Sheep Industry News January 2024

A lamb prepares for his Eweber ride to the nursery barn. Opposite page: Mariana Marques de Almeida bottle feeds a lamb at Ms. J and Company.

N o American sheep producer is surprised to learn that the country is overrun with lamb meat imports. But did you realize the same could be said for sheep’s milk products? Wisconsin’s Ms. J and Company is looking help develop the industry and to change that. Established in 2015, the company began milking sheep in rural Juda, Wis., four years later at a state-of-the-art facility under the watchful eye of Portugal native Mari ana Marques de Almeida. “Our dream was to help increase sheep milk produc tion in the United States,” Mariana said. “The US is the largest importer of sheep milk in the world but the US availability of sheep genetics to produce milk has been scarce and that is where we are helping. I don’t know if the sheep industry here is aware of all that is going on with the dairy side. Even some people in the sheep industry are surprised when I tell them we’re milking sheep. But sheep’s milk is a great product, and can be used to create amazing cheese, yogurt, and other prod ucts.” Along with partners Shirley Knox and Jeff Wideman – the first initials of their names form the Ms. J moniker – Mariana hopes to provide an endless supply of sheep’s milk cheese to American cheesemakers. In addition, the company is building a flock of Assaf sheep that provides additional genetics to sheep dairies all around the coun try. “We haven’t put this much money into this facility,

and the incredible people, with doubt,” Wideman said in the same Cheese Reporter article. “We need to show the industry our success so the dairy manufacturer, as well as the marketer, has confidence in quality and supply. Our success is support.” ASSAF ALL THE WAY An animal scientist with years of experience raising sheep and making cheese in Portugal and Spain, Mariana met Wideman while judging a cheese competition in Spain. That led to her judging at the world championship cheese contest in Wisconsin and started the ball rolling on Ms. J and Company. This fall, the company was milking more than 350 ewes and producing nearly 2,500 pounds of milk a day with twice daily milkings. Each ewe has an RFID bolus in its rumen that registers in the milking parlor and allows production to be tracked and studied. Sheep are sorted into groups based on milk production, and an electronic sorting gate allows for sheep to be automatically removed from their groups based on that production. The milking parlor was built with expansion in mind, as Mariana hopes to be milking up to 1,000 ewes a day in the future. Insulated curtains raise and lower automati cally along the sides of the barn based on the outside wind and temperature, both of which can become extreme during Wisconsin winters. But the hearty Assaf bred sheep aren’t complaining. The course wool breed is a cross of Awassi and East

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