Milk stand training

[Moody]

So my nearly 2 year old Nubian has never been milk stand trained. She is friendly and tame. I hope to start milking in 5-6 months so I'm working with her. I had to fight her to even get on the stand at first but now she hops up there easily.

I feed some dairy pellets 2 times a day so we are already starting the routine. I pet her and rub her sides and then go to her belly which makes her start to fidget. I've tried firmly putting my hand closer to her udder area and I've tried a really light touch. She hates both. She tries to kick my hand away.

I know it is best to start now and if she is bred I will have to stop the milk stand in her final month or so because she might have a hard time getting up there.

 

[Moody]

I have been looking for ideas online to make it an easy transition for both of us but mostly what i am seeing is get her used to touch prior to milking. She doesn't like touched on her belly even. Back, sides and head are ok. Any other ideas?

 

[animalmom]

Moody;
You have a good question and I've had to think how I got some of my first milkers to be nice ladies on the stand. I'm not sure how much of this you can translate to a Nubian, but here goes!

I have Nigerian Dwarfs, and have found that putting an arm along their back seems to cut down on the dancing and kicking. So, being right handed I will reach down and put my hand on their udder and leave it there while I place my left arm along their spine. If the girl is real new, or fretful I will use my left hand to rub her back while the left arm is still on the spine. I'm not holding down with the left arm, just laying along the spine. Can you conjure up the mental picture?

New girls are going to not like having their udders touched, rubbed, looked at, or breathed on. Unfortunately you need to do all of those. Be constant, patience, loving, patient, and did I mention patient? I even sing to my goaties, silly little songs that have their name repeated in it. After a while I've found that all of them calm down and you can get to the business of milking.

I have confidence in you. Let she with the opposable thumb succeed!

 

[Moody]

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will definitely try the arm along the back thing. I have tried petting her and putting firm pressure near the udder but have not tried the weight of my arm along the back.
She just doesn't focus enough on the eating. Her appetite is better than when I got her but she doesn't devour the food like the others. She eats about 3/4 of a 16 oz cup. She is a bit thin so I try to do the udder practice as she nears the bottom of the dish. The lamancha doeling, though still young, just wants to eat everything in sight and was trained by the ladies who had her before me so I just have to let her up there and pet her. She doesn't mind anything.

 

[newbiekat]

Have you just let her sit there and eat? I like to give them a few weeks of just getting on the stand and eating. That shows them it's a good place to be, then slowly add in rubbing on the side of her belly, then slowly add rubbing under her belly, then add touching the udder and teats. When I say slowly, I mean over a few weeks before transitioning to the next step. I've found with mine that they never truly become comfortable with you touching their udder until they kid...

 

[Moody]

The arm thing seems to work for her at least to some extent.

Maybe just the stand is how I should have done it. She is still new to us and all the different goats and our new ways.

Today she licked the hot wire and ran off to the barn for safety. (I just put in electric fencing to keep them off my fences and hopefully zap any predators that may try to dig under.) She did this at least 3 times. She has walked over my fences in 2 areas and buckles them a bit with her weight. Then she stayed in the barn. I guess I should also take her temperament in mind when working with her.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Our 2 goats (and Jersey cow) never get fed while being milked. They stand quietly to be milked and then they hop off and get their grain while the other one is being milked. They usually fight over who gets to go first.

Removing the feed from the actual milking process and giving it at the end as a reward seemed to effect their attitude. They learned that if they stand quietly, they finish faster and can eat that much sooner.

 

[SillyChicken]

When I first got my doe she was very standoffish, couldn't even pet her. I kept the milk stand in where they were kept at night so she would be familiar with it. I would put feed in the bin on the stand but leave the stanchion open so she could move her head in and out till she felt secure. Once I could secure her head I could trim her feet, and brush her out. But she didn't let me touch her unless she was in the stand. As her pregnancy progressed I kept her in a stall at night to feed her, while she ate I started hanging out in the stall with her, eventually I was able to start brushing her out while she was loose, she was super heavy (5 kids) her sides were pretty stretched, so she was super itchy! She loved getting brushed at that point! I was able to help her with the birthing of the kids and I think she appreciated me being there. She wasn't too bad to start milking, she tended to want to squat at first, but once she realized that my milking her would release pressure she would relax. We're buds now and she comes up freely for pets and I will be starting that routine again closer too her due date. I kept one of the doelings, she is friendly, she loves to be held... which is getting much harder to do these days the bigger she gets. Keeping fingers crossed that she doesn't have so many kids this time around. I want to keep some of the milk for myself!!

 

[Sweetened]

I am with purplequeenvt. The does ive trained myself are trained to stand without grain or feed. I do this because i like to know if i run out of their favorte feed or whatnot im not going to have to fight the entire time to get them milked.

I trained using two dog leashes, one on the collar to limit head and forward movement, and the other on the back legs. I put the handle of the leash over both feet and pull it up over the knee, wrapping the long part of the leash around a couple times to cinch down on the tendon. I will tie off the remainder of the leash, this prevents kicking.

I spend a little while holding the udder until the goat stops kicking or bouncing. The moment that stops, even for the breifest moment i let go and pet her wherever she likes being touched, for most of my goats thats the neck.

Ive trained 3 to milk this way. One doe i had i couldnt traib no matter what i did. She is no longer with us.