My son can’t have dairy but goat dairy is fine for him, we are however looking into A2-A2 cows
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Homesteading and relying on what God made
- Thread starter David D
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I have milked all three. Sold milk from them too. Very few farms have pulled it off economically; in most of the country there aren't enough consumers willing to pay enough for it to be economically sustainable. And enough, is probably a higher $ figure than you realize.
I liked goats on paper but rotational grazing and good heritage genetics will get you a cow that will hit browse better than a dairy goat without all the annoyances of goats. All while having better butterfat and digestibility than goat milk without the off flavors.
But if you personally like goats better (working with them, not on paper), and are in a climate conducive to goats...then do goats. Their economics might be better than cows. I mean on a small direct market dairy. The shine is off the commodity goat milk market, or will be soon.
I love sheep, but their best use is cheese, not drinking milk.
For 99% of people the problem is the processing or how the milk is produced on the farm. I have a lot of experience selling cow milk to people with severe allergies to cow milk (except mine). Goat vs. cow is mostly a non-issue; an artifact of different production practices on small goat dairies vs store milk or larger dairy cow farms. In theory the smaller fat globules of goat milk make it more digestible, but in practice there are cow breeds that have that same property and that digestibility difference isn't the core problem with cows milk. A2-A2 is mostly if not entirely hype based on shoddy epidemiological studies. I've yet to see A2 make a difference in people who are sensitive to milk; but raising and handling make huge obvious differences.
Most people who are allergic to store milk can drink most raw milks and of those who who can't, most of them can drink raw cows milk that is very strictly produced (no chemicals, strict organic management, etc).
We like the cheese....but our sheep milk goes into glasses sweet or as buttermilk faster then it comes into the house. We ran maybe 5 gallons through cream separator and made a couple+ pounds of cultured butter. Delicious!!
It is easier to come by a good milk goat then a good milk sheep, but I love my sheep, the milk they make, and the lamb and mutton meat any way we fix it.
I really don't ever care to go back to goats...though I had them and loved them for many years.
Ya I should clarify that. Sheep milk is good drinking. Nothing wrong with using it for the house. Very high components so it is nicely filling. But it does taste different; I tend to like cow milk better but goat milk the least. But sheep have such a short lactation and low production that they don't do well for selling milk. To keep customers you need to be able to provide milk year round and produce it at volumes that allow realistic price points.
You're probably looking at about 5 months of milk from most breeds. So even for the house that puts you out of milk for much of the year. And since most sheep are seasonal breeders, you can't stagger freshening dates to get year round production. Whereas with cows you can and with goats, while seasonal, they can milk for a couple years at a time without needing to rebreed and even if yearly bred their dry-off time is short.
There has been a little work by dairy sheep producers on out of season breeding; but it hasn't been broadly successful yet.
That is all why the traditional use of sheep milk is for making cheese; both here and in Europe. It fits the seasonality and allows you to hit a high priced market. It also yields really well that way. They might be better for cheese than goats due to the tendency for off flavors in goat cheese (except those who like that sort of thing). Only catch being the relatively lower production.
The one exception might be baby formula. Sheep milk components are most like those of human and the milk freezes relatively well. And people spend a lot on formula. But that is a very niche market.
That’s awesome! My Neighabor has a lot of sheep! I really am leaning toward cows but I do love goats. I need to spend more time visiting the sheep to see what they are like.
Now that I can do with these hair sheep in our climate. I could easily have ewes lambing anywhere between January and June, but also have no problem getting Sept.- Dec lambs as well.
Some of these hair sheep ewes will give almost 1/2 gallon in the am and then nurse their twins during the day.
It is true that the lactations tend to be shorter, but I have an old campaigner who twinned in June last year, tripletted in Feb, and is now in raging heat driving the rams crazy. With how much we LOVE lamb meat and sausage (eaten almost 360 Lbs of sausage since we butchered last fall) I am fine with having lovely lambed all year.....and milk.....and meat
Not all sheep are the same. Some seem DUMB....and what I have are personable and gentle creatures, very smart, and easy to like.
I may have to try and share pictures or video somehow. I don't have time to type the thousands of words a 30 second video could communicate.
Id love to see that video.
That would be awesome!
That's awesome. The potential is there for sure; I've heard of several people are working at it. But not with a whole lot of luck yet. I don't know of anyone with a full flock of high milking, out of season breeding ewes. When it comes to dairy sheep genetics, most are not that. Someone may pull it off though. I don't generally advice building a business plan on a seemingly impossible feat, but nevertheless that is often where the prime opportunities are. Such is how it was with raw milk, organic milk, and grassfed milk.
Here are some not great pictures of our seventh set of triplets born this year.
Mama is 3/4 Katahdin 1/4 Dorper. She was bred to a nice ram that was 50/50 Katahdin and East Freisian dairy sheep.
Second time lambing 2 year old.
Black lambs are girls. Ram lamb took after daddy.
Mama is 3/4 Katahdin 1/4 Dorper. She was bred to a nice ram that was 50/50 Katahdin and East Freisian dairy sheep.
