# Tell me about your milking stanchion



## savingdogs (Sep 16, 2009)

Hi, we just got our first three dairy goat babies and won't be milking for awhile obviously, but we would like to make our own milking stanchion. 
Our females are mini nubians so we are working with a little smaller goat.

We are not so much interested in dimensions, etc, although that would be nice, but moreover what do you like and not like about your milking stanchion? What would you put into the design if you were building one?

I'd LOVE to see some pictures showing people milking as opposed to just the stanchion. Also your tips on how you set up your milking area in general would be appreciated.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

run dont walk to the fiascofarm site for how to build. we built ours in an after noon with materials on hand and its SUCH a lifesaver!

what i like:

* by chance it turned out to be the perfect height for me - but i would have measured more carefully next time\
* i use an upside down kitty litter bucket as my stool - totally works
* the feeder is the best - but we screwed ours down. dont know if there is another way to affix it.. but i'd love to be able to dump it out. my goaties leave a lot of 'feed dust' in the bottom
* i really need a little shelf or basket to set right in front of me to hold the wipes, paper towels etc. i just use another little stool. i'll work on this in the winter
* i like that its in the garage next to where we store the hay and the feed so its easy to get the goats another scoop of food, its easy to sweep out, and when they've kicked the bucket (grrrrr....) i've been able to yank the stand out and hose down the floor  - otherwise it would be a big sticky mess

what i'd do different:

figure out at way to attach a motion detector water canon to shoot out a spray when nosy chickens, geese, dogs, barn cats come sniffin around to see if they can have some milk too???

sheesh!

good luck!


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## Mini-M Ranch (Sep 16, 2009)

Hey!  I have mini-nubians, too!  And we are trying to get our stanchion built, too.  We don't have any in milk, but have one possibly bred, and are looking to breed two more (the other is too little) for kids and milk in the spring.  Too bad you are all the way across the country!!


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## T.Sumner (Sep 17, 2009)

Maybe this will help you out a little.  
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1980


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## cmjust0 (Sep 17, 2009)

Our stanchion is too low, and too heavy.  I used what wood I had laying around, which happened to be a lot of full-dimension quartersawn hardwood...oak, mostly..."barn wood," hard as brick and heavy as lead.  Not the best material ever.

If I had it to do again -- which I will, shortly -- I'd probably build a taller, lighter one out of dimensional kiln-dried framing lumber with a thin plywood floor.  Something else I'd strongly consider are wheels on one end, to make moving it around even easier.


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## savingdogs (Sep 18, 2009)

OhioFarmGirl, there you are again, always coming to my aide. 

I like the idea of the sprayer getting the other animals! Let me know if you rig that (photos requested!

I live in a very rainy climate where Murphy's law rules....if you don't want it to rain, it will be raining at that moment (it IS Washington state after all). So setting up the milking area is going to be interesting. I was thinking of a stanchion with a roof, or another thought was 
I'm actually considering bringing the goats into my house into my laundry room (lineoleum floor) for milking....am I crazy to put a stanchion in there? Do goats poo while being milked, or urinate? I'd have everything real handy then, hot water, etc., a few steps from my fridge and kitchen. 

I like that website! Also thanks to the person who sent that link, I guess this has been talked about on here before.


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## freemotion (Sep 18, 2009)

I bring my doe up to my garage to milk....I had my stanchion in the barn until the first cloud of mosquitoes appeared.  Try to milk and swat.  Doesn't work.

Now, I've only been milking for a little over six months, and only one doe, but she only poo'd once, early on, and only pee'd once, early on, too, and it was because I'd rushed her across the yard.  She kept trying to stop, and I wouldn't let her.  She had to go.  She showed me!

Oh, there was one other time, more recently.  I was teaching a friend to milk to cover for me when I had to be away and it took her a LOOOOOOONG time.  The doe finally squatted and pee'd.  After the first incident, I stored a large coffee can with scoopable cat litter in it on the shelf next to my stand, and was able to stop the spread of the flood pretty quickly.

She apparently thought that was all fun and exciting, because she tried to squat and pee the next day as I was taking her off the stand.  I yelled and rushed her and she didn't pee, and has not offered to since.

