Help me learn...

mb4herds

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hey all! Just moved to our first little homestead in August... Have chickens now and plan to add meat rabbits in Spring. Currently we are still technically in city limits though we have acreage, but it prevents us from having "livestock". However We have a friends with alpacas on 40 acres who have invited us to share the land. I would like to get goats or sheep in the future and am hoping y'all will educate me. I'm studying all I can and it seems like apples and oranges in terms of care/needs. Am especially interested in knowing if anyone has experience milking sheep.
 

norseofcourse

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Welcome to BYH! Congrats on your homestead, and that's such a great offer your friends have made.

I don't have goats, so I can't compare the two, but I love my sheep, I've had them nearly 3 years now. I've milked them the last two summers (the first summer more as a learning experiment, last summer more seriously). I leave the lambs with them, separating them overnight, milking in the morning, then back together all day. I didn't get tons of milk like goats give, but it's good milk and I got plenty to make things like soap, fudge and some cheese, among other things.

I posted about my experiences in the Milking forum, covering both summers:
http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/sheep-milking-milking-process-pics.29259/
There's other people who have also posted about milking sheep, too.

What part of the country are you in?
 

Latestarter

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Greetings @mb4herds from the front range in Colorado :frow :welcome! Those friends are keepers for sure! I hope it all works out for you! Lots of great goat and sheep folks around and I'm sure you'll get welcomes from then soon enough. In the mean time, there's already a wealth of info on the boards for your reading pleasure. Please make yourself at home, get comfy, and :caf :) I like many will look forward to lots of pictures and updates as you progress! Good Luck! And welcome again :)
 

Ferrit47

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Hello Everyone. I live in Rotorua North Island New Zealand where The Boiling hot mud pools are & lots of Sulphur too. I used be a farmer out east of The City but my Dad sold the farm & we moved to the city where I became a delivery person.But I dont do that anymore I now do Part time work doing various things which I enjoy very much.
Put your hand up if you have been here. Dont all speak at once now !!!!
 

CJHames

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Greetings @mb4herds from the front range in Colorado :frow :welcome! Those friends are keepers for sure! I hope it all works out for you! Lots of great goat and sheep folks around and I'm sure you'll get welcomes from then soon enough. In the mean time, there's already a wealth of info on the boards for your reading pleasure. Please make yourself at home, get comfy, and :caf :) I like many will look forward to lots of pictures and updates as you progress! Good Luck! And welcome again :)

Not trying to pick on ya, only offering some friendly constructive advice …. the emoticons are extremely annoying. I didn't read your post. I couldn't get beyond the BYH thing that is flashing away at me as though I was approaching a hazard in the road.
 

sadieml

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Hi there @mb4herds and :welcome . I feel certain you'll find all the info you need with a little bit of :caf. The folks on BYH are as friendly and helpful as can be. We're a very close-knit community. We are very happy to have you here, and look forward to getting to know you better. Also, we thrive on pics. The more the better, so feel free to post away.

I don't know sheep AT ALL, but maybe @norseofcourse , @mysunwolf , and @ADK_Moxie can talk to you about milking them.:)

Again, WELCOME and ENJOY!!! :frow
 

frustratedearthmother

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Welcome! We're glad to have you. I don't know much about sheep (except they taste good) :hide but, there plenty of folks here who will chime in and help!
 

Latestarter

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Sorry they annoy you @CJHames

I welcome you to the threads and "warn" you that if emotes bother you, you're gonna have a very hard time in these forums. But then since you originally joined almost 7 years ago and have done a grand total of 8 posts, (including your advice to me above, which has nothing to do with "herds") I don't guess anyone has to worry too much about annoying you, now do we?

Should I have anything to say directed toward you, I'll be sure to not use emotes.
 

Latestarter

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Hey there @Ferrit47 :frow Welcome and glad you joined us! I've been sorta down in your neck of the woods... I've visited Australia and Thailand, but haven't been to your place yet. Would love to visit and had it on the bucket list, but sorry to say as I get older it slips further down the list. Anyway, make yourself at home and enjoy!
 
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animalmom

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A big howdy and welcome from the Great Lone Star State, where the stars at night are big and bright! Glad to have you join us, so grab yourself a beverage from yonder table, shoo the dog off the bench and sit a spell. Lots of folks here do lots of animals so I'm confident you'll get lots of good advise.
 
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