Sheep's milk is the milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 of domestic sheep

Domestic sheep

Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

. Though not widely drunk in any modern culture, sheep's milk is commonly used to make cultured dairy product

Dairy product

Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...

s. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the Feta

Feta

Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese,...

 of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the Pecorino

Pecorino

Pecorino is the name of a family of hard Italian cheeses made from ewe's milk. The word derives from pecora meaning ‘sheep’, also from the Latin pecora meaning livestock....

 Romano

Pecorino Romano

Pecorino Romano is a hard, salty Italian cheese, suitable primarily for grating, made out of sheep milk . Pecorino Romano was produced in Latium up to 1884 when, due to the prohibition issued by the city council of salting the cheese inside their shops in Rome, many producers moved to the island of...

 (the Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 word for sheep is pecora), the Pecorino Sardo

Pecorino Sardo

Pecorino sardo, also known as fiore sardo, is a firm cheese from the Italian island of Sardinia which is made from sheep milk: specifically from the milk of the local Sardinian breed. It was awarded Denominazione d'Origine status in 1991 and granted Protected designation of origin protection in...

 and Ricotta

Ricotta

Ricotta is an Italian dairy product made from sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese. Although typically referred to as ricotta cheese, ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein...

 of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Yogurts, especially some forms of strained yogurt, may also be made from sheep milk. Though sheep produce a far smaller volume of milk than cows

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

, it is richer in fat, solids, and minerals. This makes it ideal for the cheese-making process. It is not an alternative for people with (severe) lactose intolerance

Lactose intolerance

Lactose intolerance, also called lactase deficiency or hypolactasia, is the inability to digest and metabolize lactose, a sugar found in milk...

, because it contains even more lactose than cow milk.

A minority of sheep breeds are kept primarily for dairy purposes, but these few have been selectively bred

Selective breeding

Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...

 for milk production, and thus produce a higher volume than most other sheep. The most common and prolific dairy sheep breeds include the Lacaune

Lacaune (sheep)

The Lacaune is a breed of domestic sheep originating near Lacaune in southern France. The Lacaune is the most widely used dairying sheep breed in France, with a population of about 800,000 ewes...

, the East Friesian, the Sardinian

Sardinian (sheep)

The Sardinian is a breed of domestic sheep from the island Sardinia. It was developed from crosses of local lowland sheep, Merinos, and North African sheep...

 and Awassi.

Nutrition by comparison

Milk composition analysis, per 100 grams:

Constituents	unit	Cow	Goat Goat The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...	Sheep	Water Buffalo
Water	g	87.8	88.9	83.0	81.1
Protein	g	3.2	3.1	5.4	4.5
Fat	g	3.9	3.5	6.0	8.0
Carbohydrate	g	4.8	4.4	5.1	4.9
Energy	kcal	66	60	95	110
	kJ	275	253	396	463
Sugars (Lactose)	g	4.8	4.4	5.1	4.9
Fatty Acids:
Saturated	g	2.4	2.3	3.8	4.2
Mono-unsaturated	g	1.1	0.8	1.5	1.7
Polyunsaturated	g	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.2
Cholesterol	mg	14	10	11	8
Calcium	IU	120	100	170	195

See also

• Goat milk
• Moose milk
  Moose milk
  Moose milk, also known as elk milk, refers to milk produced by moose . Though it is most commonly consumed by baby moose, its production has also been commercialised in Russia and Sweden.-Nutritional content:...
  
  
• Asses' milk (Donkey's milk)
  Asses' milk (Donkey's milk)
  Asses’ milk or donkey’s milk is the milk given by the female ass or donkey. It has been used since Egyptian antiquity for both alimentary and cosmetic reasons.- General points :...
  
  

:Category:Sheep's-milk cheeses

External links

• Sheep dairying at sheep101.com
• sheep dairying documentary by Cooking Up A Story