Cow milk vs Sheep milk vs Goat milk (+ How to Milk a Sheep)
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- If you want to see how to milk a sheep or you're curious about why we picked sheep milk for our dairy needs, watch this video!
Before deciding on our milking animals, we compared sheep milk vs goat milk, and cow milk vs sheep milk. We knew that goat vs sheep milk was the most similar, but since we didn't know anyone who had milking sheep we had never tried sheep's milk before we got our sheep.
Having your own grass fed homestead sheep means you get one or more of these three things: wool, meat, and milk. Depending on which sheep breeds you decide on, you might get all three!
You can can get sheep milk by hand or using a milking machine to get the milk out. We've done it both ways, and the first year we were raising sheep homestead and milking by hand. The next year we invested in a milk machine.
Watch me milk sheep and see what it's like during our daily milking routine, from getting our sheep out of the pasture and into the barn on the milking stand, to cleaning our milking machine, and then getting the sheep milk to the fridge.
Here's what you can expect from this sheep milk video:
0:00 What you'll learn in today's video
0:30 Why we decided to get dairy animals on the homestead
1:15 First we considered dairy cows
1:50 Then we considered dairy goats
2:40 Silvopasture systems combine grazing animals and trees
2:55 Comparing the milk of cows vs. goats vs. sheep milk
3:30 Benefits of grazing sheep on pasture for milk
4:48 Our sheep milking routine
5:55 Pouring the sheep milk
6:07 Cleaning the milk machine
#waykeeperfarm #nerdery #nathalielussier
🐑🐑🐑Now that you know why we picked dairy sheep, find out how much milk sheep produce here ➡ czcams.com/video/TjPMy_GGzOM/video.html&ab_channel=WaykeeperFarmandNerdery
Miniature cattle breeds.....
Me....cow too big to handle (I was awkward), goats too mischievous and sheep sweet and calm. Plus some wool to play with. Now an elder and stuck in apartment life, I just love watching ! Great machine.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the lovely comment!
Sheep so interesting never considered , now so much to learn.
Yes, there's a lot to learn for sure!
This was one of the most interesting videos I've watched in ages. Loved it.
Wow thank you so much, that means a lot! :)
You've always had a fun mind and different ideas. You Rock Nat!
Aww merci, merci! I hope you are doing well
I am so glad I found your channel. We are considering buying a few acres in Wales (UK) and have always thought we'd get a cow or a few goats but for some reason never considered sheep for milking. Wales definitely is very well suited to rearing sheep so that moves to the top of the list. We also love lamb meat.
Glad to hear it's been helpful, and good luck too!
We got our first sheep herd last fall. We have 4 ewes and 1 ram. We're expecting lambs in April. I'm so exciting to try sheep milk for the first time! Thank you for the video:)
That is awesome! I'm so excited for you, and let me know how it goes!
Are you planning to hand milk or use a machine? Either way is great, just a different set of pros and cons. :)
Does anyone know what breed these sheep are?
@@moniquechurchill6857 These are a cross of British Milking Sheep and East Friesians, and you can get more info on the best milking breeds here:
czcams.com/video/OW-W9DrjbHw/video.html
How did the sheep milk turn out? I'm super interested in this since my son has milk allergies
I enjoyed watching and listening to the part where you milked the sheep and talked about the cleaning process. I was going to make homemade yogurt but bought pasturized goat milk instead of sheep milk. In the city I live, I don't think I can purchase sheep milk, but I'll look. It makes sense after watching your video that sheep milk makes creamy yogurt. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching!
Really fascinating topic.
I had no idea ppl milk goats until now. Top job with your video.
I know right? I was surprised when I started doing research into dairy animals, too :) Thanks so much!
Found you over on VRA FB group. Glad I did. Your channel and this video is really nice, super genuine. Your channel should explode very fast. My family eats 'clean' so very nice to see your channel. Very well produced. I liked/sub'd from both of my YT channels, this one Lotz HOme & Office, and my other Bitcoin Say Whaat. I will look at your other videos too!
Thank you so much! That is so sweet of you!
I love that you handled your sheep with care. What kind of ointment is that? And also what's the other thing after the ointment?
Thank you! The first cream is a dairy animal cream and the second is bag balm. Bag balm keeps everything soft and protected from the elements :)
Great video!
Thanks so much!
Ahh perfect, I just asked this in a comment on one of your other videos haha thanks
Yay glad it answered that for you! :)
What a delightful subject. I have never met a real sheep farmer until you! Your channel will get many views, I am sure. The opportunity for a person to view up close views is genius. Now I am interested in tasting sheep milk. Wow. I am excited for you.
Aww thank you so much! There are a handful of sheep milk farmers across the US and Canada, and sometimes you can find the milk in stores. :) Have a great day!
Very nice and informative video, thank you
So nice of you, thank you!
