Dairy Sheep can be a self sufficient wanna-be's dream come true

[big brown horse]

Hey that looks really cool! I think I have been missing out on something all these years....I have a sheltie and he sheds like the dickens.
I should be using a carder to clean up his hair and then I could make the family, er, the In Laws, sweaters for Christmas!

See, I learn some thing new everyday!

Sweaters for all!!!!

Dog hair sweaters for your lovely inlaws!! How thoughtful!

I have tons of St. Bernard fluff that I sweep up every day, I'll send you some. To Dace's inlaws, with love!!

 

[Aidenbaby]

Here's a basic summation of how the wool cycle goes:
1. Sheer the sheep
2. Card the wool to remove large debris
3. Spin the wool to make yarn.
4. Use the yarn for sweaters, mittens, rugs, whatever.

Somewhere in there is washing the wool and also removing the lanolin (sheep oil/grease/sweat?). Some people, like I used to, use the lanolin for waterproofing wool items like wool diaper covers. It will actually neutralize urine in diaper covers. If I remember right, it's also used for boob-goo (my word for the salve nursing moms use to help prevent drying and cracking).

ETA: Be warned! It is against the law to sell anything made out of dog hair. I have NO idea why but it is what it is.

 

[big brown horse]

Here's a basic summation of how the wool cycle goes:
1. Sheer the sheep
2. Card the wool to remove large debris
3. Spin the wool to make yarn.
4. Use the yarn for sweaters, mittens, rugs, whatever.

Somewhere in there is washing the wool and also removing the lanolin (sheep oil/grease/sweat?). Some people, like I used to, use the lanolin for waterproofing wool items like wool diaper covers. It will actually neutralize urine in diaper covers. If I remember right, it's also used for boob-goo (my word for the salve nursing moms use to help prevent drying and cracking).

ETA: Be warned! It is against the law to sell anything made out of dog hair. I have NO idea why but it is what it is.

I would be happy just donating it because I know how sweet Dace's inlaws are.

I just "ferminated" the two of them Dace, I have bags and bags of it! And it smells great!!

ETA: Aidenbaby, thanks for the basic summation of the wool cycle.

 

[patandchickens]

You can't really make yarn JUST out of dog hair very well (sez my serious handspinner m-i-l), it really needs to be mixed with some percentage of wool. I don't offhand know what percentage, but she's done it for people who wanted a sweater made out of their dog's fur.

Sheep milk is certainly drinkable, miss_thenorth is drinking hers' and I've tried my Shetland ewe's milk and although there is an interesting "not from a cow" note to it it is really quite good, and very sweet and creamy-tasting.

In addition to being reasonably freezable for quality cheesemaking, the other big enticement of sheep's milk for cheese is that it produces approximately twice the yield (lbs of cheese per gallons of milk) as goat or cows milk do. So although sheep produce less milk, you also NEED less milk to make a given am't of cheese.

However, I dunno bout that article you linked to, BBH, Heather Smith Thomas is a cattle and horse person at heart and the article reads as a somewhat poorly researched book report, to me:

"Many hobby-farm families have a few sheep, and milking them could provide additional income if a local market for the milk exists"... uh, milk sales are so highly regulated in most places that you are going to have an AWFULLY difficult time SELLING it unless you go the whole-hog registered-commercial-dairy inspected-and-everything-custom-made route. It is more reasonable to say that milking one's sheep could provide additional home-produced stuff for one's own consumption.

"Sheep thrive on marginal land with minimal feed supplements, and can provide a triple income from wool, meat and milk". Sheep in GENERAL can do well on marginal land with little or no supplementation, but high-volume DAIRY sheep don't. It takes a considerable amount of high-octane alfalfa and grain to get the kind of milk yields people talk about.

"The major dairy breeds around the world are Awassi (Israel), Chios (Greece), East Friesian (Germany), Lacaune (France), Manchega (Spain) and Sarda (Italy)." What about British Milksheep, which are probably more numerous and higher-milk-producing as at least three of the abovelisted breeds. And a number of people up here (both British Milksheep AND East Friesian folks) have told me that purebred East Friesians have lower lambing success and are noticeably higher-maintenance than British Milksheep, or than East Friesian crossed out on something else.

