# Alternatives to expensive milking supplies



## kristenm1975 (Mar 4, 2013)

My new goat and her one week old doeling are arriving Saturday (yay!!) and I'm gearing up for milking. It looks like it costs over $150 to buy new stainless steel milk strainer and half moon pail, as well as disposable milk filters. People must have come up with cheaper alternatives. I'd love to hear what is done instead and still produces clean, safe milk for drinking.

Thank you!


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## babsbag (Mar 4, 2013)

I did use the half moon pail for a few years and then just started using a stainless steel pot. You can put a piece of cheesecloth over the pot and milk right through it and if you have the lid just put it on when you are done for carrying it back to the house. I had a hard time getting the milk into the opening of the half moon lid when I first started milking.

I do use the disposable milk filters but I don't have the fancy strainer, I had a little one and it was too slow to strain so now I fold the 6" filter into a cone and put it in the funnel that I use to fill canning jars and pour through that. I will be milking 4 goats this year so I really think it is time to invest in the big fancy strainer though the other one worked for only one goat. I do like my fast flow milk filters however, and won't be without them.


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## ksalvagno (Mar 4, 2013)

Either glass or stainless steel is the way to go. So whatever containers that you can fit under your goat that is either glass or stainless steel. Some people use the gold coffee filters that they can wash in the dishwasher. I haven't used one so I don't know how well it filters.


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## flylo (Mar 4, 2013)

I may get criticized on this, but though I did have the SS milk pail, and other equipment, I did some adjustments to do without when I found I was in the milkroom and my supplies were elsewhere. (Such as when my partner hauled everything to the shows.)

First of all, right now while your doe is still feeding her baby, handle her udder. When you feed her is a great time to introduce her to the milk stand and milking routine even if you're not actually ready to start milking her yet.
Clip any long hair from her udder, fore, rear and especially in between the 2 sides, best to do it when she's fairly full of milk. I also like to clip the hair from around her vulva and tail if she's just kidded or just about to kid. "Yucky goat butt" doesn't usually end up in the milk pail, but you don't want to have to stare at it the entire time you're milking, either. (The feeling of being milked sometimes stimulates other secretions as well and it's best if none of this remain on your doe if you can help it.)

 When you begin milking, wash and dry her udder and she'll understand this is the signal to let her milk down for you.
I saved 2 liter soda bottles and milked directly into them rather than into an open pail or even the half moon cover. These plastic bottles are really a one time use container because it's difficult to clean milk from them. But, for baby goats drinking the milk, it's easy to cool the bottle in cold water, pop in the fridge, and remove and warm in a bucket of warm water when you need to feed the kids. Pop a nipple onto the bottle and one will feed several babies. 

If the idea of milking directly into the container you're going to use to feed the babies isn't for you, check out WalMart or some other discount store in the housewares and kitchen/cleaning sections. Plastic buckets work ok but not easily sanitized and can collect odors over time.

I also bought unbleached rags from a tool supply catalog. These work great for filtering milk for your own use, can be scalded, bleached, whatever needed to sterilize and clean them again and again. Northern Hydraulics maybe? These cloths also were great for making cheeses, letting the whey drip out when the cheese was bagged and hung in them.
Be sure to rinse them under cool running water to remove any goat hair and grit or dust particles they collected before you sterilize them. 

A regular plastic funnel, lined with one of these cloths, works great to strain milk. You can use quart canning jars to store in the fridge. Again, plastic is ok, but be prepared to toss them after just a few uses. 

You might check out a sewing or 'notions' store like Jo-Ann's or Hancock's also. Muslin or cotton curtain material might work as well, something with a looser weave than you might think. 

flylo


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## kristenm1975 (Mar 4, 2013)

Thanks so much for the great tips! Keep them coming! I know whatever system I go with, it's going to need to be intuitive because I'm not a morning person and all this is going to be going on at 5am, so I'll need all the help I can get.


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## Mamaboid (Mar 4, 2013)

I place a stainless bowl into a bigger stainless bowl with ice in the big one.  I Milk into a stainless bowl, with a coffee filter (the plastic kind you can get at the grocery store and throw into the dishwasher) inside the bowl.  When I am done, I pour the milk from the milking bowl through the filter again into the bowl sitting in the ice.  I repeat this for all the goats and when I am done I take it to the house where it is poured through a clean filter, (same kind) into glass quart jars.  I use baby wipes to clean the udder before I start, and after I am done.  That is the extent of my milking equipment and everything I use I already had in my kitchen.


