ISBONA Quarterly Publication Spring 2009

Blue and shivering at a -15 Celsius in Manitoba (there is a heat wave today), we are getting prepared for a much anticipated event. We will soon be trading one type of flurries for another!

When winter ends and takes its wet, freezing flurries with it, we will gladly note the change. Soon will come the welcoming of our new additions…the flurry of fluffy arrivals in the form of spring lambs!

While lambing is one of our most exciting (and tiring?) times, it does bring some necessary considerations along with it.

For instance, if you have a lamb that needs to be bottle raised, who gets to be the bum’s mum? Does that distinction go to a ewe, or to you?

Whether or not you plan to make a business out of milking your sheep, hand milking should be an active art, not a lost one. Collecting and freezing colostrums and extra quantities of milk may very well save a needy little lamb one day.

With lambing season fast approaching, it is a good time to be thinking about how we are going to provide full bellies for our lambs should that suddenly become our new nursery duty.

Without a freshened goat or a milking cow on hand, and with no frozen milk in the freezer, I was quite impressed when I went to purchase milk replacement powder to have on hand. I was most impressed by the incredibly high price for something dry and powdery, in a very small bag. Neither the bag of powder nor my grocery fund will last long at this rate.

That leaves me for one, glad to know that some of these wooly ladies of mine will have milk to spare. Next year won’t find my freezer empty of liquid gold if I can help it! I will not need to run to the nearest farm supply for my farm fodder.

Filling fresh baby bottles and stocking the nursery freezer with milk is probably the most elementary reason to be glad our sheep are excellent milk producers.

Whether our goal is to eat cheese, market cheese, raise meat lambs, or sell breeding stock, we are all depending on healthy, thriving, and growing lambs. So roll up those sleeves and get your milking pail out! Or if you live in a climate like mine, slip out of your enormous parka and try not to slip on the ice while waddling to the milking stand in your Frankenstein styled boots.

While we all see the value of milking sheep at a basic level, the consideration of Icelandic sheep being used as commercial dairy sheep is controversial in some circles. Granted, not all sheep are created equal.

The dairy aspect is not a goal that is being specifically bred for in every flock, so naturally we can expect to find that some bloodlines are going to be much milkier than others.
In our flock selection and culling practices, we will need to take into account not only the amount of milk given by each ewe, but the confirmation of the ewe and her udder itself. Not all udders are equally easy to milk by hand or machine.

There are also other pros and cons that need to be taken into consideration regarding breeds and individual sheep selection. If you compare Icelandic sheep to Friesians, you might find commercial dairy production to differ, however there is also hardiness and health to consider. Think of the other byproducts such as wool and meat that must be added to the mix as well. Do your research, and be sure to look at the big picture.

Icelandic sheep have been used in commercial dairies, but again, selection of your specific flock needs to be done knowledgeably and carefully to ensure success. It is also necessary to have your farm and business goals in mind.

Once your selection of a flock has been made, the next step is to be diligent in maintaining high health levels. This is necessary if the ewes are going to produce greater volumes of milk. I can attest to maintaining these health levels being both a challenge and a progressive learning experience, but one that is absolutely essential if we expect our ewes to raise strong lambs and give us the cream of the crop!

Here is a closing note of interest to all of us. In Iceland, sheep milking has not been commercially practiced in decades. That is open to change however. Recently, a couple of farms in Iceland agreed to cooperate in experiments being made with milking sheep on their farms, and in November of 2008 a small quantity of sheep cheese was once again marketed in Iceland.

It will be interesting to see the results of their endeavor. We wish them the best and hope that their project will be an inspiration and educational tool for all of us.

Regardless of the short or long term goals for the dairy aspect of your flock, no time is too soon to begin working towards it.

So for now get the lambing kits in order, and shine up the milking pails. Spring is coming! The best to all of you and yours in lambing season.