I noticed your IBC tote for collecting water. I'd love to learn more about the logistics of using that in a cold climate if you haven't done a video on it yet 😊
Yes, I made a video about using one in our greenhouse here: czcams.com/video/Mde4NU__77A/video.html
But we use them outside our barn and our house, too. In the winter we try to let some of the water out before it freezes, but we get a lot of "freeze/thaws" each winter, so we aren't always perfect with that.
Like right now one of the IBCs is thawed and we're using the water with no problem, but last week it was frozen.
I've watched a couple of your videos and they've been really helpful for me as we are considering dariy sheep. We are in Italy, so a lot warmer climate than you, but sheep do live here so I guess they can survive the heat! The thing is, I'm vegetarian, and would never consider killing or eating lambs, nor would I want to sell them to someone who would... so do you think it would be feasible to keep sheep? Would we just end up with a gazillion sheep? Or is there a way to keep the older ones just for grazing and wool and not babies and milk? That's my primary concern. Are your sheep a 'dual' breed? I understand that you can choose a type with nice wool as well as milk. I'd be really interested to learn more about breeds and that dual aspect. Thanks!
Great question! I would look into Lacaune sheep, they are from the South of France and more likely to be adapted to Italy as well - there may be other more local breed options where you are, too!
As for not eating sheep, I totally get it. I think the tricky part is that you do need to have the sheep breed in order to get milk, so you'd likely be breeding each year and getting more sheep each year.
Some sheep give birth to singletons but many birth twins, so it could multiply fast if you keep all the lambs.
You might look for people who want sheep as pets - they do exist! But it might not always be easy to find them homes, either. You could also find people who want dairy sheep for the milk too, but again they'll need to be bred and someone will end up with more sheep.
There's also the tricky part of keeping rams - if you keep many intact rams they will compete with each other for females. You could castrate them so they don't fight each other, too. These are called wethers are they are the most lovely, sweet sheep you'll ever meet.
Either way, I hope this helps you make the right decisions! :)
I discovered sheep yogurt when my local liquidation store got a bunch of it from Whole Foods because it was close to its expiration date. I had had goat yogurt before and I preferred it to cows yogurt. But holy sheep batman! Sheep yogurt blew them both away! Sheep yogurt is naturally thick, rich and absolutely delicious! It’s the only yogurt I will eat now. I just wish that it was raw instead of pasteurized. I also wish I could find some sheep milk to drink… in it’s raw state. But I can’t find that in my area either. The best I can do is raw goats milk. I live in WA state and we ARE allowed to buy raw milk. Thank goodness for that! Thank you for your video. And also for the nutrition chart. That was very interesting!
I love sheep's yogurt! It is super rich, thick, and creamy for sure. :) So glad you found some locally, and who knows - more people might be starting small sheep dairies because my sheep milk videos are definitely getting people curious... or there's already some interest there, for sure. :)
Do you have a video on:
the brand(s) of milking machines and what you like/dislike about it(them)?
Rotational grazing of horses?
Do you do leader follower of species, if yes, which species order do you use?
Just saw my second of your videos. We are in north central PA, you probably get lake effect snows that we miss.
Thanks, have a blessed day!
Use to work CAFO dairy and CAFO pigs. Just got sheep a week ago. Sis in law got goats and i got LGD's about 6 months ago. Plus poultry and rabbits.
its true goats eat it all🤣🐐but we love all our farm animals much love from BNF❤️👍🏾
Nathalie Lussier at AccessAlly
1 second ago
8.74K subscribers
Yes! I think goats are super cute and worth it too. If I could have all the animals, I probably would 😘
Awesome information
Glad it was helpful!
Your videos are the best!! We’re from Ontario too but now in Nova Scotia. We have Dorper sheep but would like to get into milk 🐑. Can you tell me if you know the difference between east freisan and Dorper meat?
Love that you're interested in dairy sheep! I unfortunately haven't taste tested the difference between Dorper and East Friesian meat - wish I could share my opinion on it! :)
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery thanks! If we go there I’ll let you know!!
Whereabouts are you in Ontario? My family also lives in ON and we’re starting our first flock hopefully this summer!
Yay excited for you! We're in the Niagara region :)
Hello! What breed r ur sheep? It’s funny that u had them n Texas because ur sheep reminds me of when I was about 12, visiting my grandparents n Texas, the person that lived next to my grandparents had a sheep like urs, when it would get close to the fence, I’d put my fingers n it’s wool, it was thick. Thank u
Aww thank you for sharing that story! It sounds like it might have been a similar type of sheep. Gotta love the woolies! :)
Welp this convinced me I would rather sheep 🐑
Yay for team sheep! I don't think you can go wrong with any dairy animal, but we've been super happy with our sheep :)
I live in Houston Texas can you please tell me where is that farm that you used to have a raw milk from ?
