# Can you drink raw sheep's milk?



## quailkeeper (Aug 18, 2004)

This might be a stupid question, but I was wondering if you could drink raw sheep's milk? Is there any tests you would have done before you drink it? I know on a cow there are three or four things you would want to test the cow for before drinking it raw. Thanks!!


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

You would do what ever testing you would do for Cows or goats.

This web site should answer what questions you have.

http://www.sheepdairying.com/Milk.htm


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

The boogie monster of raw milk is Q fever, but salmonella, brucilosis, Ecoli, and even Listeria if it's not handled right can be in raw milk. I'm forgetting one, been up through the night looking for new lambs. I don't think the risk is any higher for sheep milk problems than any other animal but then I'm leary of unpasteurized milk plain and simple.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

Bergere, I've not been able to get the dairy sheep link to work for a couple months now...is it showing up for anyone else? 

Quailkeeper, you can always try a home pastuerizer for it. We've not drank any, I'd hoped to try some baking this year but will pastuerize before I do.


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## quailkeeper (Aug 18, 2004)

Oh I don't want to pastuerize. It kills all of the good things in milk including flavor. Pastuerizing, however, does not kill salmonella, TB, and several other things. Cooked milk has been linked with heart disease, cancer, ear infections and pretty much everything a child can suffer from. So why bother? There are MANY people out there drinking raw cow's milk I was just wondering why not sheep's milk?


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## inc (Dec 24, 2004)

isnt raw milk illegal to sell to the public? just curious.
i wouldnt bother pasteurising milk for home use- after all, you go out and care for the animal- what are you going to 'catch' from the milk that you dont already come in contact with on a daily basis?


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

No other reason, Quailkeeper. It's supposed to be a nice, sweet milk. Lots of people drink it. In fact, worldwide, it's consumed a great deal (in the 80's more than cow or goat!) So drink up! It's the healthiest milk out there.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

inc, it depends what state you are in. There are 27 states where it is legal to sell raw milk.

Yes, you can drink raw sheep milk if you want. I hear Icelandic are wonderful milkers.


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## tonyaleacht (Jan 9, 2005)

I hear there are people in Washington that get around the raw milk law by selling Cow Shares. (ie raw milk)


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## doodles (Sep 27, 2002)

I milk our Icelandic ewes. The milk is sweet and very much like a heavy cream. It is smooth and somewhat thicker as it is naturally homogenized. It makes wonderful yogurt,icecream and cheese.


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## quailkeeper (Aug 18, 2004)

Thank you all for your answers this is what I wanted to hear. Are there any good books out there on milking sheep, making cheese, and such? I have a great book on how to make cheese but it doesn't mention sheep only goats.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Practical Sheep Dairying by Olivia Mills is about the only one aimed at small scale production and is useful if tiring to read. Out of print it was advertised in a Goat magazine for sale and you might find it used on eBay or online somewhere. I think someone knew the name in a previsou post on milking sheep.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

Quail, any cheese recipe can be used. Wisconsin Extension online has a number of links to sheep dairying in general...wisc ext

Tonyaleacht, check out real milk to learn about shares. Mullers Lane just offered up one on their Jersey and have had great success.


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## Cave_man (Jan 12, 2014)

Would you drink the milk as your regular milk supply? How would you rate it to cows milk?


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Alert: this thread is 9 years old.

Of course you can drink sheep milk. However, most of it goes into cheese, which is the only way I've ever consumed it.

Peg


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## lexierowsell (Dec 10, 2013)

9 years! Wow! I can't believe 2005 was that long ago, hahaha! 

Raw milk is the (maybe second to my DH) best thing that has ever happened to me, and I will share my experiences gladly with anyone who would like to know. 

Cave_man: Sheeps milk was the most popular milk in the work for a very very VERY long time. I would say that it is a solid product, haha. I am not sure how it would compare taste wise- I have two beautiful jersey cows that spew liquid white gold


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

We drink our raw sheep milk. It is the best!!! It is so sweet and creamy; we absolutely love it the best.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Does sheep milk have a higher fat content than cow milk? I need animal fats in my diet, and the highest fat yogurt on the shelf is a sheep milk yogurt.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

Yes. Cows milk runs 3.5-5% milk fat (though most industrial milk the majority of the cream is siphoned off for other things like butter.) Goat milk, if I remember off the top of my head correctly, runs 6-7% milk fat while sheep milk runs 7-9% milkfat.

It is really rich and creamy. Some of my friends love it, for some the fat content is too high. It varied for me. Some days it was pure magic, some days I didn't care for it straight. Always good in coffee and according to my family, who made a batch when i wasn't around, AWESOME in hot chocolate. 

I've got less than a week to go until I'm gonna start getting some again! One of my girls' udder is getting BIG!


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## horsecrazy100 (Jan 21, 2014)

How much milk does a sheep produce?


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

horsecrazy100 said:


> How much milk does a sheep produce?


Depends on the breed of sheep and then wither they are a dairy sheep or not.
Also depends on how good the food is.
There are a lot of variables. 

http://www.sheep101.info/dairy.html

Have posted another site in the past threads, will see if I can find it.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

It also depends on how heavily you are willing to cull.

We milk a meat breed and because we cull heavily, we get a couple pounds each milking. You need to know whether you want a lot of milk or just a little, and then cull accordingly. We keep our highest producers.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

I still have the lambs on the ewes but I'm milking once a day anyway to help empty them out. I got 1 quart out of one girl in less then 5 minutes. We'll see how well she does once I pull the lambs off at night!


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

That's good ErikaMay.

If you have the facilities, you could even separate the lambs at night, milk in the morning, and then put them back with the ewes for the day.

That way you'd get more milk.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

Yes, thats what I plan on doing (and did last year), but the lambs are only 9 days old and 4 days. With the current temperatures I'd rather keep them on the ewe through he night until they hit 2 weeks or so. 

I did pasteurize my milk the other day and it immediately curdled! Never had that happen with the milk before. So I turned it into riccota. No wonder it curdled. Thsi girl hasn't been drinking much water and basically that 1 quart was all milk fat. 1 quart milk made 3/4 lb ricotta. 0_0 girly needs to drink more water.


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## lexierowsell (Dec 10, 2013)

Oh! Don't pasteurize a healthy animals milk, what a waste ;-) 

that'll learn ya, hope you like ricotta! 

(In case ya'll haven't realized yet, I'm a raw milk nut...)


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I might try raw milk if I knew the animal. Once you start pooling the milk of multiple animals your risk goes way up. You are counting on every animal in the pool being healthy, not just the one.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

Yeahhhh...its too easy even with a shorn animal to get poop and dirty hair in the milk. I milk into a tiled jar off to the side and I *still* get grubbies in the milk. Not a lot...bt enough. e. coli is bad. Once I get blood drawn and tested I might start drinking it raw, but not until then.


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## Funbowhunter (Aug 22, 2013)

How long will they produce milk?


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

Again, that all depends on the sheep, the breed, their age, and your culling. We have some newer sheep that milked around seven months last year, but they can lamb twice in a year. It all just depends.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Funbowhunter said:


> How long will they produce milk?


It depends on with the sheep are a dairy breed and the quality of feed.

Here are a couple of good sites that should help.

http://milkingsheep.com/sheep-milk-production/

http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/extension...rger Breeds of sheep editted 9-26-04 Proc.pdf


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