There’s a new exhibit at the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days! This year there is going to be a new small ruminant exhibit! This exhibit is going to include goats and sheep. There will be four breeds: a dairy goat, a dairy sheep, a meat goat and a meat sheep.  There will many volunteers, producers, and experts to give presentations, answer questions, and help show off the small ruminant industries.  This way you can get all of your questions answered by the people who know the animals best.

 

Jeanne Meier, Dairy Business Innovation Center Coordinator of the Grow Wisconsin Goat Initiative, said that Wisconsin in ranked number one in pounds of milk for dairy goats and sheep. Meier also explained that Wisconsin has 199 licensed dairy goat farms and 13 dairy sheep farms. The average dairy goat produces 4-6 pounds of milk per day and the average dairy sheep produces about 2 pounds per day. An average dairy goat or dairy sheep herd consists of about 200-300 head.

 

Dairy goat and sheep milk is highly prized, especially dairy sheep because of the high components. One advantage to producing sheep milk is that you can freeze it so that you can keep it for processing. Dairy goat and sheep milk can be processed into the same kind of products as dairy cow milk would. These could include products like bottled milk, low-fat bottled milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, etc.

 

For more information about dairy goats and sheep and meat goats and sheep check out the Dairy Business Innovation Center’s website at www.dbicusa.org or the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association’s Website at www.wdga.org .

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