Sheep milking. Big hands, little teats.

[ThoughtfulFox]

Greetings, all.
New member and new handyman/shepherd, here.
For about four months I've had a job as a 'shepherd'. (Flock of eight sheep, six lambs, one ram, all East Friesian) I've mostly been feeding the sheep, cleaning stalls, and repairing things around the farm.
(was initially called in for carpentry work; my previous career)
Two days ago we weaned two sheep of their lambs, and the lady of the farm is teaching me to milk the sheep.
This isn't their first lambing (I think I'm saying that right) but both of the sheep have rather small teats. The lady has small hands, so she can actually use three to four fingers on their teats, but I'm a pretty big guy with pretty big hands. All I can get is two fingers on them. After a while the fingers cramp up, and I have to switch hands or teats. It takes absolutely forever, and the sheep eventually get antsy.

So if anyone has tips to share with a beginner, they would be greatly appreciated.

Alternately, I'll gladly listen to instructions on repairing a "surge milker" from ~something~ bros Co. Chicago. (the emblem is double-stamped so I can't read it properly) At this moment I have no idea what's wrong with it, but my employers have enough faith in me that they want me to fix it...

Thank you in advance for your time.

~Fox

EDIT: correction on number, addition of breed, formatting

 

[ThoughtfulFox]

My apologies for the bump. If I'm breaking forum rules with this it's unintentional. But the donkey that brays the loudest gets fed first.

I'm getting very discouraged with my progress so far. I'm trying different methods, different grips, et cetera to no avail.
Milking a single sheep is still taking nearly an hour.
And I've been informed that next week I'm expected to do this job completely on my own.
*serious misgivings about that, but there is no alternative*

I've done a bit more research on the particular milking machine we have, and it is one of these:
http://www.perrysmilkers.com/PRODUCTS.html
(DP50 series)
Maintenance has not been kept up on the machine, and at the last check (around eight months ago, I assume) one side was working far less reliably than the other. To my untrained eye it just looks like an unholy conglomeration of hoses right now.

I've tried finding videos of people milking sheep to see what can be learned, but all I find are clips where the teats are absolutely massive, and people are sliding their hands down the teat. My hands don't slide like that. There's simply too much friction. Do I need to apply some sort of lubrication?

Please advise if you are able.
Anything would be appreciated.

~Fox

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Hi! Sorry you're having trouble milking! I've milked sheep before, and it can definitely be difficult! My recommendation would be to use your first two fingers (behind the teat), and your thumb (in front). You'll want to press the top of the teats in between your index finger and thumb, and then "roll" your thumb down towards the bottom of the teat and hopefully that will work. Or, you could try a lubricant and use your first 2 fingers behind, and then slide your thumb down the teat. In my experience, that is a little harder. Cramps are going to happen until you get used to milking, sorry to say it. It'll get easier though! Has your boss offered any help for different techniques? Just think of the teat like a tube of toothpaste, or an icing bag. You don't want the milk to go back up, so somehow you'll just have to "clamp off" (for lack of a better term) the top of the teat and apply downward pressure to get the milk out.

And I would recommend contacting the people at Perry to see if they can walk you through some trouble shooting. Seems their customer service should be able to take care of it. Good luck, and let us know how it works out!

 

[ThoughtfulFox]

Thank you for the response. From what you're describing I might not be doing this so wrong as I thought. The only portion I'm not yet doing is the "thumb slide" so I'll give that a try, tonight. (will also be incorporating some K-Y lube to see if that helps. Yes, I realize how bad that sounds in this context) Hopefully I'll find a method that works for me and for our sheep.
As far as techniques that my boss has described, they seem to be mainly helpful to people with smaller hands. She often says to grab the teat further up, but I can't go any further up without essentially squeezing the entire mammary gland at once. Whenever I try it clearly makes the sheep uncomfortable and they start doing the Tennessee two-step. (dancing around to get away from me)

You're probably right that I should contact the manufacturer to get instructions on repairing the milking machine. I'll give that a shot, later.

At the very least I don't feel quite so alone now.

 

[ThoughtfulFox]

Time for an update.
I've now taken over all PM milking duties, everything is going smoothly, my hands are cramping far less often, we're getting done more quickly every night, and the lady of the farm says I'm getting even more milk from the sheep than she is.
Thank you aggieterpkatie!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Time for an update.
I've now taken over all PM milking duties, everything is going smoothly, my hands are cramping far less often, we're getting done more quickly every night, and the lady of the farm says I'm getting even more milk from the sheep than she is.
Thank you aggieterpkatie!

That's great to hear! Good job!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

drudging up this thread naughty me...
just had to toss out something that people might find interesting.

i have goats that i handmilk. hands cramp up at first but after ya get used to it and your hands learn what to do its less and less.

when i need to be away and cannot milk my father does it for me. he ALWAYS gets more milk then me.
but on the other hand i am hearing that every old timer you talk to will tell ya a lady gets more milk with any animal every time over a guy milking.

i've never used a machine. but from what i've read and seeing neaighbor farms dairy cow setups with their machines i couldnt imagine washin all those extras without there being way too many for me to milk to be worth it. plus the price of them in the first place is insanity. just my opinion.

wish there was more info on sheep milking! hahaha.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Bumping this because I have an Alpine/Boer that just kidded and I milked some of the colostrum out of her today to freeze in case of emergencies. I do plan on milking her after baby is weaned, but after 6 months of milking well-bred Saanens, I was completely unprepared at how tiny her little Boer teats were! Any tips for milking tiny teats is appreciated.

DBF also got me a Henry milker for Xmas. Would that be something useful for a tiny-teat doe? I haven't tried it out yet because I am trying to dry up my Saanens.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Bumping this because I have an Alpine/Boer that just kidded and I milked some of the colostrum out of her today to freeze in case of emergencies. I do plan on milking her after baby is weaned, but after 6 months of milking well-bred Saanens, I was completely unprepared at how tiny her little Boer teats were! Any tips for milking tiny teats is appreciated.

DBF also got me a Henry milker for Xmas. Would that be something useful for a tiny-teat doe? I haven't tried it out yet because I am trying to dry up my Saanens.

personally unless the teats are about the size of my pinkie finger (tip to first knuckle) then i can milk.
but to me i would rather hand milk then use a machine or any "hand milking machines" etc. just my preference. all i've seen its more work with machines then without.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

My recommendation would be to use your first two fingers (behind the teat), and your thumb (in front). You'll want to press the top of the teats in between your index finger and thumb, and then "roll" your thumb down towards the bottom of the teat and hopefully that will work.

That is how I milk my Nigerians too.

Milking nigerians can be a little intimidating, but I just use a couple fingers and it works just fine. A couple of my girls have larger teats but I just add fingers for them and subtract for the smallest ones. Boers can't possibly be smaller than nigerians!

I can't help with machine advice because I milk by hand. I enjoy the zen time with my girls. Just a few quiet minutes me and them.