The picture below was the best that I had available of my milk stand, which inspired the following tips:
1. You should teach everyone in the family plus all of your friends to milk your goats because you never know when you may become sick, injured, imprisoned or otherwise discouraged. The point being that just because you aren't available to milk the goat, the goat still must be milked, not milking the goat is not an option!
2. Hobbles are sometimes necessary, they may look cruel but they can actually be the kindest gift that you can give your goat, they protect your goat from things that might happen to her if she sticks her manure covered foot in a full bucket of milk right before you are finished milking her. They also protect her from things that could happen to her if she spills a full bucket of milk all over you right before you are finished milking her.
3. Do not be afraid, they will not explode when squeezed
4. Your aim will improve with time but while still in the learning stages, it is best not to wear your best Sunday clothes.
5. Do not become discouraged if someone only a year older than you gets the hang of it before you do. It is normal behavior for a person who masters milking to show off by squirting everyone else.
6. With time and patience, you too will learn a skill that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Remember practice makes perfect and before long you will perfect your aim and be able to hit any target.
So easy a four year old can do it!!
**NOTE: No Goats were injured in the construction of this Blog
14 comments:
Thank you so much. I love your milking stand and all the pictures too. I made an Easy Goat Milker today thanks to your inspiration and linked to your post too. Thank you so much for the tips, I can't wait till tomorrow to try out the easy milker.
Thank you, Your Friend,
Chris
That was HILARIOUS!!! I just laughed myself silly here! What a hoot.
We are expecting our first baby goats soon and I hope I will do as well as you! We bought the Udderly E-Z milker to help us out in case we are awful at doing it by hand.
Great post! Does this Easy milker create a give and take suction or a constant pull? (not sure I am wording what I want to ask right)
My hands do cramp up with hand milking, looks like a good idea to try! I have got to get some hobbles like that for Dym too! She usually does very good, which is why she gets that foot past me when she isn't good because I am not expecting it.
The last time she did it, she knocked the full to the rim bucket over and since our milk stand is set up higher (easier on my back) I ended up with a big wave of milk all over my lap! :) Well they say milk baths are good for the skin but that isn't exactly what I had in mind. lol
I just wanted to let you know I nominated you for the Lemonade Stand Award, you can read about it on my blog. I picked your blog because it is such an interesting and educational blog to read and I really enjoy reading it.
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!! Not only was it fun, but great information! THe local "goat man"is coming to the farm this week and I cant wait to talk to him about getting my first goats! WOO HOO and this post was informational!!!! DO MORE!!!! LOL
Shiloh Prairie Farm asked, "Does this Easy milker create a give and take suction or a constant pull?"
I have stuck my finger in it and it does pull and release but there is a little bit of constant pressure that is what makes it stay attached without falling off.
These are fantastic pictures! what a lot of fun your grandchildren are having!
I just found my way here from Claire's blog and I love this post - too funny!!! I don't have goats, but my sister does and I loved the hobble part ;)
Hmmm, the hobbles are a great idea...I don't have any milking goats, but I am thinking those hobbles might be equally useful to keep husbands in line...did I say that out load??
We have an Udderly EZ milker that we bought last summer for a high producing doe with very short, cone shaped teats. We don't really like it, but it is useful if she gets engorged. Because you can only milk one side at a time it takes a long time. We found the suction improves immensely if you leave the teat wet after washing. The milker needs to be pumped quite a bit at the beginning of milking, which can make your hand pretty tired. Also, the bottle is fairly small so you have to take it off, empty into your bucket, then restart the flow again. We quit using it and opted to hand milk after the first few weeks. If your doe has decently long teats that you can get your hand around we would recommend hand milking if possible.
I love my milker, it does a fantastic job and the milk is clean with no straining. My doe also likes the milker, she does not tolerate hand milking nearly as well. She has a very free flow which may be why I do not have any problems with my home made milker.
What a timely post. We're going to build a milkstand like the one at the Fiasco Farm website. I can't wait to let our little ones try their hand at milking. We just milked our first goat last night!
~Proud Goat Mama!
where do you get the leg holders at. I have a few goats that like to kick when milked and a leg holder would be great!
Davina, the hobbles were purchased from Hoegger's Supply Co. http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/ I tried to go there to see if they still sold them but their website is a nightmare for a dial-up user. I waited and waited for the shopping page to load and after 16 minutes, I gave up.
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