Sheep milk

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:17 am

Sandy...yup..i have no issue...altho, i am looking at the wool growers co op as an outlet for wool...that would be my focus and leave the milk for the babies, but sure, why not...however, having read Brebis' info on the quality of the milk, I'm going to look into that possibility.

Post by **poultry_admin** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:58 am

Sheep are used along the coastline of the Neatherlands, Germany and Denmark to graze on the dikes because they compact the dirt the best. Keeps the water out... So keep them away from your weeping bed and septic...

Farrier1987 · Post by **Farrier1987** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:32 am

Great thread. I have had sheep milk in the middle east, is nice rich creamy, flavour depends on what they have been eating.

I am milking a goat, and have milked cows. People talk about weird taste of whatever kind of milk. The milk form any dairy animal will reflect what they are eating. Why store milk always tastes the same is mostly because they all eat the same things. Silage, grain and hay. They tend not to be out grazing, and if they are, on pasture that is sown to particular forage crops. No weeds and bushes and things. If I feed my goats alfalfa and oats and dont let them eat green stuff that grows wild the goats milk I get will be not very different from cow's milk, and I am suspecting that sheeps milk will be similar. Not the same as, but the taste and flavour will definitely reflect their diet.

Goats milk cream does exist, but not nearly as prevalent as cows milk cream. Goats milk is naturally homogenized, the fat droplets are so small that they dont clump together and float out like cows milk where you see the cream on top and the line and the milk on the bottom, although the top of a goats milk container will be richer than the bottom. Homogenizing commercial cows milk, they force it through a very fine screen to break the fat globules smaller so they dont gather together and float out.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:43 am

There is one goat cheese I'm crazy about, It's sold as a roll and has cranberries on the outside- fabulous! I wish I could get unhomogenized cow's milk. I'm fine with it being pasteurized, but I'd prefer if it wasn't homogenized. I know there have been various comments on the Internet that say that homogenizing the fat makes milk less healthy, and some other comments that say it doesn't matter, my preference being the least processed product (not including pasteurization, to me that makes sense although others don't agree). I did try the commercial goat milk, I was really hoping it would have not taste, but I found that it did.

Brebis · Post by **Brebis** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:50 am

Sheep milk is naturally homogenized as well, though if it does sit you can get a little bit off the top. It also means it can be frozen for use later and works well if you can keep it at < -20C. It's how many of us started milking sheep in th late '90's sine we couldn' get enough in a short period to ship fresh. So, this is a benefit if you only have a few as you can keep topping up a frozen bucket until you have enough to to do something with it or save some of the lower component early lactation milk to balance out the really rich late lactation milk that can be hard to make cheese with.
Sadly, farrier is right that the narrow feeding regimes of most diary animals these days reduces the flavour of the milk but not as much as the cheese. I used to love buying the Organic cow milk in th spring when the cows first went out on pasture-it tasted soooo good!
If you only have a few it's easy to milk them by hand and since lambs only need about 30 days on the ewe until they can handle solid food, you can creep the lambs early, wean them at 30 days and then milk for the next 4-6 months depending on milk volume. Dairy sheep are bred to milk a long time, meat sheep will stop milking shortly after weaning, even if it's early. You an wean early and many larger sheep diaries do this but you have to depend on milk replacer and a frequent feeding routine which never is as good as leaving them on the ewe.

Brebis · Post by **Brebis** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:54 am

Robbie, are you near Syndenham? Limestone Creamery has their own farm grown milk that is non homogenized.
The cheese you mention is "Chèvre" and is the base for many great cheeses. You can do cow and sheep versions too and can do it with regular store bought milk. If you use a bit of calcium chloride with the milk it'll help increase the yield and set it if it's not homogenized.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:01 pm

Brebis wrote:QR_BBPOST Robbie, are you near Syndenham? Limestone Creamery has their own farm grown milk that is non homogenized.
The cheese you mention is "Chèvre" and is the base for many great cheeses. You can do cow and sheep versions too and can do it with regular store bought milk. If you use a bit of calcium chloride with the milk it'll help increase the yield and set it if it's not homogenized.

Brebis sadly I seem to be in the poultry/homestead/farm product desert here in Central ontario, squashed between Port Perry and Peterborough. Even The closest poulty club is an hour's drive either way...... Fenelon Falls.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:02 pm

Defnitely going on summer road trips to the east!

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 5:50 pm

Okay, this thread has me kinda excited...its easy to get this old guy excited it seems these days...lol...we are definitely getting sheep this year...and I'm not one to worry about milk volume etc...so I'm looking at sheep for wool, and letting them lamb, leaving the lambs full course on the ewe and milking the ewe(s) after the fact...MJ is looking into sheep milk cheese making...now for that fence............

Brebis · Post by **Brebis** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:29 pm

Hey maybe I should set up Cheesemaking session....