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## julieq (Mar 4, 2013)

For hand milking our little nigerian dwarf does, we use stainless steel dog bowls.  Real cheap at the local grocery store.


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## animalcrackeracres (Mar 4, 2013)

I only have one small goat to milk so I use the glass canning jars with a stainless steel flour sifter screen over it, the one with the really fine mesh. I like the jars because when I am finished milking I can screw the lid on right away.


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## ragdollcatlady (Mar 4, 2013)

I use a glass measuring cup to milk into and pour into a pitcher until I am done milking everyone. We are still working on milking manners and so I empty my cup frequently to prevent a total loss if someone does manage to step in it. If they do, I just go wash out the cup and start over, but I don't lose the majority of the milk that is safe in the pitcher. I use a nylon coffee filter, the free one that came with the maker. I use disposable paper ones for coffee so never needed the real one. I strain once and then pour into glass milk bottles that were originally for  milk. Mom saved them for me so I don't have to buy them. That's it. I didn't buy any of my equipment, just used what I have on hand. I milk an average of 2 Nigerians a day because that is a nice number for me with out becoming a real chore. I enjoy milking and the time with each girl.


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## babsbag (Mar 4, 2013)

For those of you that milk into a glass jar aren't you worried about the goat stepping in it and breaking it? I do use glass jars for storage, but milking into them scares me as my goat likes to "dance" on occasion.

As far as cleaning the udder, I use white shop towels and warm water, with a little bleach and Dawn mixed in it. I use the same solution for a teat dip when I am done. The towels get washed and bleached and hung in the sun during the summer. 

I also don't have an official strip cup. I just use a little plastic cup and swirl it around and look for clumps.


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## madcow (Mar 5, 2013)

I use a brake bleeding pump with a presssure gauge attached that I purchased from Harbor Freight  with two 3/8-inch plastic tubes (came with the kit), a mason jar with holes drilled into the lid and 3/8-inch water line fittings to which the tubes are attached.  I used JB Weld only on the outside of the lid (so it wouldn't be in contact with the milk) to seal the fittings so the jar would be air tight.  The 2 tubes are attached to each of the fittings on the jar top, and pump is attached to the other end of one of the tubes and the other is attached to the syringe-end of the large outer sleeve of a syringe.  The syringe is fitted up to the teat and I just pump the milk directly into the mason jar using the brake pump.  I get the pressure up to between 10 to 15 PSI on the gauge on the pump and that's all the pressure that is needed to get the milk flowing.  I can pump about a cup of milk in about 20 seconds using this.  I clean the teat with unscented baby wipes before milking and strip some milk out looking for clumps before attaching the pump to  the teat.  Using this method the milk is never exposed to anything outside of the mason jar, so very little need to filter the milk.  That saves more money and time than I can count.  I figure I have maybe a total of $30 invested in the pump.  Here's a picture of my pump set up:  










Oh, and my husband made the tote from scrap wood and a piece of rope for holding the jar(s) for the milk safely while milking and also to and from the house.  He made it so that I could carry my other supplies, such as wipes, and a second jar if needed.  You can use either wide-mouth quart jars or pint jars.  I usually use pint, because I'm only milking a single pygmy doe at this point.

The tubing all comes off for cleaning and for the tubing I use a long brush that is designed for cleaning those long permanent drinking straws for insulated cups.  I feel better knowing I can get the tubing and the fittings clean with that.  There's very lilttle work involved with the cleaning process.  I love it!


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## flylo (Mar 5, 2013)

Your milk set up is brilliant!  I've seen home made milking machines before, but this is ingenious. 
What size syringe are you using for the teat suction cup?


hmmmm, I have an old milking machine that was just too big and heavy to deal with. I may need to replace the rubber liners since it's been 12+ years just sitting, but it would probably work with your rig.

 Thanks for sharing!

flylo


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (Mar 5, 2013)

*I may get criticized for this, but I use plastic. I got food grade plastic buckets with lids for free. I milk into a 3 gallon plastic bucket, put the lid on it, and bring into the house and pour through my little filter strainer directly into mason jars and pop them in the fridge. 

I wash everything with dawn dish soap and the hottest water I can stand, rinse well and then fill the plastic bucket with a dilute bleach water solution and let it sit on the counter soaking everything until 12 hours later and the next milking. Then I wash everything again with dawn and hot water and re-rinse with dilute bleach water. I may be going overboard, but since I use plastic better to be safe than sorry. I also wash the udder with a washcloth and dilute bleach water. I've been doing it like this for two years and have never had a single issue. Works for me!*


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## madcow (Mar 5, 2013)

flylo said:
			
		

> Your milk set up is brilliant!  I've seen home made milking machines before, but this is ingenious.
> What size syringe are you using for the teat suction cup?
> 
> 
> ...


