trampledbygeese
Loving the herd life
Is this the right place to post about milking sheep?
The lambs are about two and a half weeks old - ish, I think, I'll have to check the calender. Anyway, they are hay munching and nibbling on stuff now, so I thought it must be time to milk the ewes in earnest.
Only...
...all I know about milking is about goats, and not a lot about that.
Can we have a long discussion about milking sheep? Dos and don'ts of milking sheep. Tips and tricks. What's your method? Time of day? Making sure the lambs get their share? Equipment?
Do sheep keep in milk forever (several years between freshening) like goats do?
I warn you now, all I have is a rope, a bucket, an eagerness to learn and a lot of patiences. What I don't have is a functioning spellcheck. Looking at how things go on our farm, I would like to milk each evening, maybe for a month or two. Or, if it's yummy milk and the ewes don't mind, three or four months. Ideally I'll have some milk for cheese making, but at the least, I would like some for freezing for emergencies (like bottle feeding lambs).
I know basic milk handling procedures for once the milk is out of the animal - from helping and watching my friends milk goats - but it's the part before that I'm not confident with. Anyone got some advice for getting the milk from udder to pail?
The lambs are about two and a half weeks old - ish, I think, I'll have to check the calender. Anyway, they are hay munching and nibbling on stuff now, so I thought it must be time to milk the ewes in earnest.
Only...
...all I know about milking is about goats, and not a lot about that.
Can we have a long discussion about milking sheep? Dos and don'ts of milking sheep. Tips and tricks. What's your method? Time of day? Making sure the lambs get their share? Equipment?
Do sheep keep in milk forever (several years between freshening) like goats do?
I warn you now, all I have is a rope, a bucket, an eagerness to learn and a lot of patiences. What I don't have is a functioning spellcheck. Looking at how things go on our farm, I would like to milk each evening, maybe for a month or two. Or, if it's yummy milk and the ewes don't mind, three or four months. Ideally I'll have some milk for cheese making, but at the least, I would like some for freezing for emergencies (like bottle feeding lambs).
I know basic milk handling procedures for once the milk is out of the animal - from helping and watching my friends milk goats - but it's the part before that I'm not confident with. Anyone got some advice for getting the milk from udder to pail?