I've been milking dairy sheep for about 5 years. My first 4 ewes cost $950 for all of them. They were all bred and lambed in the spring doubling my herd. I kept a ram lamb from my favorite ewe, and bought a ram lamb for $65. I already had fencing, a milking stand and a milker because we had milked cows but it was $200 -$300 to adapt the milker to milk sheep. We still don't have a barn or shelter for our sheep. We have a big dog house where our Great Pyrenees raised her puppies. We fill it with clean straw for the sheep to use when lambing time comes. I would like a better milking setup. I have a pen the ewes stay in over night next to an old camper that holds grain and our milker. The milking stand is outside. Hopefully I will be able to figure out a better place to milk this summer.
Yay thank you so much for sharing your startup costs and also that you were able to re-use some of the things you had from milking cows. I love that you got your ewes bred and that they lambed at your place, that's super smart!
A very well put together video. I am new to dairy sheep on our homestead this year and I set a budget for myself at $5,000 usd. That includes my starter flock, fencing, shears, hay, grain, mineral, potential vet costs, meds / supplies, and an ear tagger. I wanted to include feed in that budget because it is such a large portion. Just speaking to startup costs however fencing is definitely the biggest chunk of our budget. Thank you for the video and I look forward to watching more!
Thanks so much! We found fencing to be a big investment for sure. The ongoing costs of feed/hay add up too, and I didn't touch on that in this video but the upfront stuff is usually the bigger expense that we should plan for :)
Where did you find your Fresians? I'm looking now and see very few and far away options. Do they become available seasonally? They are definitely pricey! But I want to get the best milker (or second best) if we're going to go through the trouble...
Unfortunately, dairy sheep aren't as popular here in North America so finding them can be a challenge. The ones I found were 4 hours away from us. I would recommend looking for sheep dairies because they often sell stock even if it's not listed on their websites. This website also has a directory: www.dsana.org/ Good luck and I hope you find some close by!
Here in somalia we don't milk the sheep we only keep it for meat and its very cheap I don't the reson ..and we have the best sheep for meat productions which is somali blackhead sheep..do you have market for sheep..... even for 200$😁🤙
How does this channel not have 100k subscribers? Your videos are so so so informative! Thank you!
Aww thank you, that means a lot! :) Glad they're helpful!
I've been milking dairy sheep for about 5 years. My first 4 ewes cost $950 for all of them. They were all bred and lambed in the spring doubling my herd. I kept a ram lamb from my favorite ewe, and bought a ram lamb for $65. I already had fencing, a milking stand and a milker because we had milked cows but it was $200 -$300 to adapt the milker to milk sheep. We still don't have a barn or shelter for our sheep. We have a big dog house where our Great Pyrenees raised her puppies. We fill it with clean straw for the sheep to use when lambing time comes. I would like a better milking setup. I have a pen the ewes stay in over night next to an old camper that holds grain and our milker. The milking stand is outside. Hopefully I will be able to figure out a better place to milk this summer.
Yay thank you so much for sharing your startup costs and also that you were able to re-use some of the things you had from milking cows.
I love that you got your ewes bred and that they lambed at your place, that's super smart!
I am a farmer from the UK and thought your video was very informative for some one starting out where ever you are
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and let me know :)
A very well put together video. I am new to dairy sheep on our homestead this year and I set a budget for myself at $5,000 usd. That includes my starter flock, fencing, shears, hay, grain, mineral, potential vet costs, meds / supplies, and an ear tagger. I wanted to include feed in that budget because it is such a large portion. Just speaking to startup costs however fencing is definitely the biggest chunk of our budget. Thank you for the video and I look forward to watching more!
Thanks so much! We found fencing to be a big investment for sure. The ongoing costs of feed/hay add up too, and I didn't touch on that in this video but the upfront stuff is usually the bigger expense that we should plan for :)
We are doing our research on getting dairy sheep for our homestead- 30 acres in Va. This was VERY informative.
Glad to hear it was helpful!
Useful information! I subscribed.
Thanks so much Leo - happy to be connected :)
Where did you find your Fresians? I'm looking now and see very few and far away options. Do they become available seasonally? They are definitely pricey! But I want to get the best milker (or second best) if we're going to go through the trouble...
Unfortunately, dairy sheep aren't as popular here in North America so finding them can be a challenge. The ones I found were 4 hours away from us. I would recommend looking for sheep dairies because they often sell stock even if it's not listed on their websites.
This website also has a directory: www.dsana.org/
Good luck and I hope you find some close by!
@@waykeeperfarmandnerdery thank you so much
Where is the sheep found in Zimbabwe
I'm sorry I don't have any recommendations for you!
Here in somalia we don't milk the sheep we only keep it for meat and its very cheap I don't the reson ..and we have the best sheep for meat productions which is somali blackhead sheep..do you have market for sheep..... even for 200$😁🤙
Way to go!
I want dairy sheep in pakistan
I wish I could help you find some!
Do you have an Instagram?
Hi Catherine! I don't sorry - I used to have an Instagram account but I decided to delete it to spend more time off my phone. :)