Where do you milk your goat?

[ThreeBoysChicks]

My goats share a barn with 2 horses, 2 sheep, 2 cats and a bunch of chickens. I am hoping to breed my 2 does this fall. My question is this, would you milk them in the barn or would it be best to make milk them outside (weather permitting) or bring them to the garage for milking.

What do you do and why?

 

[freemotion]

I milked mine in the hay storage area...you need to be somewhere clean and where the other animals cannot access you. Then the mosquitoes came out and the milking stand was immediately moved into a quickly cleaned corner of the garage. I prefer this as it is so close to the house so I don't have to drag all my stuff up and down the yard to the barn.

I do move the stand back to the barn once it snows, as dragging the goat across the yard during a blizzard is no fun, either!

 

[Chirpy]

Ideally you want as clean as an environment as possible when you are milking. Some people are blessed with an enclosed room, cement floor, finished walls, etc.

You can milk outside you want, I milked at a friends house a few times - she milked outside and it was kinda freaky when it was thundering and lightening around us. I've also milked inside a 10x10 storage shed that had the milk stand against one wall. It was really enjoyable on a warm, sunny summer evening.

Others, like me.. milk in the barn. I have dirt floors, covered with straw and hay and cats and dogs running around. I make sure the kids (mine - not goat kids) aren't running around to kick up dust. My milk stand is around a corner, away from the stalls. I keep my pails covered the entire time, except while actually milking, of course. I love going out to the barn and sitting in the quiet (well, not when my kids are out there with me ) enjoying the time with my barn animals.

The positives of milking near where you're goats are kept is:
1) It's easy to get the goats to the stand.
2) You don't have to go out into bad weather with your goat to get to the stand.

The negatives:
1) It could be smelly in the goat area - milk will easily take on the smells around (that includes hay) the milking area.
2) If you have a buck - don't ever milk near him... the milk will usually take on a goaty smell. I've even had my milk taste goaty when milking a doe that just came from the buck and smelled herself.

The positives of milking in another building (like your garage):
1) Probably less likely of having odd smells (unless you keep fuel in there).
2) You don't have too far to carry the milk when you're done.

The negatives:
1) If your doe isn't in the mood you may have to 'convince' her to walk the distance - in bad weather that could be next to impossible. Then, you have to get her back to her stall.

I know I've forgotten to mention stuff - I'm really tired... others will chime in to give you other ideas/thoughts.

 

[Rebbetzin]

The goats I milk, in the center of the enclosure there is a "milking shed" where we are out of the elements while milking. There are two milking stands, , it has a concrete floor.

Being out of the wind, sun and rain is a good thing. The goats seem to be happy to come in the milking shed, since they get grain while being milked.

If I had the $$, I would love to have a place with a drain in the floor, and the ability to hose down the udders. But, this system seems to work pretty good.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

For most of the year my milk stand stays in the barn. When it gets really hot in the summer, sometimes I'll put the feed pan out in the grass in a shady spot and sit in the grass and milk.

 

[PattySh]

I use a room in my barn. The tack room has running water and a window and electrical outlets so it was the room of choice for milking when we got goats. I store horse tack in one corner, and feed in metal trash cans. My milking stand is set up in another corner near the window. The floor is concrete so easy to clean and the room is right off the goat pens. I do have horses and a couple of cows in the barn. One choice I made tho was to take the poultry out of the barn and made them a coop outside the barn due to the bird dust. My buck is in close proximity to the barn and his presence does not "flavor" the milk.

Any clean area will work, I like a close proximity to where the goats are housed. I prefer inside. You'll need a table or something to keep babywipes, jars, teat dip,grooming brush etc near your stand.

A suggestion is if you have to choose a dusty area milk directly into wide mouth qt canning jars and cover asap with plastic canning jar tops. Also I use fly paper and a fan near the milking stand to keep any flies away in summer.

 

[Rebbetzin]

I decided to add some photos of the milking shed here. So you can see what can be done for not too much money. The milking shed was built with discard lumber and free pallets.

Here I am milking Shadow, in the forground you can see the stanchion on the right, then there is a dividing wall made of a pallet with a 2X4 for a shelf between the two milkstands. on the wall behind me is a shelf for brushes and different medical/cleaning items.

here is the milkstand I was sitting on... but now it has three goats standing on it all trying to eat grain from the shelf for the bowl. We keep the grain in the metal trash can on the right.

This is the view I have while milking, this was from Nov. 2011

I now see I don't really have any good photos of the milking shed.

Here is Countess trying to eat the palm fronds off the roof.

Here is one view with the window I can see out of while milking.

Other than the cost of a few screws, nails, and couple sets of gate hinges and closures, the shed materials were free.

 

[phoenixmama]

I haven't started milking yet, my first doe is due on the 16th. My *plan* is to milk in the garage attached to the house. It's very clean in there and easy to keep clean, doesn't smell, the animals cannot access it, I have great shelving that holds milking equipment, I have a spot for my dry erase board to record daily milk production, a spot for my scale, my "milk refrigerator" is right there, and it's right off the kitchen so when I'm milking in the morning I'm not far away from the human kids.

I've been feeding the girls their daily ration of grain in there, in the "right order"...so that they start to get used to going to the garage for milking and grain, instead of veering right into the gardens.

 

[Rebbetzin]

I've been feeding the girls their daily ration of grain in there, in the "right order"...so that they start to get used to going to the garage for milking and grain, instead of veering right into the gardens.

I think you have a great plan there!! Grain seems to be a great motivator!!

 

[RainySunday]

Right now, our milk stand is on our covered porch, which is within 60ish feet of the goat enclosure/pen. We get lots and lots of rain so having a covered area is a must. I have decided that in the fall when the temps start dropping, we will probably move the stand into our entryway in the house, so we don't freeze to death out there!