Episode 110: Milking Dairy & Meat Sheep with Rachel & Kyle Hester, Part 1

In this episode, Brandon chats with sheep homesteaders Rachel & Kyle Hester about Romanian placinta cake, how the Hesters got into raw milk for health, sheep breeds for milking, how to start milking a meat sheep, what a milking session looks like, drinking the delicious milk, and making sheep cheeses.

 

Timestamps/Topics for Episode 110:

0:00 Intro

3:13 Romanian placinta cake

5:49 How the Hesters got into homesteading with sheep

13:39 Milking meat sheep breeds during lockdown

16:50 Brandon asked about how to start milking his meat sheep

28:12 Herd culture and family groups

34:21 What a milking session looks like

38:00 Teat placement and selecting for good milkers

44:27 Sitting behind the sheep when milking

47:19 Milking just once a day & milk as the main product for a while

53:58 Making sheep cheese

59:46 Experimental cheese making

 

Links for Episode 110:

• Whoopsy Daisy Farm https://www.whoopsydaisyfarm.com/
• The Guide to Homestead Dairy Sheep by Rachel Hester https://sawdustpublishing.com/product/the-guide-to-homestead-dairy-sheep/?v=0b3b97fa6688
• Placinta cake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pl%C4%83cint%C4%83
• Weston A Price Foundation - https://www.westonaprice.org
• Joel Salatin https://polyfacefarms.com/
• Babraham Institute https://www.babraham.ac.uk/
• David Asher https://www.milklab.ca/
• Natural Sheep Care by Pat Coleby https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1302660.Natural_Sheep_Care
• Much Ado About Mutton by Bob Kennard