Let’s talk about our high % East Friesian ewes first.
Dot
Dot is our big girl weighing in at 200+lbs. She is our long lactation ewe producing over a span of eight months plus sometimes a bit more if you let her. She can produce over a half gallon a day at peak when milked once a day (OAD) with lamb sharing. On the stand, Dot expects some grain and will let you know if she feels she should get more. But she’s an extremely easy milker who lets down right away and does not hold back. She’s got very ample teats which makes her an easy ewe to hand milk.
Dot is a great mother. To date, Dot has always produced white lambs which tend to take on the wavy wool of her Lacaune heritage.
Louise
Louise is a good sized ewe but at about 170 lbs, smaller than Dot. She also is a great mother. Louise is an early big producer. She can outperform Dot in terms of milk volume in the early days of her lactation at over a half gallon. Her lactation period is shorter than Dots at about 7 – 7,5 months depending on the year. Her teats are a bit smaller than Dots but have an elasticity to them that makes her an easy hand milker. Louise also lets down super fast and is our most laid back ewe on the milk stand.
Her babies always have some color and when paired with our brown ram Oliver, produces lambs that start out grey colored.
Purebred Finnsheep Ewes from a milky line
Dandelion
We were offered Dandelion (Dani) from Hedge Hog Hill, a renowned breeder of purebred milky Finns. The owner offered us a great deal on Dani since she found herself having to move her farm and needed to downsize. We could not believe our good luck!
Finnsheep ewes can be much smaller than East Friesian ewes. While Dot weighs in 200+, Dani is a petite 130 lbs and is our shortest, smallest ewe. That said, she is mighty! As a Finn, we expect larger lamb litter sizes than East Friesians. Triplets and quads are common and Dani has proven she can handle that with no extra help needed. And she still has plenty of milk to share with us. Dani also has a long lactation period for a Finn, she can go almost as long as Dot some years. Dani does have four teats which occurs in about 25% of Finnsheep ewes and may indicate extra milkiness. Given Dani’s production, it seems it’s true in her case. The extra two teats are no functional and are not a problem for milking. Dani lets down quickly and is very docile on the stand.
I don’t think there’s a Finn ewe who isn’t a great mom and Dani is no exception. We love having Dani in our flock.
Sugar
We got Sugar in the summer of 2022 as a very small ewe lamb. She seemed so tiny! What I didn’t appreciate then was that Finn lambs are tiny and Sugar wasn’t all that small for a Finn. But as I was uncertain, we did not breed her until the fall of 2023. Sugar is a rare all brown ewe. The color brown is recessive in sheep. Even though we have a near all brown ram who we bred her to this fall, I do not expect her to have brown lambs but would be delighted if she did.
Sugar’s first year on the milk stand was quite delightful. Most first year ewes struggle a bit until they get used to the milking process. But Sugar has been quite cooperative. Yes, she makes a point each morning to stop right before getting on the stand as if to say “I’d rather not”, once she gets up, she’s a dream to milk. Finns do have smaller teats than EFs which is not surprising as they are smaller sheep. But Sugar has large, well placed teats for a Finn and she’s a dream to milk.
She has proven herself a very good mother and we can’t wait to see what she delivers us upcoming (and every) year.
