woodsie
Loving the herd life
I have both sheep and goats together....and I can tell you that goats are more watchful and are constantly thinking and the sheep do keep their heads down and eat. That being said my goats are much easier to control, catch, pet, split off from the group. The goats are definitely more bonded to me and will easily follow me around...sheep not a chance!
I have some sheep that have HUGE udders and teats and look very promising for milking however I don't know if I could ever catch / teach them to stand for milking, it has taken me 8 months to just let them me touch them when I have grain. I didn't get them as lambs however but still very skiddish....if you are planning on getting sheep make sure you get them as lambs, perhaps even bottle feed them, pick the most outgoing lambs you can...so they really trust you and come up to you.
2 sheep might be better than a small "flock"...I had 4 lambs I got after they had been weaned, one was really friendly, one learned to be friendly and the other two were super skiddish and never came close to us...we sent the most friendly one (butted my kids) and one of the skiddish ones to freezer camp, and a strange thing happened...the other skiddish one calmed right down and became very friendly. I think what happened was when there was a skiddish friend, they both were very flighty and scared, more of the flock mentality. Not sure if that was just a weird thing that happened to me but it does seem that if you have a really scared/skiddish sheep, it will cause the other sheep around it to also become more skiddish....anyone else found this?
If you really want milk, I would go with goats and get a Nubian that typically have nice sweet milk and make sure you chill it well quickly...even my dad who hates anything that has a "field taste" could not taste the difference from cows milk, however it tasted fresh and creamier. Or you could go with a Nigerian Dwarf which might be easier to handle and are supposed to have super creamy milk....just make sure it comes from milking lines. IMO unless you are interested in lamb meat as well, it is a lot of hassle to keep sheep for only milk for the quantity you get, pretty expensive milk (both from time and money resources) and I would think that sheep milk would have a "taste" too if not properly chilled quickly.
You could do two sheep and two goats and see what you like better...my bests on goats! As long as you have a good fence there antics are more comical than frustrating.
I have some sheep that have HUGE udders and teats and look very promising for milking however I don't know if I could ever catch / teach them to stand for milking, it has taken me 8 months to just let them me touch them when I have grain. I didn't get them as lambs however but still very skiddish....if you are planning on getting sheep make sure you get them as lambs, perhaps even bottle feed them, pick the most outgoing lambs you can...so they really trust you and come up to you.
2 sheep might be better than a small "flock"...I had 4 lambs I got after they had been weaned, one was really friendly, one learned to be friendly and the other two were super skiddish and never came close to us...we sent the most friendly one (butted my kids) and one of the skiddish ones to freezer camp, and a strange thing happened...the other skiddish one calmed right down and became very friendly. I think what happened was when there was a skiddish friend, they both were very flighty and scared, more of the flock mentality. Not sure if that was just a weird thing that happened to me but it does seem that if you have a really scared/skiddish sheep, it will cause the other sheep around it to also become more skiddish....anyone else found this?
If you really want milk, I would go with goats and get a Nubian that typically have nice sweet milk and make sure you chill it well quickly...even my dad who hates anything that has a "field taste" could not taste the difference from cows milk, however it tasted fresh and creamier. Or you could go with a Nigerian Dwarf which might be easier to handle and are supposed to have super creamy milk....just make sure it comes from milking lines. IMO unless you are interested in lamb meat as well, it is a lot of hassle to keep sheep for only milk for the quantity you get, pretty expensive milk (both from time and money resources) and I would think that sheep milk would have a "taste" too if not properly chilled quickly.
You could do two sheep and two goats and see what you like better...my bests on goats! As long as you have a good fence there antics are more comical than frustrating.
I've never had goat; I assume that we would also like goat meat but I can't be sure. We eat deer on a regular basis, though, so I'm sure it would be fine.
I may end up doing that, though. A few of each for direct, daily comparison seems like a not-so-bad idea. Got anything against LaMancha's? They are my top pick for goats. Katahdins are my top pick for sheep despite not being a dairy breed. I may be too stubborn for my own good. 
