Stage 1:
Completion of the second kitchen in the house. Yes we're lucky enough to have a second kitchen. We are presently renovating it so we can turn it into our "test facility", that is we can recommence our cheesemaking activities and use it to hone our skills and our cheeses.
Stage 2:
We intend to sell all but a half dozen of our current crop of lambs in order to finance the acquisition of a dozen springer (pregnant) ewes and 2 rams (East Friesian/Suffolk crosses). We have sourced a breeder in California who I will likely visit in the coming week.
Stage 3:
Completion of the milking facility. This is the first part of the construction phase and involves the reworking of the existing milking parlour into something that will accomodate sheep rather than the cows its currently sized for.
Stage 4:
Completion of the cheese facility. Phase 2 of the construction involves building the cheese room, the bulk storage room, the anti-room/entry, and the upstairs office into the old milking parlour.
Stage 5:
Breed our Dorset ewes with the rams we get this year to produce good East Friesian/Dorset crosses. Sell the other lambs and the older ewes from our original flock that we no longer need and as per stage 2 use the money to acquire another dozen springer ewes. This will give us a working flock of at least 24 East Friesian/Suffolk ewes, approximately a dozen Dorset ewes and up to 24 lambs, the rams of which will be sold as stud animals and the ewes probably kept.
Stage 6:
By this stage we will have been milking for some time and making farmstead cheeses. At this point (or possibly earlier) we will make the move to properly commercialize our venture.
Of course while all of this is going on we will be repasturing at least 2 of our fields, upgrading some of the farm's other facilities (including the one bedroom "apartment") and looking into some other ventures including hay sales and growing mushrooms.
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