This is the year that I will finally milk my own sheep. After three trips to Italy seeking out all the sheep’s milk products I could find, it is finally time to make my own sheep’s milk quark, cheese and yogurt.

All things sheep are healthier than their counterparts from cows or goats.The meat and milk of sheep is highly nutritious, richer in vitamins A, B, and E, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium than cow’s milk. It contains a higher proportion of short- and medium-chain fatty acids, which have recognized health benefits.

Sheep milk can be as high as 12 percent fat and when you take a look at a new born lamb you can see that it is composed of loads of skin, bones and cuteness but not much fat so that 12 percent fat comes in handy.

According to many researchers, sheep milk has more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than the milk from pigs, horses, goats, cattle, and humans. CLA is a cancer-fighting, fat-reducing fat. Remember the – eat fat – lose fat – paradox. The fat globules in sheep milk are smaller than the fat globules in cow’s milk, making sheep milk more easily digested. What we really love about sheep milk is that it tastes like melted ice cream and the yogurt is naturally thick and sweet. This year will be our experimental year with sheep milk and we hope to have it available for sale by next spring.