FAQs

Sheep’s milk is as close to a perfect food as is possible in nature. It is a complete protein containing all the essential amino acids without the heavy fat content and catarrh (mucus) producing materials of cow’s milk.

Sheep’s milk offers superior digestibility to cow’s milk, due to the following factors:

1. Size of fat globules: The fat globules of Sheep milk are finer than those of cow’s milk, allowing for a greater surface to volume ratio for enzymatic attack. This enables the fat of sheep’s milk to be broken down and digested more easily.
2. Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT): Sheep’s milk has more MCT’s than cow’s milk. Lipases attack the ester linkages of the shorter-chain fatty acids more readily, enabling more rapid digestion. MCT’s are metabolically unique in that they can be absorbed by a simpler mechanism than other fatty acids. MCT’s, which are higher in sheep’s milk than cow’s milk, have a unique ability to provide energy to the human metabolism, as well as an ability to lower, inhibit and dissolve cholesterol deposits.
3. Curd strength. Sheep’s milk casein forms a less tough and more friable curd than the casein of cow’s milk. This means the digestive enzymes can break it down more rapidly. Alpha-S1 casein is the main casein in cow’s milk and this contributes to the firmer curd; Sheep’s milk contains low levels of alpha-S1 casein.

The lactase enzyme provides for the digestion of lactose, or milk sugar. People who do not possess this enzyme are lactose intolerant. Sheep’s milk contains less lactose than cow’s milk, and people can generally tolerate sheep’s milk better than cow’s milk.

Sheep’s milk and allergies- Whether sheep’s milk can be tolerated better than cow’s milk will depend on the specific protein involved in the allergy. Most people with a cow’s milk protein allergy are allergic to b-lactoglobulin.  Many people with allergies to cow’s milk seem to be able to tolerate sheep’s milk. It is worth, however, trying sheep’s milk as an alternative to cow’s milk, in consultation with your doctor.

The composition of sheep’s milk differs greatly from that of cow’s milk. Both fats and proteins are higher in sheep’s milk. Milk sugar, also known as lactose, is the main constituent of shee’s milk. The other main ingredients of sheep’s milk are milk fat, protein, and minerals. One hundred ml of sheep’s or cow’s milk has a calorific value of about 280kJ (67 kcal). The composition of the milk depends largely on the breed of sheep and the season. In the summer the milk yield is high, and the fat and protein contents are low. Conversely, in the winter the milk yield is low, and the fat and protein contents are higher.

Lactose is the most important carbohydrate present in milk. The lactose content of sheep’s milk is about 10% lower than that of cow’s milk.

Milk protein is comprised of about 80% caseins and 20% whey proteins. This is applicable to both cow’s milk and sheep’s milk. The caseins are present in the form of micelles: these are large aggregates of protein and calcium phosphate. The number of small micelles is much greater in sheep’s milk than cow’s milk.

The fatty-acid composition of sheep’s milk exhibits substantial differences from that of cow’s milk. Sheep’s milk fat contains more short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids. The seasonal variation in the fatty-acid composition is lower than that of cow’s milk.

Sheep’s milk has a cholesterol content of between 10 and 15 mg/100 g milk (depending on the fat content), comparable to the levels in cow’s milk.

Sheep’s milk contains more than double the vitamin A and D than cow’s milk, along with higher concentrations of folic acid and vitamin B12 than cow’s milk. It is also the only milk that contains vitamin C.

The composition of minerals in sheep’s milk and cow’s milk are different in a few ways. The potassium, copper and manganese content of sheep’s milk is a little higher than those in cow’s milk. Sheep’s milk also contains a little less zinc than cow’s milk.