Howdy from North Texas!

[Alaskan]

This is Dot. Her teats are pretty good. About 2" when in lactation. This photo was from her first year (2021) so this year her teats should lengthen just a bit. Her udder was usually bigger but since I lamb share and pulled her off the pasture for a quick picture (this was a few months ago when I sold her ram lamb) so her udder was bigger first thing in the morning when I had separated the lambs from her. Teat size can be all over the place. My gal Louise is barely over 1.5" in lactation (also first year fresher) but is really easy to milk. So it's teat size, orifice size, and let down that vary. When not in lactation the teats are very small and I have no real ability yet to determine how they'll be when in lactation.

I have smallish hands and sometimes I hand milk and I use my full hand, not just fingers. But I do have a Simple Pulse milker which I love. That takes the issue of teat size out of the equation. And it's very fast. Each of my ewes milk out in about 1 minute. I spend more time with before milk prep of ewes (I want a very clean ewe to milk) than I do with actual milking. Clean up is quick as well.


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I LOVE my dairy sheep and I LOVE their milk. It's the best ever!

Your girl is no slouch either!

I greatly prefer sheep cheese over goat cheese... so I guess I would prefer sheep milk over goat milk (I have never had the chance to try fresh sheep milk)... but as far as I know, there are zero dairy sheep up here in Alaska.

I used to have a few goats for milk when my kids were younger...

But... the kids are growing up, and my arthritis is getting worse... so I have gotten rid of the goats.

The older I get, and the fewer kids (the human kind) at the house, the less livestock. I keep downsizing.

Great to live vicariously though.

You will have to start a journal on the journal pages so we can all keep up with your progress as you improve your herd.

 

[LilTexasHomestead]

Your girl is no slouch either!

I greatly prefer sheep cheese over goat cheese... so I guess I would prefer sheep milk over goat milk (I have never had the chance to try fresh sheep milk)... but as far as I know, there are zero dairy sheep up here in Alaska.

I used to have a few goats for milk when my kids were younger...

But... the kids are growing up, and my arthritis is getting worse... so I have gotten rid of the goats.

The older I get, and the fewer kids (the human kind) at the house, the less livestock. I keep downsizing.

Great to live vicariously though.

You will have to start a journal on the journal pages so we can all keep up with your progress as you improve your herd.

@Alaskan, funny thing is I'm not young and my kids are grown. But I didn't even know a little homestead was what I really wanted until mid-life and then life kept taking me away from that goal. I'm 63 now and have only had the sheep one year. That's why I got the Simple Pulse machine as my hands do tire a bit and I'm just getting started with the sheep. I'm in a couple sheep groups over on FB and will see if anyone is from Alaska. BC yes, but I'm not sure Alaska.

I will start a journal...

 

[farmerjan]

I've read where East Fresians are the sheep to milk. There was someone on here awhile back that had some Awassi's...don't know if they milked them, but they had a ram that was MEAN and would go through most everything he had him penned in. Can't remember his screen name. I work with dairy farmers, we have commercial beef cattle and I have some chickens.. turkeys. We have some White Texas Dall sheep... have had hogs and dorset sheep (wool) ....I milk for the house and use a couple of my jersey and guernsey and crossbreds for nurse cows etc. Right now they are farmed out to a commercial dairy since I had ankle replacement in Feb 2020 and both knees done in late Oct 2021. Getting back "on my feet" now and hope to get my cows back off the dairy as they go dry; then they can calve here and I can put calves on them, and share milk for the house too.
Sheep look real nice...and yes, animals on the homestead are addictive and we are enablers here.... you never have enough!!!!

 

[Baymule]

I’ve been strongly encouraged to milk my sheep, but so far, I’ve only milked out colostrum for newborns to be sure they got a good start. I’ve only raised 2 bottle lambs in the 7 years I’ve had sheep. But have had a few weak babies that needed a little help. Milking my ewes is pretty much a wild sheep rodeo. Their dignity is seriously affronted by my messing around with their udders. LOL

Do you leave the lambs on the ewe while you milk? How long is their lactation? Does the milk freeze well?

 

[LilTexasHomestead]

I’ve been strongly encouraged to milk my sheep, but so far, I’ve only milked out colostrum for newborns to be sure they got a good start. I’ve only raised 2 bottle lambs in the 7 years I’ve had sheep. But have had a few weak babies that needed a little help. Milking my ewes is pretty much a wild sheep rodeo. Their dignity is seriously affronted by my messing around with their udders. LOL

Do you leave the lambs on the ewe while you milk? How long is their lactation? Does the milk freeze well?

Training for milking is challenging. It's not like just cuz the breed is for dairy that they are OK with it. Gotta have the headlock on the stand, gotta have grain for them to eat and gotta be ready for the tantrums until they get used to it (which was many months for Dot, less for Louise).

I lamb shared if that's what you mean. So less for me so that there's enough for them. Between 3 and 4 weeks the lambs get separated from mom overnight so there's something for me to milk. Early and late in the lactation I milked morning and evening (got a lot less in the evening because the lambs were with mom during the day). Mid lactation, I just milked once a day.

Lactation duration is all over the place. A good East Friesian (EF) ewe will stay in lactation for up to 8 months. My Dot went 8 months and could have gone a bit longer but I dried her off anyway and that was her first year. So she's a star. Louise went for just shy of 7 months which is a solid performance for a first year fresher. So individual factors do have a significant play in milk production.

Both my two ewes are high % EF. Any breed that is not specifically dairy will have shorter lactations. EFs go the longest. You might get only 4 months. With a Katahdin, you won't get as much milk while in lactation. Having said that, many people seem to be trying to create what I'd call milky lines with hard culling and planned breeding. Some day Katahdins may be considered a dairy breed, I just don't know anyone who's claimed they've gotten close to a dairy breed in lactation duration or quantity.

You can freeze sheep milk. I mostly drank all mine this year fresh - LOL! I did freeze a bit but I ended up sending that to a gal up in Nebraska for her son who cannot tolerate cow or goat milk. She told me that it thawed out nicely and the milk was every bit as sweet and creamy as could be. I should ask her what her thawing out process was.

 

[Baymule]

You are starting to convince me.......... LOL

 

[Mini Horses]

So I've tried for years to get @Baymule to milk!! . She's got one ewe that has a bag like a heifer. Maybe she'll finally try.

Welcome from VA. I have dairy goats...Saanen and Saanen X Nubian. Great milkers. Excellent milk. This year I bought a milking machine...finally. More for speed than hands because I plan to milk more does than in previous years. Like six vice three. I'd love to find local sheep milking, for taste curiousity. Nigerians goats have more butterfat and that helps with cheese. So far, I've controlled myself for buying them. Proud of that. . I get good cheese from my girls milk so far. The Saanens will milk thru nicely, so a plus if you're truly wanting that. Mostly, mine are not hard to train, unless they weren't "hands on" as kids.

We'll want pics when they lamb and milk! . I looked at the machine you have, a
couple yrs back. $$ was one factor but, also pressure and pulse variables on one I got. Battery op, too, and can be used with containers I have, not just what came with. Hope I like it when I start back milking.

 

[Field Bee]

I did some work at a dairy that made sheep milk cheese just last month. I never had it before, and the very generous employees gave all kinds of samples. Its excellent.