[CindyinSD]

I got three dairy lambs this spring; one ramling and two ewelings. Now I have three ewelings (I guess they're all ewelings still... the seller didn't know when the original girls were born). The ramling seeded the littlest eweling and maybe (hopefully) got the other ewe pregnant as well before he went bonkers and ended up in freezer camp. He was huge. I had no idea he was gonna get that big. (Okay, you can laugh now...) 🤦‍♀️ I think they are polled East Freesian/LaCaune cross (sorry about the spelling), but the seller wasn't sure about the mix. I was fortunate to find dairy stock around here at all so I wasn't about to make any complaints. Besides, they're all nice, healthy gals and the ram has contributed significantly to filling up our freezers.

The baby (Sugar Plum, 'cause that just seemed to be her name) was born Dec 29th. How long should I wait before sharing some of that milk? I was thinking a couple of weeks, but that's just a guess on my part.

I've been giving both of them alfalfa/grass (~50:50) hay since SP made her appearance. (Before that, they'd been grazing a mixed grass/alfalfa round bale most of the days, with a rack-full for when they're stalled. They share a stall, so... Also an extra ration of all-stock sweet mixed grains. That's a Folgers canister twice a day for the two ladies to share. Chickens take some of that... prolly a considerable quantity of "some". The sheep don't seem desperate to get at it, so I'm assuming they're getting plenty. They also have a protein block and of course, fresh non-frozen water. Should I be giving them more feed, or maybe less? Different?

I have materials to build a milking stand and it won't take too long, but what with the bomb-cyclone winter blast event and the garage stuffed with vehicles and feed and all, I haven't started on it yet. Now that the ordinary cold doesn't seem so bad, I'd like to get that built asap. The ones I've seen on Youtube just have a stanchion at the end of the rectangular platform, with a food dish. The ewe hops up and goes to her munchies and you milk her. Would it be better to have side rails? A ramp to ascend? Am I over-thinking this? Can I use this platform to shear them as well? (They came freshly shorn, so I haven't had the shearing experience yet.)

Okay... in fewer words:
1. Am I feeding them properly?
2. When can/should I start milking (lamb-sharing?) I don't want/intend to separate them (esp at night), but I wonder whether Ewekalalie will reach her production capacity If I don't place some demand on it fairly early in the game. 🤷‍♀️
3. Will a platform with a stanchion be sufficient for shearing, hoof trimming, etc.?
4. Thanks so much for any wisdom ya'll can share with me!

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

How wonderfully exciting! I have always been curious about milking sheep. I have a small herd of dairy goats, so all my knowledge is based in that experience. It is still ruminant.

Sweet feed is always a poor choice for ruminants. The molasses isn’t beneficial for their digestion.

Folgers cans come in many sizes. We get the BIG ones. I know that would be too much.

A quart of goat feed weighs about a pound. My bred doe (HUGE Saanen) gets about 3/4 pound morning and evening. The dry goats get about 1/4 pound.

Are you in central Texas or southern Missouri. I have too many milk stands! Yes, I trim hooves and milk and everything on a simple platform with the stanchion at one end.

Reconsider separating them at night after two weeks so that you can milk in the morning. Otherwise, you won’t get much milk.

Train the ewes to the milk stand as soon as possible. Train them to having their udder messed with. This prevents rodeos later.

Keep us posted about how it’s going.

 

[BadOregon]

My husband built the milk stanchion off the Fias Co. farm website. Have had it now for 15+ years and still sturdy as ever.
Mine has a removeable headstall because I the girls like to play/sleep on the base. It has held two full grown adults and a full size Saanen at the same time. (We were having to doctor her and it was a rodeo)
He also covered it with artificial grass, stapled down. It keeps it from being slippery and can still be hosed off and dries quickly.

That said, can't help with the sheep info. Always wanted to try dairy sheep, but figured goats were MORE than enough trouble. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

 

[Pony]

Yay, dairy sheep! My neighbor from whom I got my foundation hair sheep, and with whom I often share goat bucks, got dairy sheep. They're way cool.

Two weeks is about right for starting to share milk.

You've gotten great advice here. Get the ewes trained to that stand ASAP.

@Alice In TX/MO is8 so right: sweet feed is not the best choice. Ruminants don't need all that sugar.

A mix of oats/barley, corn in cold weather, some Black Oil sunflower seed (BOSS) is nice.

Your hay sounds good. You could probably get by with a grassier mix, but if they're happy and doing well on what you're providing, and it's plentiful in your area, don't mess with success.