I'm using a-50 ml syringe, and that should fit a full-sized goat.  It's rather large for my pygmy and I could easily get away with using a 25-ml or maybe smaller syringe.


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## kristenm1975 (Mar 5, 2013)

I love the set up, madcow! Thank you for the pictures too! I have a hard time visualizing the technical details sometimes.  I may need to make this milking system, if for no other reason, to help out anyone who needs to milk for me when I go out of town. 

Blessings!


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## verkagj (Mar 6, 2013)

You can use enamel ware pots as well as ss or glass. Since supplies are hard to find here in Belize, I had to make do with what I could get. I use a little plastic "trash can" for milking. Pour it into my ss stockpot with a lid while I do the other girls. For a filter I use a wire mesh strainer with a coffee filter and a canning funnel with a milk filter in it. The milk filters look just like interface material from the fabric store. I may use that when I run out of filters. the milk goes through the filters into a ss wine bucket. Then I filter again into the quart jars for the refrig. 

I rinse everything right away and later wash in hot, soapy, bleach water and air dry. No dishwasher available on solar power. 

Look around at yard sales, Goodwill, etc. for items you can use.


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## flylo (Mar 6, 2013)

Belize!!  Where in Bze?  I spent quite a bit of time up around Orange Walk some years back. I had a good friend with a cattle ranch. He'd come up to Texas to buy things he couldn't get locally and we'd drive back down, spent several months at a whack. Beautiful country!

flylo


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## madcow (Mar 7, 2013)

Also, I use a roll of paper towels cut in half and stuffed into a quart jar with a lid.  I add a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid along with H2o2 (hydrogen peroxide) and alcohol in amounts that will saturate the paper towels and close up the jar with a lid.  These are my wiping towels for udders before milking and they work really well.  Pretty inexpensive too.


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## JesnJer (Mar 14, 2013)

madcow said:
			
		

> Also, I use a roll of paper towels cut in half and stuffed into a quart jar with a lid.  I add a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid along with H2o2 (hydrogen peroxide) and alcohol in amounts that will saturate the paper towels and close up the jar with a lid.  These are my wiping towels for udders before milking and they work really well.  Pretty inexpensive too.


Thank you! I was looking for a bleach alternative we are addicted to peroxide in our house.


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## kristenm1975 (Mar 19, 2013)

Madcow, I've duplicated your set-up, thanks to your excellent description and pictures and am wondering if you could tell me your leaning regimen for this specific setup. Thank you so much!


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## madcow (Mar 20, 2013)

kristenm1975 said:
			
		

> Madcow, I've duplicated your set-up, thanks to your excellent description and pictures and am wondering if you could tell me your leaning regimen for this specific setup. Thank you so much!


Usually, I will take the lid off the jar and set the jar (covered) of milk in the freezer to cool down quickly.  I then disconnect the syringe from the tube, then the milk tube from the connectors on the lid, and also disconnect the pump/air tubing from the lid.  I usually don't disconnect the pump/air tube from the pump.  I will wash that tube once a week, because it hasn't had any milk go through it.  Of course, if it does manage to get milk into it somehow, I do wash it that day after disconnecting from the pump.   I then rinse everything in cool water to get any leftover milk out of the parts.  At this point you can either wash everything or just put all the parts (not the pump and its tubing) into hot, soapy water, with 1 cup of white vinegar added, to clean later.  When you are ready to clean just use a long brush made for cleaning straws (like from those resuable, plastic drinking cups that are so popular now) and swab from both ends of the milk tube.  I then will use a bottle brush to clean the syringe.  The connectors on the lid need to be cleaned with the straw brush and both sides of the lid washed.  Rinse everything and drip dry.  I use vinegar in the water 6 days a week and bleach 1 day a week to clean the milking equipment.  This is the method that large dairies use to clean their equipment.  Vinegar (acidic) 6 days a week and bleach (alkaline) 1 day a week and this will get all the proteins and fat off the milking equipment.  Hope that is clear as mud!


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## kristenm1975 (Mar 20, 2013)

Thanks madcow! That was super helpful. Sounds like its pretty intensive but can be shortened in the morning and completed at night, which is kind of what I was hoping, since I usually leave the house by 6:30 and prefer all morning routines to be only as complicated as they have to be.


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