A question we see posed fairly frequently on various forums and Facebook groups we are members of is about milking Katahdins. People often ask if they can milk Katahdins. Of course the answer is yes. However, Katahdins are meat sheep. Saying you can milk them doesn’t tell you much about how to find one suitable for milking. So just how do we go about finding a ‘dairy Katahdin’?
Katahdins have many traits that make them appealing over a traditional dairy sheep breed. However, one of the biggest drawbacks to milking them is that they haven’t been selected for dairy traits. They are highly variable in traits like milk production, udder confirmation, and lactation length. It is a lot more of a crap shoot to get a ‘good dairy’ Katahdin than it is to get a good East Friesian.
That being said, there are plenty of Katahdin ewes out there who are perfectly suitable for providing your family with milk.
The trick is just finding them. So today we are going to offer some suggestions of what you should be looking for when trying to find a Katahdin to use for dairy purposes.
Firstly, you can try to find a Katahdin East Friesian/Lacaune cross, or someone who is milking their flock. This would be your best bet. Unfortunately, while there are people out there breeding flocks for dairy, they are few and far between and you will likely have to settle for making an educated guess out of a meat flock.
Our first suggestion is to go seek out the milkiest flock and sheep within that flock you can find. So here, we’re talking about trying to find a flock where they are selecting for a higher lambing percentage and ewes that can raise those extra lambs. Look for a flock with a lot of triplets and quads that aren’t bottle fed.
Look for daughters off an ewe that has enough milk to feed those extra lambs.
A lot of ewes don’t have enough milk to feed extra lambs, so try to seek out one that does. Her daughters should hopefully produce more milk than average. And definitely don’t buy bottle lambs from a mother that didn’t have milk to feed them.
Another thing you can look for if you are in the market to buy NSIP sheep is an ewe with a high MWWT score, and high scores for number of lambs born and weaned. MWWT is the closest thing that the NSIP has to milk production. While it is a measure of mothering ability also, an ewe with a high MWWT should have more milk than average. If you haven’t read our post on NSIP sheep selection, follow this link to learn more.
Keep in mind that high MWWT and selecting from an ewe that can successfully raise triplets or quads doesn’t guarantee that their offspring will be good milk producers. However, it should help to tip the chances in your favor. Additionally, if you can find a flock that weans late, they might be inadvertently selecting for more milk over a longer lactation compared to a flock that weans at 30-60 days.
If it is at all possible to see the dams in milk, do so.
This can help you to gauge udder volume and confirmation potential for the lambs. It is virtually impossible to predict what a ewe lamb’s udder will be like from looking at her prior to lambing. So if you can view the dam’s udders, try to select lambs from the one with the best milk production and udder confirmation.
Udder confirmation is almost as important as milk volume and lactation length. Having a lot of milk doesn’t’ do you much good if you can’t get it out. Ideal udder confirmation depends upon how you plan to milk your sheep. For most people milking a few animals, hand milking is usually sufficient. In fact, it is typically less labor intensive than machine milking for a small flock.
Since most people milking sheep in their back yard will be hand milking, we are making the assumption that you will be hand milking for the purposes of this article. Thus we need to find an udder with teats large enough to be suitable for this. Teats pointed diagonally outward are best for lambs and are most likely to be seen.
If hand milking teat location is not as important. If your ewe will also be feeding lambs and hand milking, outward angled teats are perfectly fine. You can easily use technique to remove the milk from the bottom of the udder. If you are unsure how to hand milk a sheep we have a step by step how-to article here. If you do happen to be selecting for machine milking instead, teats close to the bottom of the udder and pointing downward is best.
We find that the interaction of teat length and udder shape are the two most important traits.
Teat location and diameter are less important. Of course larger teats are always going to be easier to milk. The least suitable udders for milking are those with very small teats on flat udders. Trying to milk an udder out with two fingers is not a lot of fun. If an ewe has smaller teats and a more pendulous shaped udder while still less than ideal, it can be done. We find that teat length is far more important than diameter when it comes to ease of milking.
Now we know that Katahdins have not been selected for dairy purposes. This means that they haven’t been selected for any sort of udder uniformity. Thus, there will be a wide range of variability, and you will have to decide what you can and can’t work with. This is of course going to be a personal decision, and what we find ideal you might not. However, udder confirmation may seem abstract and hard to visualize. To help you out, below are pictures and descriptions of some of the udders we have had in our flock.
Some of these ewes are part of our milking string, some of them are allowed to raise lambs and dry off because their udders are hard to milk. This is what we prefer and find suitable for working with or not and why. Hopefully these pictures will help you to visualize what you are looking for as you seek out dairy Katahdins.
This first udder is the closest thing to perfect that we have.
This ewe produces a lot of milk over a long lactation. She is also the ewe in the other two pictures above. As you can see she has a large, well suspended udder and long thick teats. Her udder is quick and easy to empty as she has large teats with a large teat canal. They are easy to wrap an entire hand around to express a large volume of milk.
The second udder is an ewe that we also milk regularly.
While her udder isn’t quite as ideal as the first ewe pictured here, she is still very easy to milk. Her udder is pretty empty in this picture, but you will notice her udder is more flatly attached than the first ewe. In the case of this particular ewe, her teats are still thick but are not as long. However, they are still plenty long enough to wrap your hand around. She also has wide teat canals so you can again express a lot of milk with each squeeze.
The third udder is again on an ewe that we milk.
Her teats are smaller. They are not nearly as thick as the teats in the first two pictures. In fact on first glance, her teats seem almost too small to be good for milking. However, her udder is more pendulous which gives you more space to work. Once you have gotten her to let down her milk, you’ll find that her teats are plenty large enough to milk. In this case her teats are narrow, but they are long enough to wrap your hand around which still gets the job done.
The ewe in the fourth picture has an udder that we do not care to milk.
In this case her udder is small, flat to her body, and her teats are short. A bad combination. Yes her teats are wide, but it doesn’t really help. Due to the flat shape and the short teats, it is very difficult to get milk out of her udder as you cannot grab a handful of udder to make up for the short teats. And thus, you are restricted to squeezing out tiny bits of milk with only a couple fingers.
The ewe in the fifth and last picture is also an ewe that we do not care to milk.
In this case she has very, very tiny teats. They are short and narrow and only about the size of your pinkie tip. Notice, these teats are attached to a much more pendulous udder. In this ewes case, the teats are so tiny they are only big enough to put your thumb and pointer finger on.
Due to the pendulous shape of her udder, she can be milked. But, it is a pain to do so and takes a long time. Her teats are very small so when her udder is full you can only squeeze out tiny bits of milk at a time until you depressurize the udder sufficiently to be able to wrap your hand around a portion of the udder.
We hope that this gives you a visual of what you’re looking for, and that it helps answer some of the questions you might have about sourcing and selecting a Katahndin for dairy purposes. If you would like to read more articles like this, please sign up for our newsletter!
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