"Due to breeding from those endeavors, East Friesian and Lacaune sheep are available in the United States and Canada." So are British Milksheep, which as far as I can tell are the main commercial dairying breed in Ontario (dunno bout the rest of Canada). I don't know whether British Milksheep are in the States at present.

You do not need a dairy-breed ram if all you want to do is milk the sheep you've got. ANYthing will freshen them ('swhy I got Jose the Shetland ram). The only reason for wanting a dairy-breed ram is if you (as I presume BBH does) want to keep the resulting ewe lambs to enlarge your milking flock.

Pat

 

[Dace]

Here's a basic summation of how the wool cycle goes:
1. Sheer the sheep
2. Card the wool to remove large debris
3. Spin the wool to make yarn.
4. Use the yarn for sweaters, mittens, rugs, whatever.

Somewhere in there is washing the wool and also removing the lanolin (sheep oil/grease/sweat?). Some people, like I used to, use the lanolin for waterproofing wool items like wool diaper covers. It will actually neutralize urine in diaper covers. If I remember right, it's also used for boob-goo (my word for the salve nursing moms use to help prevent drying and cracking).

ETA: Be warned! It is against the law to sell anything made out of dog hair. I have NO idea why but it is what it is.

I would be happy just donating it because I know how sweet Dace's inlaws are.

I just "ferminated" the two of them Dace, I have bags and bags of it! And it smells great!!

ETA: Aidenbaby, thanks for the basic summation of the wool cycle.

Send it on down here Missy!

Sweaters are on me baby!

Can you imagine the snickering I would be doing on Christmas morning....now that is just evil.

 

[big brown horse]

www.sheep101.info/breedsB.html

British Milk Sheep


British Milk Sheep are a composite breed whose exact make-up is in conflict. Breeds that comprise the composite include the East Friesian, Bluefaced Leicester, Polled Dorset, Lleyn, and perhaps other breeds. The breed was established and released in 1980. Animals of this breed are medium to large in size, polled, with white, woolless, face and legs.

British Milksheep are the most prolific breed in the United Kingdom with yearling litter size averaging 2.21, 2-year-olds at 2.63 and 3.07 in mature ewes. A milk yield of 650-900 liters (173 to 238 gal) has been reported during a 300-day lactation. The milk solids is also particularly high. British Milksheep produce a large, lean carcass.

Although I have heard about them, British Milk sheep didn't pop up when I was looking for dairy sheep in my area. Sound like great sheep.

My E. Friesian to be isn't 100% E. Friesian as I said earlier.

Oliver my dairy cross ram was originally going to be crossed with my existing sheep, a Border Cheviot so I could hopefully produce my own little milk sheep crosses down the road.

Luckily I found a E. Friesian cross ewe lamb within my price range. I will be having my own fresh milk much sooner this way. (Plus I can still breed old Dolly.)

(Raw goat milk "for feeding other animals" goes for $10.00 per gallon...and it goes fast! I tried to get some to feed Oliver however, she already had buyers lined up by the time I called. :/)


I was excited at the prospects of having my own milk, my own butter, my own wool, my own soap (it can be made into soap, right?) and meat if it came down to it.

 

[big brown horse]

However, I dunno bout that article you linked to, BBH, Heather Smith Thomas is a cattle and horse person at heart and the article reads as a somewhat poorly researched book report, to me.

It does doesn't it? Honestly though, I have been having sorta a hard time finding much else out there on the web. Do you have any useful links?

 

[freemotion]

By the way, sheeple people, remember my client from Europe who taste tested my cheeses last season? She showed me many packages of fancy-schmancy cheeses she bought in the $25-30 per lb price range, and many of them contained sheep's milk. Some contained a combination of sheep/cow/goat, and I plan on purchasing some cow's milk this coming season to see if it improves the texture and meltability of my cheddars....something like 1:3 cow:goat.

 

[Henrietta23]

Yeah, I paid a hefty sum for the stuff I bought. It was worth it though!!

 

[Beekissed]

Katahdins are quickly becoming known as a dual purpose breed of sheep also, as they are very "milky". Of course, no quality wool to speak of but this is a plus to some folks, as they won't need shearing. Nice meaty frames and quick growing lambs due to the high milk production.

Katahdins are very heavy milkers for a meat breed, easy lambing capabilities, no seasonal only breeding times and known for multiple births. Parasite resistant, cold and heat hardy, like to browse as well as graze, low winter feed consumption and milk just fine on good quality legume hay and graze.