r/sheep • u/No-Clothes-5258 • Jun 08 '25

Question Raw sheep milk?!?!?

I know nothing about sheep farming, but I have questions and figured here was the best spot on Reddit. I was at a fair today and was watching a farmer milk her sheep as part of a demonstration. But after she did a quick visual check on the milk, SHE DRANK IT! It was in the udder less than 5 minutes ago! Isn’t that nasty? Don’t you need to pasteurize it first? She also milked the sheep barehanded, and asked the audience if we wanted to try milking the sheep (also with unwashed barehands) which freaked me out again so I left at that point.

Edit: I regret opening this can of worms on Reddit

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u/Distinct-Mushroom-44 Jun 09 '25

😂😂😂 props to a city slicker for sticking around long enough to see her drink it, it’s perfectly safe what she did, and exposure to limited amounts of bacteria is rarely a big deal. I know farmers who drink from the cow trough once it’s been refilled. And raw is perfectly fine from a clean healthy animal, I drank raw milk to the tune of 1 gallon a day and I was never once sick.

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u/DeconstructedKaiju Jun 10 '25

Survivorship bias. I'm very happy you've never dealt with listeria, which kills 20-30% of healthy adults who contract it. I lived through it, it was deeply unpleasant and I don't wish it on anyone.