Sheep Milk

Quick Look at the Unique Qualities of Sheep's Milk

Sheep’s milk contains nearly twice the protein and calcium of cow’s milk
Sheep’s milk contains all essential amino acids, all at a higher concentration than what cow’s or goat’s milk contains
Contains only A2 type proteins which is seen to have great health benefits and be more easily digested than A1 type proteins
Sheep’s milk is higher in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, thiamine, riboflavin, medium chain fatty acids, linoleic acids and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B6, B12 & D

Visit “Our Products” section for greater detail into the nutrition of sheep’s milk.

Our Products

Attributes of Sheep Milk

Sheep’s milk is naturally homogenised, this means the fat globules are smaller and evenly dispersed throughout the milk. This allows the milk to be digested easier and also gives it a nice creamy consistency.

The milk contains a good amount of monounsaturated fats which have been shown to help lower cholesterol. In conjunction with this, sheep’s milk also contains more short-medium chain fatty acids and only A2 beta caseins. Medium chain fatty acids have been shown to break down quicker in the body and aid the absorption of lactose. A2 beta caseins are more accepted by peoples bodies than A1 beta caseins. Bovine milk commonly has both of these, but sheep’s milk only has A2, this is part of the reason why researchers believe people can consume sheep’s milk when other milk varieties give them an upset stomach.

Early research shows that sheep’s milk can be digested in 45 minutes which is very quick when cow’s milk can take well over 2 hours. This is a huge advantage of sheep milk, it allows many people who have intolerances to other milk types to enjoy dairy. It also means that for athletes the micro and macro nutrients are absorbed into the body quickly which is important post training or game. Athletes, however, are not the only ones who can benefit; it is ideal for elderly who have problems digesting their food, people recovering from sickness or illness, growing children who need the key nutrients sheep’s milk offers and for people who have trouble digesting other dairy types – it is basically ideal for everyone!

Our Sheep

Our flock of sheep consists of multiple breeds; East Friesian, Awassi, Polled Dorset and Coopworth. Each breed brings different attributes and behaviours which adds a great deal of character to our flock – something we love about our girls.

Our flock is very fertile and produce a lot of offspring. We see it as being important for the lambs to stay on mum to ensure they have a healthy start to life. Unlike many milking operations, where the offspring are removed from their mothers within 48 hrs, we leave the lambs on for a month to allow the ewes to display the same behaviours as they would in the wild. After a month we wean the lambs onto high-quality grass. We use this system because at a month old, ewes start to naturally wean the lambs onto grass, the lambs get a much better start to life as no one is better than mum at bringing up her children, it puts less stress on the sheep and it feels ethically right to operate this way.

We have two milking flocks, one which lambs in early spring and another which lambs in Autumn. They are happily milked twice a day for around 100 days and then once a day for another couple of months. We do this to ensure you can enjoy our products all year round! Our ewes naturally roam outside on a 100% pastured diet, we give them a tasty snack of sheep nuts while we milk them to help keep them relaxed.

Our Milk

Our goal is to ethically and sustainably produce the highest quality sheep’s milk in the world. It is no secret that in order to do this you must start with the ewe’s and ensure they are happy and healthy. We have generations of experience farming sheep in our business, over time we have developed elite management systems which ensures our sheep thrive on their 100% pasture fed diets all year round.

We do not use antibiotics, GMO’s or added hormones in our production of milk. Our milk also contains no pregnancy hormones as we do not milk our girls while they are pregnant unlike other milking systems such as bovine dairy.

The milking shed is a calm environment. We use this time to monitor the health of every ewe as they come through the shed. After each sheep is milked their udder is sprayed with a natural disinfectant to ensure no bacteria can build up and they run across a zinc sponge mat which maintains the health of their feet.

All of our actions are carried out with the intentions of maintaining ewe health and ensuring the milk they produce is the highest quality so that you can enjoy our products, knowing they have been produced the right way.

Low Environmental Impact of Sheep

Sheep naturally have a low environmental footprint when compared to other farmed animals such as cattle. They are much smaller animals which has a lot to do with this. Their bladder size is smaller meaning they urinate small amounts regularly which evenly disperses it throughout the paddocks. This reduces the likeliness of nutrients leaching into the waterways significantly.

The same principle also applies to sheep and their faeces, it is excreted in much smaller amounts and spread more evenly throughout the paddocks. Another advantage of the size of sheep is that they have a much lower chance of damaging the soil structure due to pugging compared to larger animals. If the soil structure is damaged then the land becomes less productive and often becomes compacted as a result. Effects of this result in lower pasture production, less nitrogen fixation, an increase in greenhouse gases emitted and an increase in run-off which causes soil loss and releases nutrients into the waterways.

We are so glad to work with sheep as they make achieving our standard of being sustainable much easier. Sheep have another advantage which isn’t just to do with size, it is to do with the amount of methane they emit. Early research suggests one sheep emits around 8kg of methane a year whereas a dairy cow emits around 100-120kg/ year. About five sheep can produce the same amount of milk solids as one cow which potentially means that it can be produced for a third of the methane emissions. This still needs to be researched further, but findings look promising.

What Makes Sheep Milk so Good?

Great for You

High in folate, calcium, B12, magnesium and prebiotic. Minimally processed and low added sugar.

Kind to Earth

Each litre of sheep milk has a much lower footprint on the planet than cows’ milk.

Gentle

Many stomachs that are upset with cows’ milk, find they can drink sheep milk with no discomfort.

It takes a special sheep to produce the finest milk. That is why we have hand picked our girls. We have a range of breeds in our flock; East Friesian, Awassi, Coopwourth, Poll Dorset and crosses of the stated breeds. Each breed has different attributes and behaviours, we love the character our flock has.

Nestled along the stunning Wairarapa Coast, our sheep enjoy the wide expanses of grassland that look over the Pacific Ocean.

Sheep milk has a beautiful creamy taste and is very gentle on your stomach. If you struggle to consume other dairy products this could be the milk for you! Many people who are unable to consume cow’s milk can consume sheep’s milk with no discomfort.