Tag Archives: sheep

LEARN

US Sheep Milk Economics

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First, if you haven’t already signed up to get Janet Fletcher’s excellent weekly/bi-weekly newsletter on artisan cheeses, I highly recommend you do. Fletcher used to write the cheese column for the San Francisco Chronicle, and is now a freelance cheese writer, and author and co-author of many books on food, most recently Cheese and Beer published by Andrews McMeel.

In this week’s newsletter Fletcher researches the closing of an award winning sheep milk cheese business (Many Fold Farm) in Georgia. It’s a sobering look at the tough economics of sheep dairying in the US, and worth taking a look at.

Small Ruminant Parasite Workshop

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June 15, 6:30-8:30pm: Small Ruminant Parasite Workshop

A workshop for sheep and goat producers is planned for Monday evening, June 15, 2015 at the Maine Forest Service located at 356 Shaker Road (Route 26) in Gray, Maine. Dr. James Miller, a parasitologist from Louisiana State University, will be presenting a talk titled “What sheep & goat producers ought to know about internal parasites”. This workshop is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the Maine Sheep Breeders Association. Feel free to arrive at 6:00pm for a time to ask specific questions or request advice on addressing parasite problems.

Help Fuzzy Udder Creamery’s make their big move!

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Help Fuzzy Udder Creamery get ready to make cheese at their new home in Whitefield!

Check out Fuzzy Udder’s IndieGogo Campaign

Fuzzy Udder Cheese!

In 2011, I started my own business, Fuzzy Udder Creamery with my two favorites: fresh hand-stretched mozzarella made from buttery jersey cow milk and sheep’s milk yogurt. If you haven’t had sheep’s milk yogurt, you have no idea what you are missing! I built a cheeseroom in Unity Maine in 2012 and had two successful seasons making all kinds of cheeses from both sheep and cow’s milk, including: fresh mozzarella, sheep’s milk yogurt, fresh sheep cheese, brie, ashed-layered soft-ripened cheese, washed rinds, gouda, swiss, tomme and baby provolone. I have also spent the last few years building up a small herd of well-cared for and very happy sheep and goats.

This summer, I had a severe allergic reaction to the house I lived in a the farm in Unity where I had built my creamery, so I had to find a new home for myself, my creamery and my animals before the winter. Luckily through the generous support of so many people in our farming community here in Maine, including Slow Money Maine and Maine Farmland Trust, I was able to purchase an old farmhouse with a barn and a creamery here in Whitefield Maine, the former home of Townhouse Creamery.

Now that I have moved, I need help getting my new creamery up and running. I am looking to raise enough funds to install my cheesemaking equipment in my new cheeseroom, build a walk-in cooler to age my cheese and get a milking parlor set up to milk my sheep and goats this spring.

With your help, I can start my 3rd season as Fuzzy Udder Creamery out right!

I am looking to raise $10,000 from this campaign so I can start making cheese again. With these funds, I will be hiring a plumber, an electrician, and several builders to get my cheeseroom and milking parlor ready for licensing.

Once I start making cheese again, I will host an open house and creamery/farm tour for those who contributed $25 or more. I will be serving a feast of local food, featuring all of Fuzzy Udder’s wide variety of cheeses. In addition, anyone who donates $50 or more will receive a cheesy gift in the mail!

Please help me publicize this campaign by telling all of your friends.

Thanks for reading about me and for supporting small farmers in Maine! To find out more about Fuzzy Udder Creamery, please visit my website: http://www.fuzzyudder.com