Tell me about your milking stanchion

[lilhill]

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!

 

[cmjust0]

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.

 

[trestlecreek]

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.

 

[BDial]

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.

 

[savingdogs]

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.

 

[lilhill]

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.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

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

;-)

 

[freemotion]

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!