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Carol Delaney, Small Ruminant Dairy Specialist, Autumn 2002

Small Ruminant Dairy Newsletter, a publication of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Small Ruminant Dairy Project at the University of Vermont www.uvm.edu/~susagctr, carol.delaney@uvm.edu

Karen Weinberg and Paul Borghard have owned their 100-acre farm in Shushun, NY for 13 years. Even though only 35 acres are open, they lease 40 acres and have been 'given' the use of 30 acres. A lot of the fields come together as a triangle - hence the name, 3-Corner Field Farm. They moved there because Karen wanted to get out of the city and start changing her career as an industrial psychologist. Paul has a business and law degree and that took them over the ocean from 1996-1998 to live in Paris, France to where he was transferred by him employer. Karen saw the abundance of sheep's cheeses and felt that their farm, where they had been raising horses and sheep, would be a perfect place to start sheep dairying. Even though they knew nothing about how to do it, they began their plans when they returned in 1998.

When they returned they began developing a business plan and saw that the 5th Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium was going to be held in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1999. They attended that, the Vermont Grass Farmers' Associations grazing conferences, and an Introduction to Sheep Dairying workshop in 2000 sponsored by the Small Ruminant Dairy Project. Karen said, "These were some of the most important resources for us to get a good start".

While attending workshops, they began to change their farm by building a milking parlor and sorting system. They spent $20,000 on a pit parlor with a used DeLaval pipeline system and weigh jars. They decided that they wanted to spend the money now to enable them to stay a two-person operation. The CIP system, milk yield recording jars and automatic feeders will help them do this. They want to milk 200 sheep and if they had to hire someone to help them, it would eat all their profits, they surmised. The parlor is presently a 12 stanchion non-cascading set-up that backs the sheep up once they are all in. They built the parlor big enough to expand to a double 12. They found a 2nd hand 300 gallon bulk tank and adjusted the paddle to reach lower to stir the milk to cool it well. They live 1hour and 20 minutes from Old Chatham Shepherding Company, their milk purchaser. They bought a freezer used and spent $3,000 on the compressor to store the milk frozen at -30ºF. However, bagging the milk for freezing takes 3 hours every other day during the milking season. Paul then hauls the bags in heavy plastic tubs with a horse trailer, when the freezer gets full. They get approximately $0.70 per pound of milk now.

Karen attended a workshop in Vermont where she had plans for starting a cheese operation. At the workshop, sponsored by the Small Ruminant Dairy Project, she received advice from Peter Dixon, cheese consultant, who was hired to teach at the workshop. When she took this information home, and they thought about it, they decided that the investment and work involved would be more than they felt comfortable with. They already had good experience marketing meat and this year have landed space at the Green Market in NY City. This is a network of farmers' markets that have rigid standards of farm products and they visit your farm to certify that you grow what you sell. Even though the markets are 4 hours away, the potential sales of lamb for premium prices will make it worth it. Farmers pay per time, for a minimum of 6 times and can choose which ones you want to attend.

Another marketing decision they made was to sell fresh milk next year to Old Chatham. Paul is now, this year, working full-time on the farm with Karen and they plan to get a milk transport truck. This will save them the labor of bagging and freezing the milk and they will get paid even more for valuable fresh sheep milk.

Right now they milk 115 ewes, a number which was trimmed down from 140 by getting rid of their low producers. That is the beauty of the milk weigh jars with which they take measurements every 2-4 weeks. At the time of meeting them in mid-September, their 115 ewes were making 450 lbs. every day, and they had lambed in two groups starting in March. They have good East Friesian rams that have greatly improved their flock. For feeding their milking ewes in the parlor, they give a pound of whole corn and will supplement 4 ounces of roasted whole soy per sheep when the pasture is poor. This costs them $5 per for 120 ewes. They offer trace minerals, salt and baking soda. Next year they plan to lamb them all in April to do a better job with the lambs. They feel that the lambs need to be 3 months old before they go out on pasture on their own and will keep them in a creep and hay area, if necessary, for a while. They start weaning at 4 weeks, depending on the condition of the lambs and start milking the ewe once a day within 2 weeks of lambing. They give a creep feed of ground corn/soy/oats with molasses and gradually convert to whole corn.

Their other big investment is a 92' by 52' pole barn that stores their round bales and is their lambing area. It offers fresh air and lots of room with access to pastures. Next year they will lamb in April and milk through October and their goal is to milk 200 sheep. After 5-6 years of planning and growing, they can both now stay on the farm with their 2 children and make a living. They are a good example of the benefits of planning, taking your time, and revising your plans with what you find out. Paul kept his job off the farm until they had the income potential and needed his extra input. You can contact Karen and Paul at 518-854-9695 or karenandpaul@dairysheepfarm.com for breeding stock or more information.