Looking forward to reading all about your adventures in sheep dairying!

 

[CindyinSD]

How wonderfully exciting! I have always been curious about milking sheep. I have a small herd of dairy goats, so all my knowledge is based in that experience. It is still ruminant.

Sweet feed is always a poor choice for ruminants. The molasses isn’t beneficial for their digestion.

Folgers cans come in many sizes. We get the BIG ones. I know that would be too much.

A quart of goat feed weighs about a pound. My bred doe (HUGE Saanen) gets about 3/4 pound morning and evening. The dry goats get about 1/4 pound.

Are you in central Texas or southern Missouri. I have too many milk stands! Yes, I trim hooves and milk and everything on a simple platform with the stanchion at one end.

Reconsider separating them at night after two weeks so that you can milk in the morning. Otherwise, you won’t get much milk.

Train the ewes to the milk stand as soon as possible. Train them to having their udder messed with. This prevents rodeos later.

Keep us posted about how it’s going.

Thanks for your response! I haven't been able to get sheep feed here since I bought them. I got show-lamb a couple weeks before I brought them home and since then there's been nothing available. The mixed sweet grains seemed most like that, which is the reason I bought it, but I could get whole bags of, say, oats, etc and mix them together (I think/hope). This whole apocalypse thing is really inconvenient. 🤨 So maybe a half pound of grains (pint jar) for Eweka and a bit less for Sweetie, morning and evening?

Eweka is bigger than Sweetie Pie, but she's older, too. Sweetie was a bottle baby--weaned just before I got her. Would I put Sweetie and Sugar Plum together at night, or put little Sugar alone? I'm worried she'll get too cold without her mama. It was -2 Fahrenheit this morning (though the ice on their water wasn't thick so it can't have been below zero for very long...) Sometimes it does get awfully cold, all night. I'm just grateful she wasn't born a week earlier. 🥶 Maybe I should separate Sugar from mama in the morning and milk in the evening... (around 4:00 p.m. here, this time of year). I'm excited about sheep's milk yogurt, cheese, butter... Thanks again!

 

[CindyinSD]

My husband built the milk stanchion off the Fias Co. farm website. Have had it now for 15+ years and still sturdy as ever.
Mine has a removeable headstall because I the girls like to play/sleep on the base. It has held two full grown adults and a full size Saanen at the same time. (We were having to doctor her and it was a rodeo)
He also covered it with artificial grass, stapled down. It keeps it from being slippery and can still be hosed off and dries quickly.

That said, can't help with the sheep info. Always wanted to try dairy sheep, but figured goats were MORE than enough trouble. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

Thanks! I'll see if I can find the plans for that stand. The astro-turf sounds like a great idea.

I actually went for sheep because I thought they'd be less trouble. I figured they would be easier to fence in. I haven't had any troubles that way, but maybe I wouldn't have anyhow. We put up 4' high field fencing all round our place, and around the barn as well. Deer hop right over it; elk, too. The sheep haven't tried it yet, and we haven't seen coyotes inside since then, though I've been assured that coyotes could, if they wanted. Maybe they don't want to, or maybe they can't or at least think they can't. At any rate it seems to be working well.

 

[CindyinSD]

Yay, dairy sheep! My neighbor from whom I got my foundation hair sheep, and with whom I often share goat bucks, got dairy sheep. They're way cool.

Two weeks is about right for starting to share milk.

You've gotten great advice here. Get the ewes trained to that stand ASAP.

@Alice In TX/MO is8 so right: sweet feed is not the best choice. Ruminants don't need all that sugar.

A mix of oats/barley, corn in cold weather, some Black Oil sunflower seed (BOSS) is nice.

Your hay sounds good. You could probably get by with a grassier mix, but if they're happy and doing well on what you're providing, and it's plentiful in your area, don't mess with success.

Looking forward to reading all about your adventures in sheep dairying!

Thanks so much! They do seem to love the corn. I'm feeding it to the chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese. (I usually feed them fermented all-flock, but it's wet so it freezes, so...) I started mixing a bit of corn in with the dry all-flock, but the birds ate the corn & ignored the all-flock. Corn is cheaper and easier to find, plus it's been pretty cold, so that's what they're getting at present. The sheep pick delicately all through the straw bedding just to get one or two grains of corn. 😂 It's obviously easier for birds, but worth it to the sheep. I want them to have some, so they won't get sick if an accident happens and they get too much corn. I give them a handful every now and then. They'll be happy to have it in their feed dish, with the other grains.

