East Friesian Sheep
Our milking ewes are East Friesian ("free-shun"), some with a minority cross of Lacaune ("luh-kawn"). East Friesians originate in northern Germany and Friesland area of the Netherlands, the same area as the black and white Holstein (Friesian) cows. They are considered the top producing dairy breed, and we maintain high percentage lines as well as some minority cross with Lacaune in some of our ewes. Lacaune sheep, a dairy breed originating from southern France, are well-know for producing milk for Roquefort cheese. We find our rams and ewes very pleasant to work with, attentive mothers, and good milk producers. Our sheep are naturally polled (hornless) and we do not dock their tails. East Friesians have "rat" tails covered with hair like their legs and not heavily woolled.
If you aren't that familiar with sheep, males are rams, females are ewes, babies are lambs (ewe lamb, ram lamb) and called that until one year old. Castrated males are called wethers. When talking about meat, "lamb" is from a sheep up to one year old, and "mutton" is from sheep over a year old when the flavor tends to be stronger. During the summer, our black sheep outer ends of their wool gets sun-bleached, so our black sheep often look brown. We name our sheep after flowers - Daisy, Petunia, Marigold, Lily, and Aster are five of my great originals.
Even though we have good sheep dairy breeds and select for health and high production, sheep produce the smallest amount of milk per animal of all our dairy animals. It is exceptionally rich, creamy, nutritious, and easily digested. Milk from sheep is called "ewe's milk" but I most often hear people call it "sheep's milk," and I myself use that term as I find people often don't catch what I mean when I say "ewe's milk." Aside from wonderful cheeses, ewe's milk makes decadent yogurt, ice cream, and gelato. Unlike cow's milk and similar to goat's milk, sheep's milk does not have the cream easily separate.
We shear our sheep every year to keep them comfortable. Shearing can be a traumatic experience if they are handled roughly or cut severely. We take time to keep them comfortable and avoid injury. If they are cut, we treat them immediately. Our fleeces are usually white but sometimes cream, black, spotted, and speckled. Their fleece is often quite dirty, but after cleaning, it is good to make rugs and felted creations. Most is a medium wool but there is considerable variation it it's features.
We have a regular vaccination, deworming, and vitamin and mineral treatment schedule. We do not routinely treat with antibiotics and never use hormones unless synchronizing our female's estrus for the purpose of AI (artificial insemination). Sheep are dewormed with dairy-approved anti-helminth (usually in the dry season) when we detect parasite load as sheep tend to be the most susceptible of our animals.
We have tracked pedigrees and milking performance of our sheep since 2015, but starting 2027 milking season, we will increase the detail of our record-keeping as well as increasing the use of AI. We will regularly measure each ewe's milk production and milk quality in detail, and we will also grade udder and teat qualities. We have found that we don't care about teat placement and size, but many of our customers hand-milking sheep are very interested in these attributes. We do not have plans to breed for larger teats and lower placement on the udder, but we should be able to provide information about those attributes in our sheep lines. Tracking detailed dairy performance will further help us fine-tune our breeding program.
If you aren't that familiar with sheep, males are rams, females are ewes, babies are lambs (ewe lamb, ram lamb) and called that until one year old. Castrated males are called wethers. When talking about meat, "lamb" is from a sheep up to one year old, and "mutton" is from sheep over a year old when the flavor tends to be stronger. During the summer, our black sheep outer ends of their wool gets sun-bleached, so our black sheep often look brown. We name our sheep after flowers - Daisy, Petunia, Marigold, Lily, and Aster are five of my great originals.
Even though we have good sheep dairy breeds and select for health and high production, sheep produce the smallest amount of milk per animal of all our dairy animals. It is exceptionally rich, creamy, nutritious, and easily digested. Milk from sheep is called "ewe's milk" but I most often hear people call it "sheep's milk," and I myself use that term as I find people often don't catch what I mean when I say "ewe's milk." Aside from wonderful cheeses, ewe's milk makes decadent yogurt, ice cream, and gelato. Unlike cow's milk and similar to goat's milk, sheep's milk does not have the cream easily separate.
We shear our sheep every year to keep them comfortable. Shearing can be a traumatic experience if they are handled roughly or cut severely. We take time to keep them comfortable and avoid injury. If they are cut, we treat them immediately. Our fleeces are usually white but sometimes cream, black, spotted, and speckled. Their fleece is often quite dirty, but after cleaning, it is good to make rugs and felted creations. Most is a medium wool but there is considerable variation it it's features.
We have a regular vaccination, deworming, and vitamin and mineral treatment schedule. We do not routinely treat with antibiotics and never use hormones unless synchronizing our female's estrus for the purpose of AI (artificial insemination). Sheep are dewormed with dairy-approved anti-helminth (usually in the dry season) when we detect parasite load as sheep tend to be the most susceptible of our animals.
We have tracked pedigrees and milking performance of our sheep since 2015, but starting 2027 milking season, we will increase the detail of our record-keeping as well as increasing the use of AI. We will regularly measure each ewe's milk production and milk quality in detail, and we will also grade udder and teat qualities. We have found that we don't care about teat placement and size, but many of our customers hand-milking sheep are very interested in these attributes. We do not have plans to breed for larger teats and lower placement on the udder, but we should be able to provide information about those attributes in our sheep lines. Tracking detailed dairy performance will further help us fine-tune our breeding program.
