Sheep Milking:Take 2

Thanks to some great advice from our favorite dog trainer/sheltie breeder/sheep farmer, we were finally able to get some milk from our sheep mommas! Her advice was to separate moms and babies for a day before trying to milk and that really did the trick.

Though, I have to say even though both our lambs who still have mothers around are more than old enough to fend for themselves, they were none too pleased with being separated from their constant milk supply. It was a very noisy day for us with mommas calling and babies crying. The lambs ended up joining up with the newest adolescent group and forming a band of wild lamblings led by none other than our bottle lamb, Ruby. They then took over one of the turkey pens Lord of the Flies style.

I waited for the Big Onion to get home before attempting another milking. We got Patch up on the stand, and he did the dirty work while I tossed sweet feed into the bucket and kept the rest of the flock at bay with my stock stick. Well, the forced separation worked! We got sheep milk! Not much, but enough for Ms. Ruby to make a meal. The amount we got was not really worth all the stress to the flock though. I think Ruby's going to have to settle for pasteurized goat milk and formula in the future. Luckily, she is old enough that she shouldn't need a bottle for much longer anyway.