The sunflower seed is wicked expensive here now, if it's available at all, but it doesn't sound like I need to give them nearly as much grain as I've been doing, so I'll see what I can manage.

The alfalfa mix hay is cheaper here; the pure alfalfa even more-so. I thought thtat was odd, but that's the way it is. I'm not gonna complain.

 

[mzgarden]

You've gotten really good inputs, I have nothing material to add BUT.......pictures would be extremely fun. We have dairy goats, so I'll be following along on your adventure. Sounds like fun.

 

[Greenbrook Acres]

Thanks for adding a thread that applies directly to homesteading.

 

[RJ2019]

I don't know much about sheep dairy but I'm looking forward to learning more. Welcome.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Corn is heating internally, but with your weather, that is good.

 

[CindyinSD]

Here's our new baby. DH took it the day she was born. I'll have to take the sticker off my iPad camera and get a couple more...

 

[CindyinSD]

I don't know much about sheep dairy but I'm looking forward to learning more. Welcome.

Still trying to figure out the little nuances of this forum. I meant to post the pic as a reply to you, but it doesn't seem to have worked out that way... At any rate, all I have of little Sugar Plum is the one you see here.... above... I think.... 😂

 

[Pony]

Thanks so much! They do seem to love the corn. I'm feeding it to the chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese. (I usually feed them fermented all-flock, but it's wet so it freezes, so...) I started mixing a bit of corn in with the dry all-flock, but the birds ate the corn & ignored the all-flock. Corn is cheaper and easier to find, plus it's been pretty cold, so that's what they're getting at present. The sheep pick delicately all through the straw bedding just to get one or two grains of corn. 😂 It's obviously easier for birds, but worth it to the sheep. I want them to have some, so they won't get sick if an accident happens and they get too much corn. I give them a handful every now and then. They'll be happy to have it in their feed dish, with the other grains.

The sunflower seed is wicked expensive here now, if it's available at all, but it doesn't sound like I need to give them nearly as much grain as I've been doing, so I'll see what I can manage.

The alfalfa mix hay is cheaper here; the pure alfalfa even more-so. I thought thtat was odd, but that's the way it is. I'm not gonna complain.

You're blessed! Alfalfa hay here is $360/ton.

 

[BadOregon]

This fall I paid $500/ton for my hay. And my hay guy is less than the other suppliers. Granted, it is awesome hay, but that price is still enough to make you clutch your chest and your eyes water.

 

[Greenbrook Acres]

@CindyinSD What a cute little lamb. I'll show the picture to my wife in the morning. She will surely want one.

 

[CindyinSD]

You're blessed! Alfalfa hay here is $360/ton.

Alas, ours is more... but still less than the grass. We had a really dry year. 😢

 

[Greenbrook Acres]

@CindyinSD I have considered goats for part of an emergency meat plan. I've never eaten goat meat before. My wife said her family has cooked a goat over a fire pit. The Mexicans down the street butcher and cook one from time to time. The black guy from Sudan further down the street has sheep but he lets them graze to the point that his pasture is stripped. His next-door neighbors says by doing this it causes them to develop worms. Is this true? From what I have read that you have written, and a 10-minute additional internet study brings me to the point of a few questions.
*~7 months old and well before the lambs develop adult teeth is the best time to slaughter/butcher?
*Is ramling meat just as good as eweling meat?
*What is the treatment for worms?
*Is the wool off of the 7 months old ones plentiful and easily sold to people wanting raw wool?
*and is a seven-wire alternating ground wire, hot wire system effective when it comes to keeping coyotes out or should the wires be on the outside of the pen to zap the coyotes when they approach the enclosure. (Wires on the inside to keep goats in).
I have only studied about goats until now.
30 years ago, a long-ago friend from Australia cooked in the oven a lamb roast for us and it was very good.
Thanks for your thread and information.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Yes, goats and sheep acquire intestinal parasites from short grass. The larvae climb up the stems in the morning dew. Treatment is meds from the feed store. You wait till the dead worms and medication clears their systems before harvesting the lamb/goat kids.

 

[Pony]

@Greenbrook Acres, ram lambs and ewe lambs taste the same to me, but one is more likely to eat ram lambs, because the ewe lambs are more profitable. You only need one ram to cover many ewes, who will reproduce and increase the size of your flock.

I've eaten 3 year old intact rams, and they taste as good as 1 year old wethered rams.