All About Our Sheep

Spring is a busy time for our flock of sheep. As the pastures turn green with the new grass of the season, they’re excited to be out in the fields enjoying the sugary, fresh flavors of Spring growth. In late March, we’ll begin to welcome lambs to the herd. And then in April, milking season begins!

The lambs bring a special energy to the Spring season. The fields and flowers are blooming after Winter hibernation, and lambs running and playing through the fields really brings the land to life! In 2020, we averaged about two lambs per ewe, and that's pretty normal for dairy sheep. This Spring, we expect to have around 100 lambs born, so there will be lots of energy among our flock.

Our donkeys, Sally and Daphne, have adapted really well to the Farm and their flocks. We've learned a lot about their individual personalities and which groups of sheep they do best with. Sally is the perfect fit for the lambs or ewes that are due to lamb soon. She is gentle and calm, so the new lambs and their moms trust her right away. Daphne is still a very young and playful donkey, so she sometimes scares new lambs. However, she is much more alert and assertive about protecting her sheep, so she is great for the larger, more open pastures with our biggest sheep flock. We always know that Daphne can be trusted to guard the entire pasture and see everything that's going on around her. She is also good with the rams because she can handle their rambunctiousness and even enjoys playing with them.

Blackberry Farm has milked on property in the past, but we restarted our milking program in 2020, and we’re looking forward to our second season this Spring. When we restarted the sheep dairy program, we wanted to start fairly small and give ourselves a chance to develop any parts of the program that we saw room for improvement in while everything was still at an easily, manageable level. We milked for a short season from early April through early July and produced about 515 gallons of sheep milk.

This year, we'll be adding 16 more ewes to the milking line and plan to extend our milking season to October. While it's hard to predict how much milk we'll produce this year because there are so many different factors that play into milk production, we’re definitely excited to increase our yield this season. We’re enjoying working on our processes and always learning more about our sheep to continue the development of a strong milking program. For example, although this year and last year we start milking in April in order to take advantage of the rich Spring grass, we may eventually learn that starting earlier in the cooler months works better for our sheep and begin milking in late February. It's a dynamic process that involves paying attention to our animals as well as the natural ecosystem that they live in.

Neza, our sheep dog, also plays a role in milking! She is now a year old, and although she still has a lot of puppy enthusiasm, she takes her job very seriously. Making the sheep move is her absolute favorite activity, and she always wakes up excited to come to work. Winter was the perfect time for herding training. The cold weather meant the sheep didn’t mind the extra exercise – and they always get plenty of treats for participating. This season gave Neza ample time to prepare for the start of milking season, and she is ready!

With some of our best pastures being far away from the milking parlor and our flock of sheep growing, Neza will be pivotal in making sure that everyone gets safely to the Dairy Barn to be milked. Her role involves gathering up the sheep and getting them moving towards the Dairy Barn, but it also includes keeping them from rushing across the road in front of cars. Once the sheep realize where they are going, they tend to rush ahead, excited to be milked. But Neza helps them get there safely. She has also been great for bringing sheep to new pastures and new areas of the property that they might be hesitant with at first.

As we gear up for milking season, we’re excited for all the delicious sheep’s milk cheese (and caramel!) that will come from the Larder this year, thanks to our beautiful flock.

– Christen Waddell, Blackberry Farm Livestock Manager