Which is best to raise and milk (for cheese): goat or sheep?

Question

I've been considering farming for awhile. In addition to farming fruits and veggies, I'd like to try my hand at cheese making and I personally love goat and sheep cheeses. I've never raised livestock before but I'm not afraid of a challenge.

I'd like to know whether a goat or sheep would be better for a beginner like me. Are there more diseases/problems with one vs. the other when it comes to raising them, milking them and making cheese from their milk? I've heard much hype about the nutritional value of sheep cheese and I personally like the flavor of sheep cheese a bit better, but I'll go with whichever one (sheep or goat) will be the easiest to work with.

Also (for bonus points...well not literally) which breed would be best for a beginner? I've looked at Nigerian Dwarf Goats (and they seem quite promising) but I haven't heard of any specific breeds of sheep that are best for milking. Thanks!

Answer 1

i would say goats for beginners and goats period, cause think of it you don't hear sheep milk, you really her goat milk more often

Answer 2

My parents raised goats when I was a child. I don't know much about sheep though. I know goat milk is sweet to the taste compaired to cow milk. I would assume that the differences between sheep and goat milks would be very minimal. Also if you raised sheep instead of goats you would get wool as a little bonus. Neither sheep or goats are hard to raise. They can both live on grass alone and can pasture on uneven rocky ground. Milking a goat is rather easy. You have to make sure that you spend time with the goat to get it used to you being near it or milking will be harder. I honestly think you should just go with the sheep since you prefer the taste a little. I believe the two animals personality and raising factors are much the same.

Answer 3

I have had both goats(not by choice) and sheep(by choice) at one point. I personally prefer the sheep. They are fairly easy to maintain and would require similar vaccinations and treatments as the goats would. I think goats tend to be a bit more mischievous whereas sheep are all about the herd mentality. We had a pair of goats destroy four expensive ornamental trees after escaping their large pen/pasture and venturing into our yard. I've never had that problem with sheep. They can be keep on pasture, but for milking you may want a ration to get higher quality milk.
I personally have had Hampshire and Suffolk sheep which are meat breeds. I heard that East Friesian and Lacaune are good milking breeds. However, I heard that polled Dorset's are becoming more popular for milk because they breed out of season.

Answer 4

As long as you keep them vaccinated you shouldn't have problems with diseases. I have never had any of my goats get sick other than a cold. As for the milk, I would definitely go with goats. I have Nubians and it is the best milk ever. I know a lot of Hispanic people that want to buy goats milk from me to make their cheese. They've even told me how to do it. So the easiest way would be goats. Never ever buy a Pygmy goat. They are trouble. Sheep I'm not familiar with so I can't help you there.

Answer 5

Nigerian Dwarves are an excellent breed for dairy and pets.. colorful, cute and milky! You have to look long and hard for good bloodlines that will milk consistently for you for 305 days, however. I absolutely adore Nigerian milk because it's so high in butterfat - one of my does tested with 6.3% butterfat in her milk! It's like heaven to drink her milk and with the high fat content you get a high yield of cheese. If you got goats, you might want to mix it up with some Nigerians or Nubians for taste, and Alpines or Saanens for volume. You can easily get from a gallon to 15 pounds or so every day from an Alpine or Saanen. The majority of Nubians will not give you much, and most Nigerians will give you maybe 3 pounds (3 pints) per day, where a gallon is 8 pounds. Keep in mind that those little critters are somewhere around knee height, so the low production isn't bad for such a small goat. Some Nigerians have been known to give from 5 to even 7 pounds of milk, but that's pretty rare.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Goat, most definatley. I don't know about sheeps milk, but Goats milk is easier to digest and doesn't need to be pasturiesed because of the size of the globules, therefore making it harder to put on weight. Dairy Goast wise there are six breeds, saanen which are the white ones, they produce alot of milk and are often more easy going then some of the other breeds, Anglo Nubians these guys dont produce as much milk as the other kinds but the quality of the milk is higher, they can be a bit mischievious, but are great. they have the long floppy ears and range in colour from tan to black, white and brown, British Alpines are the black and white breed, Australian Melaans are all black, there are Australian all Browns and Toggenburgs, these guys are the mischevious ones and are hard to keep penned, they are naturally explorative in nature.
In all Goats are great companion animals as well a dairy producers. They need a well mixed diet of fresh foliage, lucerene and thier mix. they also thrive well in packs more than 1 they are herd animals

Answer 7

What are your facilities like? Can you shear sheep (or have someone who can?).
Both sheep and goats have advantages and disadvantages - someone said both eat grass...that is and is not true. A dairy goat will all but halt production in many cases if on pasture alone unless they're bred for pasture production - and not many are. Goats are browsers by nature; sheep are grazers.
Dont' even consider sheep if you can't get them sheared - the fleece makes keeping the milk clean problematic and without clean milk you're having an uphill battle. The East Fresian are a dairy sheep - with udders much like goats, but they are also quite expensive. The main sheep dairy I read about noted a problem with legnth of lactations on sheep - simply put for years once their lambs were eating the lactation dropped off....they weren't required to milk 8-10 months or more. That was developed for the traits of weaning lambs but doesn't work so well when you're counting on a milk supply.
Nigerians are good little goats. There's also many crossbred "mini goats" - Kinders (pygmy X Nubian) are one. One of the best milkers I had was a grade suspected of being Togg/pygmy (pygmy indiction in legs - looked Togg otherwise).
Both sheep and goats can be a challenge or be really easy depending on the individuals and your set up. Yes facilities I really believe determine ease of keeping. If your fences are compromised and you spend time daily getting animals back in you're going to resent it. When dogs get into the herd and harass, injure or kill animals it's not pleasant. :-( There has been more done in the US with goats over sheep but that isn't to say there isn't the possibility sheep would work out for you!
A good diet is important - not just grass. A good quality grain fed at milking. One difference between the two is copper - sheep cannot tolerate copper. With dairy goats you can use a dairy cow ration scaled down in volume for the goat; because of the copper that isn't advised for sheep as copper can be toxic to them.

Whichever you decide on a GOOD thing to have on hand is a product called goat nutridrench - it comes in a bottle and can perk up a goat that's a bit "off" but not sick; weak kids/lambs etc.
Both sheep and goats can learn to get up on a milk stand to be milked. Both can have days they'll test your patience. Both need good fences to keep out predators (including roaming dogs). Sheep would make better use of pasture forage IMO but goats would probably get you more milk over a longer lactation. I've kept sheep but did not milk them.
Good luck!

Answer 8

Goats will be much easier to milk by hand, bigger teat. They are harder to contain. Sheep milk will be much higher in fat. Goats tend to be noisier than sheep. I milk Alpines, mine are not bad jumpers, can give a gallon of milk a day, and are not obnoxiously noisy. You will also have to shear most sheep (hair sheep being the exception, but they are not a dairy breed). And I would not want anything shorter than my Alpines, I would have to milk into a skillet instead of my short bucket.

Answer 9

ive worked with both and would say goats. they are more personable and can be much easier to handle. but dont get me wrong, sheep are not too tough either, just goats can be buddies. i also have yet to see a sick goat while i have seen MANY sick sheep from all sorts of things, virus, bacteria, worms. sorry im not up to date with breeds... but good luck!!

Answer 10

Goats are easier to milk and not as timid as sheep.And they give more milk.