# Milking sheep?



## big brown horse (Jul 24, 2009)

Any sheep milkers out there?  

I've been told it isn't easy to do by hand.


----------



## freemotion (Jul 24, 2009)

The guy I bought my little doeling from milked his sheep.  He had a milking machine, though.  I would think that if one can milk those little Nigerians by hand, you should be able to get two fingers on your sheep's teats!


----------



## big brown horse (Jul 25, 2009)

I was told that you really have to "punch up" then pull down.  I can't find the info in my "Sheep Bible".

I know I'm putting the cart before the horse, I'm just so curious!!

I learned that sheep milk, being high in solids, yields about twice the amount of cheese as cow milk!  Per 100 lbs of milk, sheep gives about 20 lbs of cheese, and cow milk produces 10 lbs.--*Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep*


----------



## Rence (Jul 25, 2009)

when I was looking I couldn't even find a milk sheep :/  Any East Friesan owners out there?


----------



## big brown horse (Jul 25, 2009)

Rence said:
			
		

> when I was looking I couldn't even find a milk sheep :/  Any East Friesan owners out there?


No, sorry.  But I would love to have one...supposed to be excellent for milking.  Good luck!


----------



## big brown horse (Nov 20, 2009)

Since we have so many new members I thought I'd bring this thread back to life.

Look what I found!!! 
http://www.ehow.com/how_4509996_milk-sheep.html


----------



## miss_thenorth (Nov 20, 2009)

Thank you!


----------



## big brown horse (Nov 20, 2009)

Welcome!  It isn't as hard as I once thought.  Just like a goat they say.


----------



## Beekissed (Nov 20, 2009)

Rence said:
			
		

> when I was looking I couldn't even find a milk sheep :/  Any East Friesan owners out there?


Try Mothergoose on BYC, I think she still does Friesians.


----------



## freemotion (Nov 20, 2009)

So, how much milk will the average Friesian give per day?  How long is the lactation, on average?


----------



## SweetDreams (Nov 30, 2009)

This isn't too old, but I wanted to bump it up. I am curious about this as well- 

Not that I'd be out milking my sheep. At 8 months pregnant- I can barely open the gallon in our fridge without losing my balance!

Anyone got a list of the best breeds to milk?


----------



## miss_thenorth (Nov 30, 2009)

Best breeds for milking are East Friesian, British milk sheep, Dorset, and Lacaune.  We are going toa breeding goat/sheep auction on Dec 2 to look for a milk sheep or two.  If that doesn'tpan out, there is a East friesian dairy farm just around the corner.

Hubby and I decided on sheep as opposed to goats for several reasons.  1-he's not a big fan of goats and their antics. 2- goats are browsers, as opposed to grazers, 3-therefor sheep would be more suitable to our farm land, and 4- as BBH said, more cheese from the same amount of milk. 5--sheep appear (in writng anyway) to be less finicky in their care and maintenance (except for shearing).
I'm not sure if we will come home with anything, but dairy sheep WILL be in our future within the next year.


----------



## FourWands (Mar 3, 2010)

I hand milk East Friesians and E. Friesian crosses.  Our best milkers produce maybe 3 quarts a day on average.  
Hand milking sheep isn't really that difficult but a little different then goats (we have both).  A smaller teat requires you work work a little higher up on the udder but you get the hang of it.

I am definitely more of a sheep fan than I am of goats although I have had goats far longer.  Sheep have a naturally shorter lactation period then goats so after 5 months I dry them up and don't need to be out there milking when it's -30F.  I keep our goats lactations shorter then the recorded 305 days but I end up feeling a little guilty about it!