Second time lambing 2 year old.
Black lambs are girls. Ram lamb took after daddy.
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That’s awesome! It’s really nice to meet other family’s that are doing something other than staring at the TV! God bless you guys!!
We quit watching TV when we moved out of the city and back to Hubby's place of origin almost 20 years ago.
Our children have never been allowed to play video games either. They have skills and abilities that they would never have developed had we let getting to the next level in some digital fantasy land become important to them.
I think its awesome that more families are getting back to basics and raising children with an understanding of where their food comes from.
Can't recommend this enough.
Wow that’s awesome! Really a blessing to hear that thanks for raising decent Godly children! There needs to be more moms like that! Have a blessed Mother’s Day! (In the non pegan sense)
We don’t have a TV! Just a computer. Although I sadly let my children play select video games as my wife was really sick and it kept them busy while she was in bed and I worked. (Would of been nice to understand polygyny then) but The Father is good to us and I am trying to de program the kids now...
I grew up on TV and played tetris and card games to excess....even after I was married. The best thing in my opinion is not to try and take away what they think they want to do, but rather fill that time up with something more fulfilling. There is no video game that can compete with the fun of doing something real.
Our boys have learned to make bows and flint nap arrowheads. Make knives. They bought some penny whistles and then learned to make them with a wood lathe.
A recent (last 5 years) hobby of mine is grafting fruit trees. It is amazing and fun to get sticks in the mail and be able to put them on another tree or rootstock and watch them grow. Children can do this (use your judgement as knives are needed) and the fun of "making" a named variety tree you can sell for 20 or more from a plant you grew from seed or a 2 dollar rootstock will best super Mario brothers any day.
Quail are a recent addition here....love how well they lay eggs! Another thing children can learn about and do.
The internet is now my biggest not home time user....and I try to keep it ballanced.
Right now as I am not feeling well, I'm doing more then I would be if I felt up to field grafting trees today.
Yes agreed! It is a lot better to fill their time with something else. My oldes is nine and youngest is seven. The youngest is a boy and he loves knives of all kinds and making things. My oldest is really into art and the middle is into school, reading and studying. The love the chickens and ducks! We are planting trees right now and that will be a learning curve for us. We are also big fans of quail and need to get some ASAP. Sometimes we try to take on to much but we really really want to live set apart and off the land.
I can well relate to this. I feel like I am way behind this year because of unexpected health challenges. If you are already maxed out, then there is no wiggle room for being sick or unexpected opportunities popping up.
Building slow is building strong.
With an orchard for example, it is a long term thing....so to stress about getting it "done" in a year, or even several is to risk missing the joy on the journey.
Some of my little ones like playing "This is the day" on the piano. It is a frequent reminder to me to prioritize joy and thankfulness. (And as I like to work....and expect others to work...I need the reminder often)
It is easy to think country living is great, it has its charms and challenges.
For those that love it, it's the only way to go, but there is a lot less on you when you have a job and a city life. I have fond memories of our first two years of married life. Hubby had a job, we rented a house, we had zero pets or plants tying us down.
I dont wish to go back, but when you run a business, your work is not restricted to business hours. Maintenance on equipment, bidding jobs, these things crowd into the weekend often.
Livestock is a 24/7 responsibility.....as are children.
There is this quote I saw relating to sheep....works for children too.
"To be successful with sheep, even when you are not thinking about them, you'd best be thinking about them a little"
I'm thankful the Good Shepherd is a better shepherd then I am. Nuff said.
Yes! We have en excavation company and it often takes a lot of weird hours. I wouldn’t be able to go back to city life!!!
I do hope I or someone in my family will learn to play the piano. I tend to want everything to get done right away.... but we moved onto land with abandoned buildings and there is a lot of right away needs just to get by.
It is really hard when sickness or injury happen in a family that has so many responsibilities. God always provides a way!
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We live in Arizona and do some urban homesteading. Goats are awesome! I also have a difficult time digesting cow milk. First milking purposes, Nubian goats are great. If it is for personal use rather than commercial, I suggest you get two or three goats as young as possible so you can bond with them as they bottle feed. If you treat them like pets from day 1, they will act like it. If you treat them like livestock, they will be less friendly. In any event, keep a male well away from them and they will all smell less goaty. Keep the male as far away as possible for your own sake. Bring him by when they are old enough to breed so you can get your milk.
In our current area, we can no longer have the nubian, but only the smaller breed goats. A close 2nd to the Nubian is the Nigerian Dwarf Goat, but you get a lot less milk.
Eventually, I would love to have some land. I think the Almighty may just answer that prayer. Time will tell.
He is a good Father to me. The best.
In our current area, we can no longer have the nubian, but only the smaller breed goats. A close 2nd to the Nubian is the Nigerian Dwarf Goat, but you get a lot less milk.
Eventually, I would love to have some land. I think the Almighty may just answer that prayer. Time will tell.
He is a good Father to me. The best.