The 2026 Milking Season is About to Begin
Back on February 4th, Rachael decided to go into labor. I’ve posted about her lambing on Facebook and Instagram. But we are now just over 2 weeks and the ram lambs Rachael delivered have been growing like weeds. That growth is in part due to the lambs starting out large and well developed. Their bodies were primed to grow. I also think that Rachael is producing a ton of high calorie milk that is assisting the rapid growth. 
When a dairy ewe delivers, I start milking the next day. I’m not looking for quantity. The goal is to make sure the ‘plumbing’ is working, that both sides get drained, and to encourage more milk production. Rachael graciously provided some thick colostrum the first day that I’ve frozen in case we should need to supplement any lamb this year. After that, I would get some milk but each day the amount became less. That’s because the lambs were gobbling it all up. After a week, everything was going fine except the amount of milk I was getting had declined to less than 1 cup. So that’s when I take a break and wait until I start separating at night to begin milking in earnest.
In most years, for most lambs, I wait a full three weeks before I start separating. Occasionally I wait a bit longer. But this year, those lambs have grown so much and I see them eating hay and pasture grass that I am going to start separating Friday evening to begin milking in earnest Saturday Morning.
