Welcome little lamb, to the farm! He is the newest addition to the little flock of East Friesians already here on the farm. They are Jacob's project and we have enjoyed watching him flourish in this season of initiative and responsibility.
Jacob has long wanted sheep alongside the family project of raising goats. Understandably he was originally drawn to Jacob sheep. What teenager wouldn't be attracted to unusual spots and four to six erratically pointy horns?
But then we were developing this cheese making idea and we thought, "Hey, with a cheese making facility, there would be room for developing more areas of specialization with cheese making." I was fascinated by the idea of all the different ways sheep can be marketed....from wool and meat, to milk and cheese, even soap!
So we were looking around in a basic way, just kind of pricing things out and seeing how functional of a business option this was. At 30$ a pound, sheep cheese is a pricey product and there are few in the states meeting the market. The milk has high solids and remarkably, can be frozen for later cheese making. But the down side is that there are no tariffs on foreign sheep cheeses coming into the U.S. and cheese from countries where the farmers are government subsidized with strong breeding programs is impossible to beat price wise. Sheep give relatively small amounts of milk and only milk seasonably, so maintenance costs are high when one considers their limited output.
Case in point, this award winning cheese making family shut their doors last year when they could not maintain profitability....even with their cheese retailing at 30$ a pound and a demand that they never could meet!
But we are still intrigued by the idea and are inspired by Glendale Shepherd. With the help of interns and volunteers, they manage to keep up and running. Introduction to Dairy Sheep has some good points and numbers to start with.
Bonnieview Farm is another sheep dairy...with a twist! They milk cows and sheep! I love their artwork and CSA ideas. Their farm reminds me so much of ours.
Watching these videos of Northland initially interested us in sheep dairying. Notice the small cheese facility and the storage of milk in buckets and the creative cheese making vat, which is actually an old commercial soup kettle! These videos were produced by Cornell with the farmer in mind. They really covered so many different aspects of how this farm runs. But notice that there is still an off farm income!
Maid-N-Meadows began as a way for our family to live the life we love, care for our animals the way they deserve, and make a quality product everyone could enjoy. We would love to open up our cheese facility and support other local families doing what they love! Which is farming of course! Currently there is no outlet for selling goat or sheep milk in our area. Wouldn't it be great if we could do that? But we are still intrigued by the idea and are inspired by Glendale Shepherd. With the help of interns and volunteers, they manage to keep up and running. Introduction to Dairy Sheep has some good points and numbers to start with.
Bonnieview Farm is another sheep dairy...with a twist! They milk cows and sheep! I love their artwork and CSA ideas. Their farm reminds me so much of ours.
Watching these videos of Northland initially interested us in sheep dairying. Notice the small cheese facility and the storage of milk in buckets and the creative cheese making vat, which is actually an old commercial soup kettle! These videos were produced by Cornell with the farmer in mind. They really covered so many different aspects of how this farm runs. But notice that there is still an off farm income!
So dairy sheep started as a way to allow our children to experiment with their own niche in the farming business, but perhaps it can grow to encompass more families looking to do what they love in a financially stable way.
