# Sheep milk butter



## chester5731

my daughter and I have a few Finn sheep that will lamb this spring. Has anyone tried making butter from sheeps milk?


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## GTX63

If you are already processing and drinking the milk, the next step into butter is pretty straightforward.
The cream doesn't separate easily but it will. Not so different than goats milk. Milk that has chilled for a few days may work a little better. You might get 1/2 to 2/3rds cup of butter from maybe a half gallon of milk. 
Sheep's milk tends to be sweeter than cow or goat, imho.


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## Ellendra

GTX63 said:


> Sheep's milk tends to be sweeter than cow or goat, imho.


You're the second person to say that to me this week. I think you've just sold me on dairy sheep!


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## IndyDave

Ellendra said:


> You're the second person to say that to me this week. I think you've just sold me on dairy sheep!


Can't do that. Selling people has been illegal since the 13th Amendment!


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## GTX63

Ellendra said:


> You're the second person to say that to me this week. I think you've just sold me on dairy sheep!


Lol, I'm not really a sheep milk drinker, I prefer the goaty stuff myself. Both have the consistency of say, skim milk and the goat milk tends to be a little more versatile for me. But smokem' if you gotem' I say.


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## ydderf

I read somewhere that Gengis Kahn and his merry men used to make an alcohol from fermenting mares milk.


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## Grey Mare

I haven't had butter from sheeps milk, as GTX stated, getting the cream to separate is a bit hard. I have however had sheep cheese and loved it. Was light, creamy consistency and went well in salads, with crackers, olives, etc.


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## GTX63

A gallon of "Brand X" whole homogenized milk from just about any big box name retail grocery chain will taste about the same.
Sort of like McDonalds. A proven formula with plenty of manmade "helps" to keep the product uniform. 
A glass of cow/goat/sheep milk's flavor will vary depending on their diet, breed, chilled vs pasteurized, time from milking to drinking, etc.
Uncle Conrad pasteurizes his goat milk and keeps it in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. By then it has a taste similar to garlic buttermilk with a hit of urine.
Fresh from the critter to the kitchen, chilled and poured into a glass can be very refreshing and tasty.


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## Ellendra

Grey Mare said:


> I haven't had butter from sheeps milk, as GTX stated, getting the cream to separate is a bit hard.



There's a cream separating technique that I've been wanting to try, but never had goat's or sheep's milk to try it with. I discovered it when I accidentally separated a gallon of store-bough homogenized whole milk.

First, freeze the milk until it's a solid block. Then thaw it slowly in the fridge. The cream will thaw first and can be poured off. The skim will thaw last.

I haven't tried churning cream that was separated this way. I'm in a situation that makes it hard to do projects like that. (The time this happened, I didn't realized the cream had separated until after I poured a glass. It was the richest, most flavorful glass of chocolate milk I've ever tasted!)But if any of you are able to test it, could you let me know if it works?


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## suzyhomemaker09

I can't imagine this would be a consistent way to do it.


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## [email protected]

In 1977 my wife sold all of our goats. I have not drank a glass of milk since. cow milk gags me. It turns to slime in my throat..
If freezing the milk and thawing it to remove the cream, why wouldn't that be consistent ? If it works once, it should work again..
we made cottage cheese and yogurt with our goat milk.
as long as we had goats, I never had to drink 2 day old milk. the same with laying hens, I never ate 2 day old eggs..
wasn't butter first made from camel milk ?


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## Joleneakamama

@GTX63 I appreciate your comment about commercial milk being standardized, but let me add a bit from my experience.
I grew up with dairy goats, loved them, and 90% of the time their milk was mild and tasted great. We got a pasture established one year, and turned 12 does out to graze. Some of them must have liked strong flavored weeds because the milk tasted very different. We milked each doe seperately and figured out that only four gave sweet milk turned out on pasture. The rest produced milk that had objectionable flavors from salty or bitter to funky sweet.

In 2012 we planted an orchard, and I switched from milking goats to sheep. The milk is richer and for me the biggest plus is that our animals can graze on ANYTHING, including bitter weeds, and the milk is still sweet and absolutely delicious! Sheep milk does not have any capric acid in it, and that is what makes bad goat milk taste like a buck peed in the bucket.
Yes, you can make butter with sheep mik. We ran 8 gallons of milk through a cream separator last year, and churned over 5 pounds of awesome cultured (with a little added buttermilk to the cream) butter with the cream. It kept many weeks in the fridge and I am looking forward to weaning lambs and making more butter this year.
I have had cows milk, but sheep milk is better then even good raw fresh Jersey milk, in my opinion. Oh, I could mention, my kids feel the same way!


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