Picked up my new ram

He will be bred to my East Frisian/Lacune mix ewes.

Awesome! Didn't know you raised dairy sheep too! You must be busy!

He looks good

He looks right at home already.

Nice.

Congratulations! He's handsome!

Nice boy! What are the different breeds of milk sheep?

I am interested in how it goes with your milk sheep. Good luck!

Goats Rock said:

Nice boy! What are the different breeds of milk sheep?

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East Frisian are by far the most productive milk sheep. They have literally no immune system in America however and I would never buy a full blood.
The Lacune is well documented and are the only sheep that true roquefort cheese is made from. They make less fluid but, have much higher solids, fat etc.
The st Croix is an island sheep from st Croix lol. They are being used in dairy situations with some restrictions.
Katahdin sheep do really well.
There's a few other breeds. Most haven't got decent udder confirmation and other issues.
Most dairy breeds don't do well in large intensive situations.

If anyone decides to get milk sheep, do yourself a favor and never get a Shetland or an Icelandic ram until you have several years of ram experience.
ALL rams can be dangerous, they are not pets, they must respect you. Some are worse than others though.
Do a lot of reading and watch people handle rams before you even get to that point.

Our neighbor had the Icelandic sheep for about 10 years. The ram was pretty dangerous. I'd rather deal with a brahma bull. At least
you know they will be mean! That ram was erratic- beautiful but crazy! I'll stick with my dairy goats! (for now!)

The most dangerous ram is the one kept with the ewes full time.
I will start halter training as soon as this heatwave is over and that toggenburg buckling? He will be his offseason companion permanently.
Right now the ewes (and does) are about 400 yards away. They will be closer when the front pasture is finished but, the boys will never be with them outside of breeding season.
I had to split hairs on my sellout.
I kept the registered toggs, my Franky, her daughter and the 2 wooly girls.

I may regret the carcass value of the LaMancha buck later but, I was tired of pulling his enormous kids from tired does anyway. Everything he threw was huge.

There's going to be some issues coming up. I've already done the '70's so yeah.

I detest rabbit, and I hate plucking chicken. Weirdly I don't mind cutting up large animals.
I do know how this goes though and it won't get much better soon...