I would like to get some raw milk and by the way Great channel 👍🥇Thank you for the info
Hi! I'm happy to share but the farm is in the Dallas / Forth Worth area, so probably too far of a trek to go for milk. There was also a similar raw milk farm in Plano, Texas.
I have a feeling there are some options in Houston - I would recommend checking out your local farmer's market and asking around. :)
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery thank you very much 💐🥰
Great video. How much milk does a sheep produce? They produce everyday? Or weekly?
I answer that in this video: czcams.com/video/TjPMy_GGzOM/video.html
It's definitely every day!
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery Yes, sorry, I wrote that before I saw that video at the end. I'll watch it now.
I've never had sheep's milk. Do you also shear milk sheep? Very informative video. Thank you!
Yes! We also shear the sheep, although we haven't really figured out how to process the wool afterward, but it's on my list of things to learn. :)
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery I would love to see that video.
What kind of milk machine is that?
We use a Simple Pulse milking machine and have been happy with their customer service too!
Really enjoyed this video. Super educational and well done. Glad I found you over in VRA member FB group. I liked/sub'd from this channel and my 2nd channel, Lotz Home & Office (my husband and I have 2 youtube channels)
Welcome aboard! I can’t wait to check out your channels too!
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery Thanks, we've been 'in the family' for 1.5 years, but took off 1.5 years since C..V happened. Now back in the saddle and trying to do this for 2 channels. We totally have to up our production/quality. I will learn from all of you and the videos you and the others are making. Be gentle on us in the coming months, ha ha
What breed of milk sheep do you have?
We have British Milking Sheep in this video and we recently brought home 3 Lacaune sheep as well, so we'll be breeding them together :)
Is this the east Freesian sheep breed ? Or assaf
Ours here are a mix of East Friesian and British Milking Sheep :)
Have found it nearly impossible to procure sheep milk.
Yes! Unfortunately, because sheep milking is so seasonal you're likely to only be able to find it in early spring or summer. And very few sheep dairies sell sheep's milk in stores.
You might have better luck finding sheep products like sheep's yogurt or cheese. Your best bet for milk is to find a local farm! :)
Thank you so much for making this video. I have been researching about A1 vs A2 cow milk and came across your video and am very delighted to learn the benefit of sheep and goat milk. My wife is obsess (I think addictive is the more accurate description😂) on any cow dairy product directly from the farms or Costco (I think she spend more on dairy product than any groceries 😂); however, I do not know if the farmer's cow is A1 or A2 at all. I am around Halton Hills Ontario area which is not very far from you. Would you be able to suggest any sheep farms around the areas that I can get the sheep dairy products? Thank you.
Here are a few places that might be worth checking out:
www.ovino.ca/
wooldrift.com/sheeps-milk-dairy-products/
markmartindairysheep.ca/
I hope this sets you off in the right direction!
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery Thank you so much for the quick reply. I believe I purchased the Ovino yogurt from No Frill but only able to find the "A2" brand in sheep milk there. Is the "A2" brand as good as the sheep milk from the farm? I will check out the other two company and see if they distribute to stores closer to my location.
I am also looking forward to get dairy sheep, I am located Cochrane Ontario, can you please share where you get your sheep from. Thanks
There are a few sheep dairies in Ontario that have breeding sheep for sale. The person I originally purchased my sheep from has since moved on, but this year we are purchasing a new ram and some breeding ewes from here: markmartindairysheep.ca/
There may be some dairy sheep closer to you as well!
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery Thank you so much for your reply I appreciate it
What is the cost of a sheep milking machine ?
We got ours from Simple Pulse - it starts at around $1000 USD, depending on attachments and things like that. :)
Did you ever consider getting a miniature cow for milking? Like a miniature Jersey or an Irish Dexter?
Yes we looked into it! I think at this point we're settled in with sheep, but I think there are benefits to both.
Sheep were more available locally than the smaller cow breeds and we are able to keep our own ram, which makes it easier to breed. We could likely do artificial insemination for the cows, but that's also another thing to figure out or get a tech out to do. :)
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery I have never looked in the Niagara Region for Mini Jerseys but I got my Irish Dexter in Port Colborne and have a friend with a small herd of Dexter in Wainfleet. We have totally unrelated animals so we can swap bull calves or bring our cows to each others farms to get them bred.
@@struykfamilyfarm9587 Oh, that's amazing! Maybe my local livestock searching skills weren't as good as yours when we were getting started, because that's not far from us. :)
How do you like your Dexter? Do you get milk year-round?
That's the main drawback of our sheep, but we also enjoy the break in the winter, so it's a silver lining maybe?
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery we got busy and let the calf have all the milk once it was 9 months old or so because we thought she would be drying up soon. But then when we moved the calf at 16 months old to a new field we realized the cow was still producing milk and we had to dry her up.
