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I'd like to add my two bits' worth to Feedback on Milk Sheep: Is Thatta Ewe, Mamma? We've been milking some of our woollies for a while now and I think I have a few relevant comments to offer.

First, let me tell you, it's not easy to find information about dairy sheep and I question the feedback's statement that "livestock books can tell you which domesticated breeds make the best mothers". Phooey! Such works generalize, and I sometimes suspect that their authors have spent very few nights in sub-zero weather crawling around the barn floor getting reluctant lambs to nurse, putting iodine on navels, etc. And if you write for breed association brochures, the pamphlets all brag about their favorites' mothering ability, milk production, etc.

When it came to production, the Dorset people bragged the most so I cornered the head honcho around here-a fellow whose family has raised the breed since the turn of the century-and learned that even Dorsets can't compete with dairy goats for output. According to a study done at Cornell University, common domestic sheep produce 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 quarts of milk a day which means that the best of the lot just equal our neighbor's worst milch doe. Much as we like their milk and its products, our ewes ain't Jersey cows by a long shot and I'll have to challenge the feedback writer's remarks about the "generous quantity" of a sheep's milk yield.

Incidentally, The Shepherd magazine recently showed a picture of a Turkish breed that's supposed to be the world's heaviest milker but added that-due to USDA red tape we'd better not look for any of these wonder sheep to show up in the good old U.S. of A. very soon.

Anyhow, about our own experience: We milked one of our old ladies twice a day for six weeks and she gave a smashing quart each time no more, no less-with fro sign of drying up when we quit the experiment.

We've had some problems selecting other ewes to milk. Two of ours have tiny teats and the one that's most productive (to judge from the large, fat twins she has each year) stands very nicely for me but I nearly went crazy trying to get hold of those teeny faucets! The fattest gal in the flock has teats about 3-1/2 inches long and an udder nearly as large as that of our neighbor's poorest dairy goat. The doe's owners insist that Fatty is our best prospect, but the ewe herself isn't any too thrilled about being milked. We'll try her again next lactation she seems to be getting friendlier in her old age.

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