From Grass to Milk

working with the rythms of sheep and seasons

As you might have guessed from my cover photograph, I really like sheep. Sheep are a lot like humans, in a way. They can be the dearest, friendliest animals in the world. But they can also be the most stubborn and destructive ones. Since I wanted to learn more about sheep farming, I decided to work on such a farm for some time myself. And this is precisely where I’m writing from: a beautiful, small sheep farm in a tiny village in the North of Germany. Let me take you to the world of these lovely animals, of the farmers working there and of the tasty dairy products they produce together.

A sheep’s world

Schafscheune (“sheep’s stable”) Vietschow is, with its around 60 lactating sheep, a small-scale organic farm. On their 15 hectares of land, they are able to produce the full amount of forage for their animals. During the day, their sheep can graze on the pastures surrounding the farm. At night, the sheep come back inside the stable, where they get some aromatic hay to eat, which is an important part of their diet. Sheep spend much of their waking time eating, and they can be quite picky when it comes to the right choice of food (just like humans…).

Believe me, it is such a delightful sight to watch the flock of sheep peacefully grazing under the setting sun, as you come to bring them back to the stables. It is pure joy to walk before the flock, leading them to follow you home. And it is a pleasure to bottle-feed the sick lambs. To hear them bloat merrily at the very sight of you with the bottle in your hand. But what might seem like a romantic, peaceful life in the countryside proves to come with long, strenuous work. From dusk to dawn, day in, day out.

Reality on the farm

A typical day of the farmer couple starts at 4 am in the morning. The mistress of the farm, who’s also responsible for the cheese making, heads to the cheese dairy. At a time when most people are still soundly sleeping, she’s already busy making cheese from the sheep’s milk. At 5 am, the couple starts the milking, which lasts for 2,5 hours. After the sheep are released onto the pasture, the milking parlour and the stables are cleaned, fresh straw carried in and the hay racks refilled for the evening.

During the summer, the meadows are regularly mown in order to make forage for the winter. From the day’s yield of about 60 litres of milk, the couple produces all kinds of dairy products on the farm itself: yoghurt, curd, feta and barbecue cheese, all kinds of hard and soft cheese, whey and sheep milk. They deliver these products to various shops, restaurants and markets, or sell them directly from the farm’s lovely dairy store.

On Wednesdays, they offer guided tours and cheese tasting on the farm to visitors. After lunch, some work in the bureau needs to be done, and the aging cheese needs to be turned and salted in regular intervals.

Then, at 5 pm, the second milking of 2,5 hours is done, after the flock has been fetched back to the farm. Sick sheep and lambs are cared for, some more paperwork is completed, the fruits from the garden are harvested for the various kinds of fruit yoghurt…

Soon, it is 10 pm. It is not a rarity for the couple to go sleeping as late as 11 pm after a long day of work. The next morning, again, the alarm will ring at 4 am… And there are no weekend exceptions to this working schedule, as sheep don’t know the meaning of the word “weekend”. (1)

After summer is before summer

The East Friesian Sheep, which is the race on this farm, gives milk only from mid-April to mid-November. After that, the pregnant sheep spend the cold and wet German winter in the warmth of the stable. Farmers use this time of the year to make necessary reparations on the farm building and prepare everything for the upcoming season. In March, the lambs are born; some 130 in number, since one sheep can bear up to 4 lambs! (2) And the cycle of seasons and work is continued…

In agriculture, the seasons dictate the rhythms of life. Sun and rain, long and short days, frost and warmth – all play their role in letting the food grow for us and our animals. In animal husbandry, it is also the seasonal rhythms of mating, birth and growth that mark life on a farm. The unpredictable weather makes all smoothly crafted plans go to waste and a drought can destroy the year’s harvest. A rainy day can lower the sheep’s appetite for eating, and thus reduce milk-giving. An infection of the animals can cause severe financial deficits in a carefully laid out yearly budget plan.

The rythms of sheep and seasons

This unpredictability requires a lot of flexibility. But working with nature, plants, animals and the seasons also brings immeasurable joy. The joy of living with the ryhtm of nature. The joy of making a living in cooperation with the animals and the seasons. In order to live such a life, it definitely needs a lot of dedication and joy found from it. I can read both dedication and joy in the eyes of the farmers couple, as I watch them gaze over their little flock of sheep with serene contentment.

Almost 10 years after they bought and started this farm, there is still a spark in their eyes as they talk about their land and their animals, and what they have achieved with them since. I can also notice this dedication in the smile at every customer showing up at the farm’s front door wanting to buy some of their products. Or in the patient responses they give to each visitor of the tour, again and again. Finally, I feel there is meaning in their work, too, as I taste the sublime cheese they produce, knowing these animals and the land truly flourish under the care of these good shepherds.

In another article, I will write more about what it means for the land to flourish under sheep grazing and why this is so important for our soil and our ecosystems. I will also explore the question of what efficiency means in agriculture. Stay tuned to find out more!

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(1) The milking, just as the feeding of the animals and the cleaning of the stables, need to be done every single day, without exception.
(2) Sheep and cows need to bear lambs/calves each year in order to give milk.