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  • From: Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org, midwestpermaculture@yahoogroups.com
  • Subject: [permaculture] Young sheep dairyman tale
  • Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 12:45:51 -0500

Had to send this along, a great story and some good ideas. forward from grazersedge
Mark

Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 13:07:57 -0400
From: KEC <kingquest@centurytel.net>
Subject: [grazersedge] Hey Benjamin!
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Just wanted to let you know you don't have to wait until after high
school to take the Wisconsin School For Beginning Dairy Farmers Distance
Learning course. I am 16, and took it last fall/winter because I wanted
to start a sheep dairy. It was $300, and if you want to take it a
second time you can for only $100. You might be able to get college and
high school credit for it. Also, if your school district doesn't have a
comparable ag course, you might be able to get them to pay for it. Who
knows, maybe there are others at your school that would like to take the
course, it is worth asking. BTW you can also get a set of CDs with the
WSBDF lectures.

If you want to start as soon as you are out of school, you might want to
consider alternative forms of dairy farming. If you already live on a
farm or have a few acres, you could start your dairy herd NOW, if you
choose small ruminants. Sheep & goats are much easier to handle, care
for & feed than cows! Sheep are the easiest of all, and except for your
dairy barn, you don't even need buildings for them. Another benefit of
goats and sheep is that while you a growing your dairy herd they can pay
their keep - even before you get a parlor and your milk license. They
can mow & fertilize lawns (yours and others), help improve pastures,
clear brush, etc. You can sometimes work deals to get paid to feed your
sheep :-) Sheep & goats can be bred at just 5 to 8 months old to grow
your herd very quickly, and of course will produce excess males to
market. Milk them for home use, plus use the excess milk to raise market
calves, pigs or chickens, or you can use it to make handmade soap to
sell. Some people sell goat milk as feed for calves and pigs, or can it
to sell as pet food for orphan kittens and puppies. If you are near a
city of decent size you could probably make a good income from selling
canned goat milk or cottage cheese for pets that need special diets.
You probably don't need a specialized barn or milkhouse if you aren't
selling milk for human consumption, just a platform & a clean place to
clean up, cool & process the milk.

I have already started my sheep dairy. I couldn't afford to buy dairy
breed ewes but good maternal breed commercial ewe lambs are not very
expensive, and it takes only a few years to breed in dairy genetics.
Starting with breeds that can raise twins & trips on pasture (most folks
start with Dorsets but I chose Katahdin Hair sheep so I don't have to
mess with shearing) & adding dairy breed genetics through the ram (most
folks choose East Friesian, I am using Lacaune) is a good way to start a
sheep dairy if you have a couple of years to wait before you need an
income from them. I started my herd last year with 5 adult ewes and 28
ewe lambs, and I am getting another 18 ewe lambs this year that are 25
to 50% East Friesian. By the time I am 19 I expect to have at 200 - 250
ewes to milk, and 2/3 to about 3/4 of them will have at least 50% dairy
genetics.

This is my first year of milking sheep. My mom & I built a milking
platform from salvaged materials, and bought a used portable bucket
milking machine to milk with. As my pasture rent for the sheep, my mom
takes a portion of the milk for our dairy products. (Sheep milk &
cheese taste great!) The money saved from not buying milk & dairy
products at the store is nice, especially when you consider how much of
a better product you are getting from home!! We are making homemade
soap from our milk this year, and that income will help pay for
equipment for a new parlor that meets Grade A standards.

Good luck!!
Michael Haynes
Violet Vale Farm & Sheep Dairy
Kingston MI

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Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM




  • [permaculture] Young sheep dairyman tale, Mark, 09/04/2002

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