Dairy Sheep

[M.L. McKnight]

I have been considering getting a few dairy sheep for a time now but can't decide on the best breed for my farm. I'd like one who weans nice looking lambs, is a really good milker, has teets that are easy to grasp while milking and can handle Mississippi weather. I know that is a lot to ask but are there any breeds that you know of who fit the criteria?

 

[purplequeenvt]

Look into Lacaune dairy sheep or Lacaune/Katahdin crosses.

East Friesians are a popular choice, but in my (limited) experience, they aren't very parasite hardy.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Really though, you can milk any sheep. Lots of folks milk Icelandics which are a primitive breed.

 

[M.L. McKnight]

Thanks for the advice. Which breed has the largest teets? I milk my cow and goats by hand and any sheep I have seen has had little nipples. I have pretty good sized hands and wonder if they'd be too big to milk a ewe properly.

 

[SheepGirl]

I have a flock of crossbred sheep. My matriarch ewe, the dam/grand dam/great grand dam etc has very large teats that are very easy to milk. All of her female kin have smaller teats that are harder to milk, but not impossible. They have large orifices so it's easy and fast to milk them. One of my ewe lambs after she rejected her ram lamb after a hard labor was milked out for her colostrum. Her teats were maybe an inch or so long but Iwas able to milk out one half of her udder (about 18 oz) in 5 minutes or so. The hardest part was catching and holding her lol.

But try my sheep breed selector...The link is in my signature...Won't give you an answer for all of your criteria but it's a good starting point

 

[M.L. McKnight]

Thanks a lot!

 

[irishdancer]

I love my East Fresian ewe. I've just recently delved into milk sheep but they are my favorites out of all my flock. Very friendly, easy to work with, easy to shear as they don't have wool on their legs, belly or face, great milk and decent wool for projects like felting and spinning. Icelandics are really nice too, they are smaller and easier to handle and work with. I don't prefer their wool but I know a lot of people love it.

 

[Red Ridge]

I used to own a commercial sheep dairy. The breed you choose depends on your goals. When I milked 150 twice a day I wanted sheep who had high output over a long season with excellent teat placement for easier machine milking.
Keep in mind that while any sheep can be milked, dairy sheep have teats more conducive to regular hand milking.
I have bred a variety of breeds into my East Friesian and Lacaune, and while I have my breed preferences, health, hardiness, parasite resistance, lambing and persistence are all more important than breed.

I had one or two Katahdin crosses that were decent - but those ate few and far between - Maybe 1 out of every 250.
I wouldn't consider an Icelandic - in general everything about them is too small to make milking convenient.
I like the polypay and Tunis a lot and have had great success with some of those. The Dorset is a good choice also.

Now that I milk on a smaller scale I choose forage conversion over quantity. IOW... I'd rather get 1200 lbs of milk from a ewe who does well in primarily grass with very little grain, as opposed to a ewe who gives 1500 lbs but requires a lot more grain and high RFV alfalfa. Components are also an important factor since I make cheese.

Hope that helps.

 

[Baymule]

@Red Ridge what breed of sheep are you milking now? We are buying a small place and will be moving at the end of the year. I want small livestock and am favoring sheep. A dairy type sheep that would do well on grass without a lot of grain would be good to know about.

 

[Red Ridge]

Mine current sheep are a combination of Lacaune and EF with a little bit of several other breeds mixed in... polypay and karakul. It isn't necessarily a specific breed you want to look for for forage conversion... It is lines. The heaviest producing dairy sheep in the country belonged to a friend of mine. They were small in stature and have a LOT of milk. .. But they ate a lot of grain and alfalfa.
It's the way the different lines have been developed combined with their udder structure and lactation records that you want to look at.