A historic dairy sheep breed, the East Friesian is a prolific lamber, and a good option for dairy production. They are fairly calm and train well to the milking stand.

Twins and triplets are typical for East Friesian sheep. They are used to produce meat as well as milk, so their prolific breeding is a definite advantage.

They are considered to be a triple purpose sheep, their wool does require shearing, and there is some market for it. 

To produce milk, they require higher quality feed and are not suited to poor range, or to intensive operations where they are overcrowded, or managed like equipment instead of like animals. They do very well on pasture, but will require some supplemental feeding unless they are given high variety pasturage.

• Type - meat, milk, fiber
• Size - large
• Production Capacity - very prolific, one of the heaviest milk producers
• Special Features - breed all year round
• Best for Farms - good for dairy operations, or for small family farms where sheep milk and meat are needed.
• Eggs, Milk, Meat Features - good quality meat and milk
• Other Products - some market for hides
• Historic or Contemporary Significance - One of the better established milk sheep breeds.
• Housing and Space Requirement - do not do well if crowded
• Regional Adaptations - do not do well in very hot climates
• Feed Requirement - require a variety of feed types for best milk production (forage and grain, or sprouted grain)
• Other Considerations - Look at the operations where you purchase your stock, to ensure that the sheep are capable of being handled in the manner that you intend to handle them.

A NOTE ABOUT SHEEP:

Sheep were not originally on my list for "animals I have to have on my farm", but they have sashayed their way to very near the top for a couple of reasons:

1. They are easy keepers except for some parasite issues.
2. You can produce excellent meat in the same time it takes to grow out a hog, and the meat is better quality than goat meat.
3. They fit in small spaces very well, and are suitable for backyards and microfarms where livestock is allowed.
4. Milk sheep produce milk that is high in milk solids and high in butterfat, and which is one of the best substitutes for human breast milk. 
5. Hair sheep do not require sheering, and many hair sheep breeds produce tender meat no matter the age of the sheep.
6. Sheep may be grazed with either cattle, or goats, and also do well with poultry (in fact the poultry help control parasites).
7. Many breeds are very prolific, and easy birthers. When chosen for those traits, they require very little in the way of maintenance to produce a fairly significant amount of meat each year, from a few ewes and a ram.

This puts them right at the top of my Must Haves, because I have also discovered that I really like the meat. Lamb is very versatile, and can be used in a wide variety of dishes that our family routinely prepares.

There are literally hundreds of breeds of sheep, and they tend to be very regional in nature. This means that when you go looking for a specific breed, it may not be readily available in your area, even if it is otherwise a stable and well established breed. You'll find that most local sheep are of a similar breed, or perhaps two breeds, and nobody much questions whether they are a good breed or not, they just acquire sheep and either raise them for wool or breeding, or they buy the lambs in the spring and butcher them in the fall, much like hogs. As long as they produce, everybody is happy and does not bother to wonder if there is a breed that might work better.

I have also discovered that the average farming community doesn't know hair sheep from toffee. They are completely ignorant of the fact that sheep exist that do not require sheering. When raising sheep for meat, hair sheep can save you a good deal of money in shearing costs, and save you the bother of having to sheer them yourselves when you do not want the wool.

When wool IS a desired crop, the prices are much better for specialty wools. This means colored wool, fine wool, and ethnic wool types. These sheep are actually worth sheering for the price of the wool, but only if the wool is marketed to specialty markets, and fiber artists, and NOT through mainstream wool wholesalers. A few of the specialty wool sheep also have very fine meat, making them a great dual purpose choice.

Milk sheep have been bred for higher milk production, but a high producing sheep will still produce only half to a third of what a high producing goat will produce within a single lactation. Sheep can produce a good amount of milk at one milking, but they typically do not produce for an extended length of time. Their milk is high in milk solids, making it excellent for cheese, and it has a fairly high butterfat content. 

With goats, you can leave the kids on the doe, and milk anyway. Some owners will shut the kids up separately from the doe through the night after 1-2 months of age, and then wean them completely at about 4 months of age (some will earlier). Sheep do not produce as well, and those sheep that are very prolific are the ones that milk the best - but their lambs will also demand more. So keeping lambs on will make it much more difficult to milk ewes. Milk sheep require additional feeding, and if you want to try tandem milking you'll need to increase feed accordingly.

All sheep are NOT created equal, and one of the strengths of the multitude of sheep breeds is that they are often bred for specific climate conditions, and finding a breed that was developed for difficult climates or conditions can make a huge difference in the ability of your sheep to thrive under the conditions which you have available.

It is recommended that you ask about parasite problems in any breed of sheep you intend to acquire, and do some checking on the prevalence of those parasites in your region. Some kinds of parasites are so aggressive they have been known to take down entire flocks of sheep, and fairly rapidly. When prevented, they are controllable, but once well established, are much more difficult to eradicate or maintain damage control. Susceptibility to aggressive parasites varies widely breed to breed as well.