# Those who milk sheep>



## Jes (Apr 30, 2013)

I'm kinda curious about getting a few Katahdins next year but am having trouble finding anyone with hands-on experience milking them that can tell me things like length of lactation, pounds produced per ewe, etc. I've found a few official-type records but I know that those are probably very different that what a small-scale farm sees. I have a bombardment of questions that I've been collecting.


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## SheepGirl (Apr 30, 2013)

I found this link..... http://www.smallholderhollow.com/projects/milking-katahdins/


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## Southern by choice (Apr 30, 2013)

There are other breeds of sheep that are more suitable. The Katahdin is primarily a meat breed.


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## Jes (May 1, 2013)

Southern, are there any hair sheep that you could recommend I look into?


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## Jes (May 1, 2013)

I was discussing sheep with my mother today and she stumbled on an idea that I hadn't considered:

we know someone nearby who keeps a flock of wool sheep (I don't know what breed) and do their own shearing. If I were to get East Friesian dairy sheep, would they consider it a worthwhile deal if I offered to let them have have the wool in exchange for shearing the sheep for me? I don't know what the value of wool is so I don't know if it would be something worth their time.


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## BrownSheep (May 1, 2013)

Probably not, but it doesn't cost all that much to have a couple sheared. I found a lady who would shear them for $5  and less if she got to keep the wool. 

It doesn't hurt to ask though.If your looking at only a couple of sheep they probably would let you bring your sheep over when they do theirs.

Another thing to remember is that shearing isn't all that hard. The only reason we don't do ours is it would take forever for us to do 30 sheep when it only took the shearing crew 30 minutes.


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## Jes (May 1, 2013)

Hmm..ok. Well I really have no desire to do anything with wool; at least not at the moment. I don't think I want to deal with goats and all their antics, which is how I came about to the idea of trying out some Katahdins. I've found a few dairies around the US that use them for cheese making, so even though they're not a dairy breed, they can be bred for better milk-ability. We don't honestly go through so much milk; any animal (sheep, goat, cow, yak, etc.) that produced more than half a gallon a day would be too much for us. I want to start off easy and get used to the entire milking process before I consider upgrading. (DH is skeptical of homegrown products and says he will only drink store milk [his reason being that he "likes to know where food comes from"].  Whatever. I'm sure he'll come around.) at first it'll basically only be me using the dairy products. 

I've read all the threads I can find on BYH about hair sheep vs. wool sheep and sheep vs. goats. It all seems to be preferential and dependent on each persons' situation. I suppose the only way I'm gonna really know what's right for us is to give it a try. I've got a year of research and learning to do before we're ready; I'm sure I'll figure it out. 

Does anyone suggest against a beginner getting a few sheep and goats at the same time? Say, four ewes/lambs and two does/doelings?


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## Jes (May 2, 2013)

I am sooo conflicted. 

Sheep, or goats. 

Sheep or goats? 

Sheep?!? 

Goats?!?


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## BrownSheep (May 2, 2013)

*whispering* sheeeeeeeep


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## Jes (May 2, 2013)

Thanks for the nudge BrownSheep. *LOL*

If my number-crunching is correct, I'd need at least 4 Katahdins to get half a gallon of milk a day...they only stay in milk for a few months, so if I wanted milk year-round, then double (triple??) that number to get the total herd size. I'm not sure that we should put as many as 12 ewes (plus their twins/triplets/quads!! ) on a 5-acre lot. I found one source that says it's possible to keep as many as 5 ewes per acre but I have no way of knowing if that is accurate. (I seriously doubt that I would start out with 12 ewes, were I to choose sheep. Probably more like 4 or 5 for the first year or so until I felt comfortable taking on more.) Then I came upon the problem of not knowing whether Katahdins can/will breed out of season. ???

   Now, if we got goats, I would probably only need two or three does to be swimming in milk; IF I don't screw up and get goaty-flavored milk. I have a sensitive nose and even pickier taste buds. I'm very hesitant about using goats for milking. Goats just sound so annoying to me. I don't mind cute, funny antics but I like calm and behaved just as well. If I were chasing goats all over the hillsides I would .

I guess I'm wanting someone to tell me whether I can easily keep 8-12 ewes on 5 acres without over-grazing or over-crowding.


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## woodsie (May 2, 2013)

I have both sheep and goats together....and I can tell you that goats are more watchful and are constantly thinking and the sheep do keep their heads down and eat. That being said my goats are much easier to control, catch, pet, split off from the group. The goats are definitely more bonded to me and will easily follow me around...sheep not a chance!

I have some sheep that have HUGE udders and teats and look very promising for milking however I don't know if I could ever catch / teach them to stand for milking, it has taken me 8 months to just let them me touch them when I have grain. I didn't get them as lambs however but still very skiddish....if you are planning on getting sheep make sure you get them as lambs, perhaps even bottle feed them, pick the most outgoing lambs you can...so they really trust you and come up to you. 

2 sheep might be better than a small "flock"...I had 4 lambs I got after they had been weaned, one was really friendly, one learned to be friendly and the other two were super skiddish and never came close to us...we sent the most friendly one (butted my kids) and one of the skiddish ones to freezer camp, and a strange thing happened...the other skiddish one calmed right down and became very friendly. I think what happened was when there was a skiddish friend, they both were very flighty and scared, more of the flock mentality. Not sure if that was just a weird thing that happened to me but it does seem that if you have a really scared/skiddish sheep, it will cause the other sheep around it to also become more skiddish....anyone else found this?