----------



## ohiogoatgirl (Sep 20, 2012)

digging up an old thread  cause i'm curious.

still in my research phase and begin saving up. 
i have goats and have handmilked them for years. i wouldnt think that milking a few sheep would be much more trouble.
i have found almost nothing about sheep milking though.

but if i do try it i am most dumbfounded on what kind of stand i will need. my goat milk stand is homemade. all i can find on sheep milking isnt much and its all based on huge sheep dairies. so of course nothing on what kind of stand i would need.

i am thinkin now that if i do try it, will be a once a day milking. like seperate at night and milk in the morning then put the lambs back with the ewes. and i'm not expecting to get alot, it would just be a fun thing. like a "just because it'll be a cool conversation starter and i want to do it" thing haha


----------



## Sheepshape (Nov 15, 2012)

I'm reviving this, as I'm sure that it's useful to do so.

I am not from a farming background, and have never milked a cow etc.

About 5 years ago we had a ewe with an enormous udder and teats....too large for the lambs when they arrived to get the teats into their mouths. I rang sheep farmer friend...."Milk her" was all he said. I looked on Youtube, armed myself with a clean jug and  hand steriliser. The technique is easy....grasp the teat, push upwards with your hand onto the udder, then a gentle squeeze from the top down.The first couple of tries nothing much may happen, but the milking action will release oxytocin in the brain and the milk will then come down. It took rather a while....one person holding the ewe and restraining her and me working on the udder. 2.8 litres from one side and 1.2 from the other. The udder and teats went down nicely so the lambs could feed and I froze containers of the milk/colostrum down to use for other lambs.

Since this experience, I have regularly milked sheep who have over-sized udders and teats and usually it is quite easy to do.

What I would say is...."If I can do it, anybody can"


----------



## eweinHiscare (Feb 20, 2013)

Recently I found a few sheep handmilking videos on youtube.com that were very helpful.  

The technique seemed to be quite different from how a goat is milked.

I have goats and have been successfully milking them, with carefulness to be gentle, not going much above the teat when squeezing.


In contrast, the sheep milkers generally grasp the sheep's udder and teats from behind the sheep, drawing the teats backward

 between the hind legs to squirt the milk into the milk bucket behind the sheep.. 

  A picture ( a video !) is worth a thousand words...do the search for "handmilking sheep" on youtube and look for Krossos and also 

a European (Spanish?) woman who made short work of the milking job. 

 Their techniques seemed more like milking a bagpipe haha!

Although it looked rather rough the sheep just stood there patiently, no dancing around, and it was a quick process!

Also don't miss the Romanian handmilking of sheep..who needs stanchions or rope ? That one was enlightening!


----------



## Equinebliss (Feb 23, 2013)

From the research I've done the Icelandic sheep seem to be good milker's, good to eat, & their fiber is useful if you spin it!  
I'm trying to learn more about the Sheep Milking aspect like all of you!
My husband and I own a dairy farm.  We sold our milking cow's and are now looking at getting in to milking sheep!
Any info would be GREAT!!!!


----------



## WhiteMountainsRanch (Feb 23, 2013)

*Haha I think it would be fun to try! *


----------



## Faith Hope (May 26, 2013)

I have 3 Icelandic ewes that we just started milking a few weeks ago.  They are much more difficult to milk than goats, but I am finally starting to get the hang of it.  The smaller your hands are the better!  My girls (10 and 12) are much better at it than I am.  We are separating them from the babies at night; we get about 10 to 12 cups (+1/2 gallon) total from all three.  We then let the babies stay with them all day.  The milk makes great cheese!


----------



## woodsie (May 26, 2013)

Well I might be trying my hand at milking sheep too...my bottlebaby does not seem to be doing well on lamb replacer and her mom has plenty enough milk...too bad she's not very tame and she's a BIG girl. I just hope I can get her onto the stand and not fall off! I'll have to report back with my results because if I can do it with this girls anyone will be able to do it.


----------



## eweinHiscare (May 26, 2013)

If your sheep is not very tame you may need to hobble her. 
  That's what I had to do for a few sessions, quite a learning curve for both of us...she would jump and kick something fierce at first.

But today I milked my sheep and she was totally cooperative. 
It is good to have a second jar that you can put the first 2 oz. or so into as you work, because it would be sad to lose more than that at a time.


----------