I know that my friend's cows that she doesn't milk still let their calves nurse all through the winter and sometimes right up until they have their next calf.
Our cow is actually heavily pregnant right now and we are waiting on a calf to come at any time now and we are hoping to see how long we can keep her in milk and keep getting a good amount of milk.
She produces a few gallons a day. Until the calf starts taking all the milk at 3 months old I can go out and milk once a day and get a full gallon of milk without ever even separating the calf.
Hi. Fabulous job. Can you also do camel or Llama milk?
Ooh that's a great question! I don't have as much experience on these two, but I will do some research for sure on it!
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery Thank you. I have heard Camel's milk is an excellent cure for diabetes. My mother suffers from diabetes. Also what's your name and where are you from?
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery Hi. Where are you from? Also is goat's milk less in fat as compared to cow or buffalo milk.
Leaving Texass is the smartest thing you ever did.
I don't know the full reasoning behind your statement, but I'll take the compliment ;)
Water buffalo milk has the highest fat conten. Water buffaloes are better grazers, they hardier than any other domestic ruminant. They don't gaurd dogs or Llamas. They kill Coyotes and fight wolves. They are very smart and bond very well with farmmates. They also protect smaller animals on the farm. Mine for some reasons hate wild boars. Two of my female buffaloes chased a wild boar family to the next county.
I love that! I've also heard amazing things about Yaks, but haven't had a chance to have any on our farm yet.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
What is the name of your sheep breed
? Madame
These are British Milking Sheep breed - we also have Lacaune breed.
I just found your channel and I have so many questions! Can you describe the taste of sheep milk? Goats milk (the one I tried anyway) tasted like licking goat butt. 😝. I know many goat owners swear they can’t tell the difference between cow’s milk and goat milk, but I went to a goat farm, bought a litre, took a sip and poured the rest out. 🤢 Do rams pee on themselves and stink like billy goats? Where are you in Ontario? Do you do farm visits? I’d love to talk to you more! We are purchasing a dairy animal of some sort this year, and could possibly be interested in some of your lambs to create our own little herd.
Yay, I love your enthusiasm!
1. The taste of sheep's milk: it's not "sheepy" unless the ewe is having nutritional deficiency problems. Right after lambing one of our ewes was producing "super sheepy" tasting milk, but we gave her some extra vitamins and got her back on track.
My mom who is super picky about the taste of things was hesitant to try our sheep's milk. After trying it, she said "It tastes like regular milk!" This is high praise that it doesn't taste weird if it's coming from her. ;) Others have said it's like a "milk shake" or like melted ice cream because it is creamier than cow's milk.
2. Rams do not pee on themselves or smell bad. The rams are definitely strong though, so we need to keep them fenced in properly. Outside of that, they are easy to take care of!
3. We're in the Niagara region, close to Lake Erie. No organized farm visits quite yet, but if you'd like to buy some of our lambs we can definitely take things off CZcams to discuss a visit :)
Im about to pay 5x the price of a cow's milk, hope it's worth it .
One thing to note- the more primitive breeds of sheep and some hair sheep are just as good at escaping as goats.
Ooh that's a great point - thank you for that! I also feel like our sheep can get out if they are motivated enough, so it's definitely not a "sure thing" that sheep stay in fences all the time. ;)
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery true! But I do agree that a happy sheep is less likely to test the fence than a happy goat. Goats need no reason/motivation to explore lol
Everything was fine until you said you eat your lambs. Now I don’t respect anymore.
Totally fair, I was a vegan and vegetarian for many years, so I totally respect your decision not to eat animals.
We eat our lambs when they're grown up, because we can't keep all of them otherwise our herd would be too big for the land/food sources we have available for our sheep. They live a good life while they're here, it's way better than any factory farm.
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery yes better then factory farmed, but still not good. There are ways to sell them for non-slaughter purposes. Also, you could breed far less of them. Saying you would otherwise have too many sheep if you didn’t eat them is truly an excuse to eat them. Anyone determined to protect animals lives, would find a way to do so.
@@GULAB58 It's not an excuse, I'm fully aware of the choices we're making and it's why we moved to a farm. We get to eat amazing meat from animals that had a great life.
When it comes to dairy animals, they need to have babies in order to produce milk. If you drink milk, then you are also contributing to animals being born that will be killed for meat. It's the reality for cows as well, the two industries go hand in hand.
Protecting animals' lives is a nice thing in theory, but we are all part of the food web and that does mean we are going to take lives (whether it's the lives of trees cut down to make space for soy production or corn production, or vegetables themselves).
I understand that this is a bigger topic, and I encourage you to look into people who were vegan and went back to eating meat - especially the trend where they become butchers, farmers, etc.
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery I don’t drink milk. And I don’t appreciate your pathetic excuses for killing innocent animals.