You don’t see anything extraordinary when you drive by Bushnell on US Highway 30. You would never guess that the second largest sheep dairy in the US exists just off the highway to the south as you drive near the railroad crossing.It’s the Irish Cream Sheep Dairy, operated by Bill, Virginia, Cody and JoElla Halligan. They currently milk about 680 ewes twice a day to harvest an estimated 90,000 pounds of milk a month.The milk is frozen and sent to California in refrigerated trucks carrying 45,000 pounds of sheep milk. There, most of it is made into yogurt. The Halligans ship the third highest volume by trucking originating in Western Nebraska.There are other sheep dairies in the US. Most of them have herds in  the range of 50-100 ewes and process the milk into specialty products like Roquefort and Feta cheeses.As you suspected, the Halligan sheep dairy is an intricate operation.The herd consists of East Friesen, Lacaune and Dorset sheep. East Friesens are the sires. Only the finest ewe lambs are kept. The lambs not kept are sold to Superion Colorado in Denver.The lamb crop averages about 200 percent each season.The lambs are taken from their mothers when only a few days old and fed artificially in feeding stations until ready to be released into the adult world.Wool is not an important  part of the dairy operation. The sheep are sheared once a year at a cost of two dollars a head. With wool selling for 20 cents a pound, it is a break even proposition.The milking is another story. It  is done at 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. and takes about five hours each time. A crew of 10 or 12 handles the chore.Virginia Halligan says, “Milking is the easy part.”It doesn’t look all that easy.The milking is done on an elevated platform that holds 24 sheep, 12 in a row. The udders of the sheep are wiped clean and the milking equipment attached. The Halligans made the milking equipment themselves, using teat cups from Austria plus random parts from DeLaval and Surge. DeLaval and Surge are old line makers of cow milking equipment for American dairies. The milk goes through sanitary tubing to a cooling tank. It is collected in plastic bags that fit into rather flat, square boxes. The milk is frozen in those flat, square shapes at a freezer temperature of minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The boxes are then stacked on pallets, one ton to a pallet.The pallets are fork lifted into the refrigerated truck and it’s off to California.The Halligans have built most of their facility themselves using their own designs. They are pioneers in the business, being the second largest sheep dairy in the US.Virginia said the sheep give more milk during the long summer days when there is more time to eat. During the cold of winter, and during times of high wind, the sheep are  reluctant to come out of the loafing buildings to eat and milk production drops off.The Dorset ewes produce about 2 1/2 pounds a day. The East Friesen and Lacaune ewes give five to seven seven pounds a day.The Halligan family revels in the operation. Virginia grew up on a dairy farm, Bill was yard foreman for a 10,000 head lamb feedlot and son Cody was a herdsman on a 2,700 cattle ranch. Daughter JoElla was Livestock Coordinator for the Central States Fair/Black Hills Stock Show.They started the sheep dairy five years ago and have been increasing size and scope ever since.It’s a never ending operation. There is a lull or six or eight weeks in late December into January when the activity level lets up a bit.Th Halligans conduct tours on request, about one per month. They have conducted tours for visitors from Austria, Afghanistan and Jordan.It is quite a unique and ingenious operation. Check it out.