America’s Dairyland had become world famous for its cow and goat milk and cheese long ago, but there’s a little-known segment of the dairy industry that hopes to grow in the years to follow.
Persephone Allen milked her livestock twice a day for three hours at a time since she decided which animal she’d manage.
She runs a dairy in Waterloo where she milks not cows nor goats, but sheep.
“I tell [people] I milk sheep and they’re like, ‘You mean goats, right?’ and I’m like, ‘No, sheep,’” Allen said.
She said her dairy, Forever Young Sheep Dairy, is one of 20 members of the Sheep Dairy Association of Wisconsin.
The group says there are only 13 sheep dairy producers in the state. While the number seems small, that’s still more sheep dairies than any other single state in the union.
Allen said she wants to see more people get into milking sheep.
She’s learned how hard it can be to get started.
“You don’t want people to get into it and fail, so it’s really important right now before anyone starts a sheep dairy to make sure they have a market for their milk,” she said.
Allen said she milks 160 sheep and will soon expand to 200. She said she feels like she’s in a good spot after carving out her place in the industry.
“Some days are rough but other days it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is perfect,’” Allen said.
Source: spectrumnews1.com
