Milking Stands

[Stacykins]

Goats on my milk stand. The food pan is just a cheap gladware fixed to the stand, I plan to do something better eventually, but for now it works great. I fix the headgate with a chain on a hook. I saw that done at another breeder's place, and it works wonderfully!

"Less picture taking, more treat feeding!"

Artie the runty Boer wether modeling

 

[mama24]

I used the instructions from Fias Farms. It's a very nice stand. BUT, my smaller doe can get her head out! And she has horns!!! She's a little thing, and very smart, though. I need to figure something out for that, I guess just add another piece of wood or maybe even replace one of the headgate pieces.

 

[yankee'n'moxie]

Question: Does one NEED a milking stand? I am considering getting into a couple of Dairy goats, and I don't want to be caught without one, if I NEED it!

 

[redtailgal]

Well, I dont milk and dont intend to start, so I thought I would get away with not having one.

WRONG!

Hubby is building one for me...........trimming hooves without one is a back breaker!

 

[daisychick]

I didn't think I would "need" one either. But it sure is nice to trim hooves and groom them etc without them squirming all over the place. I can sit on my bucket and trim hooves and it is wonderful. Now that I have one I am wanting to milk my does when they freshen in June. I made the pvc pipe type and It stands up to my testy nubian girls just fine.

 

[yankee'n'moxie]

Ok! Thanks guys! Good to know! I was thinking about Nubians, and thought that the PVC ones would be too rickity (sp?), so thank you for saying that!!

 

[daisychick]

Ok! Thanks guys! Good to know! I was thinking about Nubians, and thought that the PVC ones would be too rickity (sp?), so thank you for saying that!!

Make sure you glue every joint, that is what makes it strong enough. The first time I tried to get away with only gluing the supporting pieces and when I put the first goat in the stand I quickly found my weak spots. I then glued every spot and now they can't escape.

 

[redtailgal]

Was your pcv pipe stanchion more expensive than building a wooden one?

 

[daisychick]

Was your pcv pipe stanchion more expensive than building a wooden one?

You know when it was all said and done, I think it was about even price wise. There were 2 different "grades" of pvc I had to choose from and the really thick type was expensive. I bought the medium grade pipe and it seems to be pretty strong. The main reason I chose it over wood was that I can leave it outside of the barn and hose it down if I need to. If I had a bigger barn and place to store a wooden stand out of the elements I would like to have a wood one. The pvc one was a fun puzzle challenge for me to "build it all by myself" I still may talk DH into helping me build a nice wood one some day, just because I love the looks of them and it would be more sturdy.

 

[redtailgal]

Cool, thanks for the info.

I"ll eventually have two stanchions, so I think I'll have one of each.