If you really want milk, I would go with goats and get a Nubian that typically have nice sweet milk and make sure you chill it well quickly...even my dad who hates anything that has a "field taste" could not taste the difference from cows milk, however it tasted fresh and creamier. Or you could go with a Nigerian Dwarf which might be easier to handle and are supposed to have super creamy milk....just make sure it comes from milking lines. IMO unless you are interested in lamb meat as well, it is a lot of hassle to keep sheep for only milk for the quantity you get, pretty expensive milk (both from time and money resources) and I would think that sheep milk would have a "taste" too if not properly chilled quickly. 

You could do two sheep and two goats and see what you like better...my bests on goats! As long as you have a good fence there antics are more comical than frustrating.


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## Jes (May 2, 2013)

woodsie said:
			
		

> 2 sheep might be better than a small "flock"


I said "herd", didn't I? Oops.. 



			
				woodsie said:
			
		

> IMO unless you are interested in lamb meat as well, it is a lot of hassle to keep sheep for only milk for the quantity you get, pretty expensive milk (both from time and money resources) and I would think that sheep milk would have a "taste" too if not properly chilled quickly.


I do plan to use offspring for meat purposes. (I love lamb!) If they are as prolific as I've read, I will be in heaven come butchering time.  I've never had goat; I assume that we would also like goat meat but I can't be sure. We eat deer on a regular basis, though, so I'm sure it would be fine.



			
				woodsie said:
			
		

> You could do two sheep and two goats and see what you like better.


You people are enablers!!  I may end up doing that, though. A few of each for direct, daily comparison seems like a not-so-bad idea. Got anything against LaMancha's? They are my top pick for goats. Katahdins are my top pick for sheep despite not being a dairy breed. I may be too stubborn for my own good.


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## BrownSheep (May 2, 2013)

All the sheep milk I've had didnt have a taste. I know it wasn't child properly because we just left it  out while we finished chores. As for the tameness issue. Goats are naturally more friendly, but sheep do tame down fine. They'll be easy to train especially if you use grain. Trying out one or two of each seems like a great idea!

Also if you want a meat breed that will give more milk than the khatahdins try dorsets. We have some 1/2 dorsets ewes who give a ton of milk. We easily milked out enough for a bottle lambs while leaving some for their babies.


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## Jes (May 2, 2013)

Are Dorsets a hair or wool breed?


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## BrownSheep (May 2, 2013)

Wool. It's good quality as well.


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## Jes (May 3, 2013)

Ok. I'm a totally ignorant about sheep so please bear with me. Here's a small list of questions.

1. What is "VM"?
2. How much wool does one Dorset make a year?
3. How difficult is it to learn to shear a sheep?
4. How much could I sell the wool for?

BrownSheep, I'm starting to see the appeal of having goats if my only viable sheep options are wool breeds.


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## Bossroo (May 3, 2013)

Google D O R P E R ... a sheep breed developed in S Africa using the Dorset ram on Persian fat rumped ewes.   I think that one will be very impressed as they browse more like the goat, produce more twins, are a meat sheep and they shed their wool  (today,  it costs more to sheer a sheep that one can get for the wool ).


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## BrownSheep (May 3, 2013)

Haha yeah wool, oddly, seems to scare off a lot of people.

Vm is vegetative matter. Doesn't really matter unless you are selling to hand spinners.
They average 5-9 lbs of wool.
The most difficult thing about shear is finding the right shears. I  can do a sheep in abou 1/2 an hour on a show stand, but I haven't learned how to get a whole fleece off yet. 
And like I said its not hard to find pro- shears for pretty cheap. 
I sell mine in a wool pool an I can't remember the going price right of the top of my head. 
This site can tell you about wool pools in your area as well as shearers.
http://www.sheepusa.org/Wool_Pools
http://www.sheepusa.org/Shearer_Directory

Eta. Dorpers might be a good fit. They produce more milk I think. I forget about all the hair breeds


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## Jes (May 3, 2013)

I'll check them out. 



			
				BrownSheep said:
			
		

> They produce more milk I think.


Know how much?


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## Rambunctious (May 18, 2013)

Bossroo said:
			
		

> Google D O R P E R ... a sheep breed developed in S Africa using the Dorset ram on Persian fat rumped ewes.   I think that one will be very impressed as they browse more like the goat, produce more twins, are a meat sheep and they shed their wool  (today,  it costs more to sheer a sheep that one can get for the wool ).


I've got Dorpers, some are so tame they think they are lap dogs!  My wife is always teasing me about my 'girlfriends' in the paddock, so they can defineatly be tamed.  They also have some VERY large bags (udders).  

One of my 'girlfriends' lambed in December, and we tried milking her.  She didn't mind a bit, but her lamb wasn't quite sure she wanted us messing with 'her' stuff.  The milk was rich and good, maybe slightly sweet, but we didn't get much due to lack of technique.  We will probably invest in a milking machine before we go after it in ernest.


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