Dairy Sheep

[rhoda_bruce]

I read in some of my self-sufficiency books that if you can raise a certain # of goats on a certain amt of property, then you can still raise that, but get an equal # of sheep because the sheep will eat the grass and the goats are only interested in the weed, bushes and trees.
Well I have some experience with goats. I had a doe, but she got loose one day...seemed fine and healthy. I penned her up and the next day she died a horrible painful death. Now that I think about it, I think she got in my sister's yard and probably ate olliander (spelling). I can't see anything else. She was beautiful. I was trying to work on having her serviced because I had obtained her hoping to use her as a dairy animal and had her since she was about 3 months old until she was going on 2 years old.
Well, I don't mind getting another goat, but I don't care for certain goat problems, like climbing, damages to fences, etc.. I might get one but I have heard only just a little about dairy sheep. Well if they won't browse and will be content with eating just grass, then my trees, bushes, vines, etc. should be safe. I am also thinking they might not climb and I might be able to do something with the fleece. I crochet a bit and I find yarn is getting a bit expensive.
It might be hard to obtain, but I am thinking on one small goat and one sheep to start with.
Okay, so ya'll see what I'm thinking. So educate me if you know more than me because I can use some help. Even if this is all good, I will need to find a sheep farmer in LA....the goat problem I can solve today if necessary.
Help!!!

 

[lwheelr]

Can't help you there, but I am also interested in this topic. Though we are looking at adapting a hair sheep long term, instead of dealing with wool, which is something that interests me NOT in the least!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Yarn is expensive but unless you spin your own yarn you're still better off buying it, IMO. It's pretty pricey to have the sheep sheared and then send the wool to a mill to be washed, carded, spun, etc. Then you also have to dye it if you want any colors other than white or natural colors. I have sheep and goats and I MUCH prefer my sheep because the goats (well, young ones especially) are SO MUCH TROUBLE! Those darn kids find every way they can to annoy the crap out of me by jumping on stuff, getting stuck (for trying to squeeze through small spaces), and being too in-my-face. The sheep are nice and quiet and have personality without being hooligans.

And rememer that just because sheep don't browse like goats doesn't mean they won't eat your plants! It certainly is possible to milk sheep though, and depending on how much you want/need they may be able to supply your milk needs. If you want a decent amount of milk I'd definitely get a goat though, because one goat can produce what it would take several sheep to produce.

I think I'm just rambling on about random things, so I'm going to stop. I think my brain already went on vacation and left my body behind!

 

[Damummis]

I too am contemplating milk sheep. Sheep do keep all four feet on the ground.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Thanks all. I am currently on a fact finding mission here and also am doing some reading from library books on this subject, but can't find anything on dairy sheep. Guess I will check out amazon to more target my area of interest here. I would imagine I could milk any sheep, but what about 'dairy sheep'. What in #s can I expect from them? Like if the average goat can give me 1500 LBs of milk in 305 days, what would a sheep do? That kinda thing. But even if less, the good behavior might cancel out the difference.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Talk to Patandchickens, she has dairy sheep, and knows more about them, although she is not milking them right now. I milked sheep, but mine were not dairy sheep. I did not get alot of milk from them. also, I have two sheep and a goat. goats will eat the pasture just as much as sheep, and sheep will eat weeds and browse. Just to lesser degrees

 

[lwheelr]

I did an extensive search online, and discovered that there are specific breeds considered "dairy sheep" which give up to about half what a goat does. Then there are your average wool or meat sheep that give a cup or so at a time. Somewhere in the middle there are other breeds, more all-purpose, which give up to a quart a milking, but which are not categorized as dairy sheep. These are the ones that are hard to define, and difficult to isolate, because they are either milked by indigenous peoples (who really don't keep records on milk production), or they are being bred privately to produce more milk, or they are milked by people who just need some sheep milk but aren't concerned with high production.

Anyway, we decided on a non-dairy type of sheep that can produce ok for a sheep, but we also chose a hair sheep because we did not want to shear them.

To find out about individual breeds like that, it is best to find an association for them, and ask owners of them about their milk production if you are interested in more of an all-purpose breed.

Otherwise, go straight dairy - especially if you want wool, because most dairy sheep are definitely wool sheep.

 

[patandchickens]

I can only speak for my own sheep (two dairybred [British Milksheep X Dorset] and three shetlands, plus their four lambs at present) but I would TOTALLY NOT count on them to "only" eat grass and not "my trees, bushes, vines, etc". They have killed a lilac and a clematis vine and a number of wild red-osier dogwood bushes, and were on their way to killing two pussywillows til I put up a little electric enclosure. This is all just from few-days-or-a-week-at-a-time rotation across my lawn etc. Mind, the only things I've let them have *access* to are things I don't mind losing and seem safe for them. But I would 100% not at all consider giving the sheep access to anything I actually want to keep, except *large* trees and even then I'd keep an eye on their bark. (My ram in particular is rather hard on the bark of several trees he has access too, from butting and rubbing)

YOu should find out what breeding arrangements you could realistically make, where you live. In general it seems MUCH easier to do driveway breedings (stud service) with goat than to find a ram owner willing to let him breed your ewe; and AI is complicated in sheep and probably not something you could realistically get done.

Most sheep will have substantially shorter lactations than a decent diary goat (like a few months vs almost a year); even East Friesian or British Milksheep will only give you up to 7 months or so of lactation and that's only if very well-managed. Some goats can go over a year.

I'm not trying to talk you out of sheep, but IMO they are not at all a substitute for dairy goats and the "eat grass not browse" thing seems to be very overplayed in books compared to what I see mine doing. So you would want to make sure you were ok with them eating nongrass things made available to them, and would want to make sure that their idiosycnrasies as milk animals fit ok with your needs.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Well, Okay. Thats worth some consideration. I have a great deal of space to allow a goat to browse on, if only I could shepard a couple where I want them and expect them to return to me when its time.
If sheep dislike the taste of orange trees, I'd have a real job for 2 of them in my parent's orchard but DH will not want anything munching on his blackberries, which are in our yard.
If I can get about 3 dwarf does, I might have good hope of them not breaking thru the fence and I can browse for them and put the brush in mangers for them, as one of the books recommend. Then I don't have to concern myself about eating what they shouldn't. Need to study, I guess.