by David The Good
⏱︎
Read time:
Could milk sheep be the right dairy animal for your farm?
Yesterday I visited my friends at Castra Isidore Farm to turn five gallons of our raw cow milk into a big block of cheese. (We filmed it and I hope to post that video within a week.)
While there, we got to have a great conversation about milk sheep:
If you have a smaller homestead, dairy sheep might be for you.
I’m David The Good, gardening author, homesteading, survival gardener, nursery owner and plant geek. Let’s grow some food!
bananas bees cassava chickens compost corn crash gardening dioscorea alata econopocalypse Florida fruit trees florida gardening food forest foraging front yard garden gardening grafting great south florida food forest project habitat hotstuff hugelkultur illegal garden Marion Gardener microclimates moringa mother earth news mulberries mulberry mushrooms orlando papaya peaches permaculture potatoes seminole pumpkin south florida sugarcane survival crop survival plant sweet potatoes the prepper project timely tips trees from seed urban gardening wasps winged yam
8 responses to “Could Milk Sheep be Right for Your Homestead?”
David,
Good timing on the video. I was researching katahdin sheep since I am in North West Florida. My main concern is the amount of milk from that breed.
I am going to see if there are dairy breeds that do well in NW Florida.
Take care.
I think that goats give better yields in general; however, he really loves his dairy sheep and there may be a good option for you.
That makes sense. Our homestead has more brush than pasture currently, so it may be goats for the next little bit.
My step brother raised bummer lambs for 4H, and my wife raised pigs for 4H. They were meat animals, though, and got auctioned off each year at the fair.
I would love to find some inexpensive lambs to do that with. Except we’d butcher instead of auction. What a good experience.
I have a farm in North Florida about two hours east of you. I raise hairless (no wool) Black Bellied sheep and St. Croix sheep. I will have lambs available in May. Out off the nine born, I do not know how many rams there are, but we keep all of the yews. I can keep in touch with you if you are interested. We processed our first 6 rams a month ago, and I have to say it is truly the best lamb meat we have ever had. All I can say it the meat is beautiful, if you are allowed to say that about meat.
I would love to buy a few – thank you. Glad you got in touch.
V,
I’m in ne Florida near Gainesville
I’m looking for a sheep for milk. Do you milk yours?