# Navajo-Churro milk?



## sn4k3grl (Feb 25, 2014)

I really love Navajo-Churro sheep and would love to have some when I have a farm. Considering they were developed for the area I live in, I know they would do well here. In the things I have been reading, I have not really heard of anyone using them for milk (other than pre1950's Navajo people). Mostly what I heard it that they tend to be too skittish and wild to get into a position where they can be milked. Is this just because no one is really doing it anymore? Does anyone have any experience with them as a milking sheep? Would it be possible, with selective breeding, to get N/C's with good milk/meet/wool traits all in the same sheep (as a very long term goal)? Are there any other desert species that are also cold resistant and that produce all three traits well?

I live 7000ft up on a mountain that has a history of getting up to 100 inches of snow each winter, downpour summer monsoons, and almost no humidity (unless it's doing one of the aforementioned). Summer heat doesn't really get much over 95, but the winter does get below 0F, and it can and will snow pretty much any time of year from September to May:bash:. So, yeah....I need really hardy sheep! 

Thanks!


----------



## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

Yes, you can selectively breed your N-J's for milking, but thats a very long goal. Your best bet would be breeding in some dairy sheep. It helps, though its still not going to give you a high producing sheep...just higher milk producing. 

I crossed my dairy EF's with Jacobs and was hoping for something a little better, but oh well. The crosses milk nice, have a very sweet milk but only produce a quart at a time...if that (I milk once daily and leave the lambs on otherwise). Milk quality was good, but the volume was disappointing and the teats. Lordy, they've got tiny Jacob teats! It will take years of refining and aggressive culling to turn this cross into a hardy milk sheep like I had intended to create. 

I will say: there was an improvement in the fleece with the EF. They have a very fine wool that grows a bit slower. The Jacob gave length and crimp, the EF gave the fleeces a nice luster and softness. Also, my EFs do a pretty good job keeping up with my Jacob and did fine in the snow. I left the barn open but they all ventured out into the snow frequently even when it was down to 10 degrees. They've been much hardier than I thought, though I do visit them twice a day and observe them and respond to health issues pretty quickly. Its really nice to get 1/2-1 gallon of milk from 25 minutes of milking from a EF than 1 quart from 25 minutes of milking a non-dairy sheep. Just sayin'

If you want to go on with a breeding project look for ewes that have large udders or ask breeders to keep an eye out for heavy milkers. Breed rams of good milkers to daughters of good milkers.


----------



## bergere (May 11, 2002)

If you can find Bottle lambs, they will not be skittish... and if you halter train and handle them... they can be every bit as friendly and easy to deal with, as a milking goat.

ErikaMay is right, if you want lots of milk, it is best to get a Dairy breed of sheep. 
But if you do not need a lot of milk, any breed with a good teat and udder size can be milked.


----------



## sn4k3grl (Feb 25, 2014)

I am a little bit skittish about crossing in an already established dairy breed for a few reasons. 
1) N/C's were "improved" upon by the US government almost to the detriment of the breed. I would like to try to breed to standard so I think if I were to cross breed in a dairy sheep, they would have to have many similar characteristics to N/C's in wool type, etc. so I wouldn't be taking 1 step forward in milk production but 2 steps back with every thing else. 
2)I get that most wool sheep are cold hardy. I guess I should have been a little more specific on how little water we have here. I don't want to cross in (or keep the parent sheep) that were bred to live in very green pastures in a moderate climate because I feel it would be detrimental to the parent sheep and the offspring. The monsoon we get in the summer is enough to green the land, but the water doesn't stay. We are considered to live in a high desert, so a really weird cross of Phoenix, AZ dry year round with Denver, CO winter. Also, wells can't really be dug on rural land here because the water aquifer is about 3,000 ft down so most people truck IBC totes from town in for their daily use. This also means irrigation is an irresponsible thing where I live. A breed of sheep that I cross in for dairy would have to be able to make milk from dry scrubby plants.

I suppose a Middle Eastern breed of dairy sheep might do ok here, but I don't know what is readily available in the US. 



bergere said:


> If you can find Bottle lambs, they will not be skittish... and if you halter train and handle them... they can be every bit as friendly and easy to deal with, as a milking goat.
> 
> ErikaMay is right, if you want lots of milk, it is best to get a Dairy breed of sheep.
> But if you do not need a lot of milk, any breed with a good teat and udder size can be milked.


Thanks! I don't think we would really need that much milk. We are a family of 2 and don't intend for that number to get any bigger, so we would just need milk for a cup with each meal and maybe a little left over for baking. Though my fiance can kill off a gallon of milk by himself in 2 days or less so if I can find a dairy sheep, that may be the way to go.


----------



## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Here is a good web site about Dairy sheep.

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

There is someone that has brought in some Middle Eastern dairy sheep, but I have no idea how long his waiting list is. 
That information is also on the above site.


----------



## Mrs_Lewis (May 15, 2014)

Gute are very hardy, not sure if they're available here or if only Gotlands are. Never milked one tho.


----------



## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

Look into Awassi sheep. 

Any sheep in lactation will require a decent amount of water.


----------



## goto10 (Oct 5, 2009)

ErikaMay, from reading your comparison of your EF vs your Jacob/EF cross, I gather that your EF has long teats and milks more than 1 quart a day? Is that right? I got my first EF/Lacaune last year, she lambed this year for the first time. I was ecstatic to find that she milks a quart a day vs my katahdins who give me about a cup. Now I feel like I should be expecting more! Also her teats are so tiny, my Nigerians have bigger teats and they are dry! So hand-milking her, if I let her go too long between milkings, can be a real pain.


----------



## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

It sounds a lot like what you are trying to create is the Icelandic sheep. They aren't particularly heat-hardy, but if you give them shade, ample water, and access to grazing during the cooler parts of the day they'll do everything you're looking for. If you wanted to, you could infuse more heat-hardy blood into your flock later on.


----------



## JD in SC (May 17, 2007)

wogglebug said:


> It sounds a lot like what you are trying to create is the Icelandic sheep. They aren't particularly heat-hardy, but if you give them shade, ample water, and access to grazing during the cooler parts of the day they'll do everything you're looking for. If you wanted to, you could infuse more heat-hardy blood into your flock later on.


I bought an Icelandic ewe who gave birth a couple of weeks ago. I took the lamb off of her after 24 hours and began milking. I get a whopping total of 1 quart of milk a day. My E/F gives me two quarts a day as a yearling. Will be crossing the Icelandic with my E/F this year to see what I get. 

Also disappointingly she gave me only a single. But to her credit, as an old ewe she took to milking pretty readily after she figured out the feed was all you could eat each time. 

JD


----------

