 20 owners that would be $6400 a month. Itís a pretty good setup.

Click here to learn more about cow and goat boading.

Here are a few sample contracts that farmers could use to set up their own cow boarding program. These can be modified for goats. Remember, the point of boarding is this, the consumer is paying the farmer for the board of the animal, not for the milk. As long as the farmer does not sell milk, all is kept legal.

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