The milk brings them in. Six add-on shares do the rest.
Her overhead stayed flat. Her revenue grew 50%.
Lucy built Heavy Hollow's herdshare one neighbor at a time — Facebook messages, Venmo requests, spreadsheets she rebuilt every season. She could always make more than milk; she just couldn't track selling it. Now every add-on is attached to the same subscription her members already have. Revenue is up 50%, with no extra overhead.
15 minutes with Ari, our founder and a farmer.
I kind of had maxed out, not in terms of the products that I could provide, but in terms of the managing that I could do of that.
Lucy Meade · Heavy Hollow Farm · Lancaster, KY
Read her playbook"Hey farmhand,
can you…"
Lucy texts what she needs. Someone on the Farmhand team does it and texts back, usually before she's done milking.
Before this, the answer lived in a Facebook message she'd have to scroll back and find.
See what she runs ↓The website sells the beef. A text sells the burger.
Lucy runs two very different sales. A half beef is a decision — someone reads, thinks it over, comes back, pays. A burger bundle is an impulse — a text lands, and one word buys it. Her shop handles the first without her. The campaign tool handles the second in a minute.
- Flash sales from her phone, and members just replyGround beef, cottage cheese, whatever's moving. Lucy writes the offer, picks the list, and sends. A member texts back one word. They're invoiced automatically and it's added to their upcoming order.
- Text or email, one sendEvery campaign can go out as SMS, email, or both. Lucy's mostly go as texts, because that's what her members open.
- Every signup is an upsellAdd-ons appear in the cart with subscribe-and-save pricing. Lucy never has to pitch a second product. The signup does it while they're already saying yes.
Lucy's SMS sales average a 98% open rate.
Her entire herdshare operations, handled.
Members pick what their kitchen actually goes through — a half gallon at $5 a week up to six gallons at $54 — and how often they want it: weekly, every other week, or every four weeks. They change it themselves when they need to, and Lucy finds out from the packing list.
- Skips and holds, built inA member can skip a single week or put the share on hold for a stretch, any time, from their own account. The packing list updates before Lucy starts filling.
- Jar deposits she doesn't have to trackExtra jars are $7.50, charged to the member's account in the click of a button if they're not returned.
- She's not chasing signaturesThe herdshare agreement is part of signing up, so every member has already signed before they show up for milk.
The cream pays for the gallon. The yogurt is profit.
Lucy always wanted to sell more than milk. Making it was never the hard part. Now selling it isn't either.
- Six add-on sharesCream at $12, Greek yogurt at $8, cottage cheese from $7, eggs from $5, each on its own schedule. Subscribing runs a little under shop price, so members commit and Lucy knows her numbers ahead of time.
- Two ways to sell the same thingSteady add-ons run as subscriptions. Specialty items go out as a flash sale and close on a one-word reply.
- 90+ items, one pack listBeef, pork, lamb, chicken, honey, ice cream, cheese. They all land on a single pack list on fulfillment day.
- Preorders open any timeWhole, half and quarter beef each take a $500 deposit. Thanksgiving turkeys book at $50. Nothing has to be in the freezer for her to sell it, and the money lands before the animal does.
Ground beef is the number one thing members add, and it sells on a text.
“Just text Farmhand.” That's Lucy's whole answer now.
Every add, skip, and order change used to land in a Facebook message or a text while she was milking. Now members handle most of it themselves — and when they get stuck, they reach Farmhand's team by text, chat, or email.
- Her members get support, not just herA member who can't work out how to add cottage cheese texts Farmhand and gets a real person. Lucy stays in the barn. She isn't the help desk for her own herdshare.
- Cards that retry on their ownA failed card retries automatically. If it fails again, the member gets a notice on the farm's branding with a link to fix it. Lucy has never had to ask a member for money.
- Questions don't come to herThe handbook on her site answers most of them. The rest go to text, chat, or email, and a real person at Farmhand answers.
Lucy knows how much to make before she starts making it.
The harvest report totals every share, add-on, and shop order into one list — half gallons, dozens of eggs, quarts of cream. She milks and bottles to that number. Labels and packing slips print from the same orders.
- Harvest totals for the weekLast week's list came to 246 half gallons of milk, 27 dozen eggs, and 5 quarts of cream. Lucy makes to that number instead of guessing high and eating the difference.
- Labels, packing slips, and sign-out sheetsEvery order prints with the member's name and what's in it. Pickup at the barn is self-serve — members find their own bag, check off the sign-out sheet, and Lucy knows what went home without being there.
- Site instructions ride along“Meet at the parking lot corner by the dog kennel display.” “Park at the basement doors.” Every pickup notice carries that site's directions and a reminder to bring the jars back.
Same cows, same milking, more to sell.
Every add-on Lucy sells started as a countertop experiment. Yogurt came out of an Instant Pot. Cream was separated by hand. Ice cream came out of a KitchenAid. She listed each one in her shop, sent a text, and watched what members reordered. The cream separator and the churn came after the demand did.
The Cream Already Paid for the Milk
Her best-margin product started as what she fed the pigs. Lucy on the only question she asks before adding something.
Read her playbook
Inside the Creamery Club
How she explains a herdshare to someone who has never bought raw milk before.
See her site
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