buying a lamb...to milk?

[alivia]

Does anyone on here have ewes they milk? Long story short, we've finally found a local dairy goat breeder on a friend's recommendation (yay!) but we'd like our goat to have a herd buddy. Instead of another goat, we're considering buying a lamb. Our daughter has asked for only one animal since we moved here - a lamb - and I'd love to go ahead and fulfill that for her now.

But, practical person that I am, I'm thinking, if we're getting a lamb anyway, and we're milking our goat anyway, why not get a lamb that we can milk when she grows up? Apparently, dairy sheep make milk that is *excellent* for cheese. Thing is, dairy breeds of sheep are incredibly hard to find, at least around us. So I'm wondering if it's worth it to really hunt down a lamb specifically bred for dairy (and probably pay quite a bit more), or if we should just get whatever breed we can easily find locally and get what milk we can from her.

From what I've read (i know NO ONE who has raised dairy sheep), the milk from a dairy breed is nearly triple that from those not bred for milking. Anybody have any experience to lend? Thanks!

[blessedmum]

I would look into Icelandics- They are nice all around sheep. Milk, meat, and twice a year sheering. Sheep's milk does make great cheese!

[alivia]

Thanks for the Icelandic recommendation. That's *exactly* what I needed. Just a quick Google search turned up several breeders within 100 miles of us. The best part is their wonderful coat, too. Although I don't (yet) do fiber arts with wool, it would give us another avenue to sell our babies besides meat, which I know will be hard for us when the time comes.

[Chicky2]

Subbing 'cause we're thinking of sheep next.

[sarah_bella1050]

I've been wondering about sheep versus goat for milk too. We are hoping to get goats in the future, but then I wonder why not just get sheep instead for milking and the wool?

[1jooj]

I believe East Friesians are also a milk breed. I have mostly Polypays, and I've milked a couple of them just to fill bottles for lambs that looked a little on the hungry side...and stealing colostrum for runts. Even the polypays had nice udders and gave decent quantities of milk (like a quart on demand, not after keeping lambs off). And we also, for kicks, milked a ewe and fed it to the kids right there (MY kids, not the goat babies), and they liked it.

I might get up the nerve on a day to go through and milk a bunch of the girls to see if I can't make an awesome batch of feta. Just to scratch that itch.

[Chicky2]

My mom has a neighbor w/a bunch of dairy sheep. They enter (and win) alot of bleu cheese contests. I need to look into what kind they are...

[Sparkle*Mama]

In the town I grew up in there is a wonderful sheep farm that makes the best cheese and the absolute best yogurt i've ever had in my life. They have East Friesian's.

Here is their link, maybe you can find some info.
Bellwetherfarms