Just one experience.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Sep 18, 2009)

> I'm actually considering bringing the goats into my house into my laundry room (lineoleum floor) for milking....am I crazy to put a stanchion in there? Do goats poo while being milked, or urinate? I'd have everything real handy then, hot water, etc., a few steps from my fridge and kitchen.


this is actually a GREAT idea! if can you walk them directly into the laundry or is there a way that they wont muck up your floors on the way there?? they can get surprisingly muddy.  having the hot water etc would be great. we keep trying to figure out how to get hot water into the garage without running electric or more pipes - we think there is a solar option but are still thinkin....

anyway

when i got one of my dairy gals the woman warned me that the goat *always* poo's on the stand. which she did exactly once. then i wised up and let them out to roam around for 10 or 15 mins before i take her for milking. the theory is that they poo when they get up from lazin' around... so i get her out there the hustle and big bang boom - she comes to the stand 'empty.' to my knowledge they dont pee like cow's do when milking. 

the only problem i see is that you'll have to explain that baaaah-ing sound if someone calls you while she's in there
;-)

and yeah its all in the family when i milk. i have a little chick who sits on my lap, the barn cat paces all around, the geese stand there and scream, the dog pokes his head around the corner.... its something.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 18, 2009)

Well, when I first started out milking, I would just simply straddle the goat. I did this for several years.
Then my husband made me a very nice stand out of iron. I wanted this to wash goats, washing hurt my back.
So I tried it out for milking and hated it, so I was back to straddling,...LOL.
It was just easier for me to 'grab' the goat real quick to milk. My does would just stand there and let me do it. If they made a stink,  I would tie them in a corner.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Sep 18, 2009)

Free - your kitty litter idea is the best i've ever heard!!! very creative thinking!

one other thing that i might have done - i had one gal who got to be a little 'kick-y' and we had to tie her feet to get her to stand still. she kept that up until she realized i wasnt taking any of her guff and she'd get her foot secured if she did (she learned fast). i'm thinking about this b/c one of my gals will be a first time milker next spring and she'll need to learn to stand there quietly... i'd put a hook-n-eye thingy at the back corners


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## lilhill (Sep 18, 2009)

trestlecreek said:
			
		

> Well, when I first started out milking, I would just simply straddle the goat. I did this for several years.
> Then my husband made me a very nice stand out of iron. I wanted this to wash goats, washing hurt my back.
> So I tried it out for milking and hated it, so I was back to straddling,...LOL.
> It was just easier for me to 'grab' the goat real quick to milk. My does would just stand there and let me do it. If they made a stink,  I would tie them in a corner.


Trestlecreek, I couldn't hang upside down that long!


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## cmjust0 (Sep 18, 2009)

It's too bad stanchions don't have a 'ski boot' system where you just lock all their feet directly to the floor when they jump up there.


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## trestlecreek (Sep 18, 2009)

I know Sandie, I am an oddball on that one I do believe!!
I also found out that I was allergic to goat hair by milking this way,..LOL, so then I was out there with long pants....
Usually though, after straddling and starting the flow, I could just squat right down on the side of them.


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## BDial (Sep 18, 2009)

We havn't gotten around to finishing ours yet. All we have is a "table". It is just a plywood top on a 2x4 frame. They come into the garage and jump up and eat while being milked. Then we open the door to the house and we are in the kitchen.


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## savingdogs (Oct 11, 2009)

Well we built a ramp into our laundry room today so the goats could begin coming in. It worked great! They scampered up it and had a great time and we gave them a little ration of grain for their efforts. We plan on bringing the girls in for grain every evening and "feeling their udders" every night. Hopefully they will get used to it (right now they are very skittish).  I think I have my husband hooked on the idea! We will have the warm water and the fridge really handy and there is also electricity, a good place to store the grain out of the weather and even a fan for hot days. I think we just need to fit our stanchion in there and we'll be all set. 
I feel much more confident about my milking area now, but still need to get a stanchion built...guess I have a little time but at least we now have a plan.


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## lilhill (Oct 12, 2009)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> It's too bad stanchions don't have a 'ski boot' system where you just lock all their feet directly to the floor when they jump up there.


When you get a good working model, then share the info with the rest of us.  Actually, I only have a couple that want to sit down while in the stanchion.  Makes it a wee bit difficult to hold their rear ends up enough to get them milked.  Guess I could move the stanchion under a hoist.  That would show those lazy girls.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Oct 12, 2009)

> Well we built a ramp into our laundry room today so the goats could begin coming in. It worked great!


great work!!!

we are using the same 'udder feeling' method with our mini who will be bred this year for the first time. she thinks its the cat's meow... but mostly b/c she gets special food

;-)


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## freemotion (Oct 13, 2009)

Yup, I am a wee bit nervous myself about having a first-freshener possibly next spring.  I have been feeling her teensy udder since she was 5 weeks old, and leading her around the yard and to the milking stand and making it a fun and yummy experience.  She got her first foot trim on the milking stand without being secured and she was a little angel.  Here's hopin'!  After many years of training horses from birth to the show ring, I know that each and every one is an individual, but the more you prepare, and the better you make the experience for them (what's in it for me? is all they are thinking!) the higher your chances for success are.

Jealous of your indoor milking parlour!


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