[Mays]

so, I am hoping that by next year my two goatlings will have kidded and I will have a couple of goats to milk  so how long does it take to milk, & what is the best equipment to use?

I will timing the kidding to be beofre lambing so that hopefully any orphan lambs can get raised on goat milk, well thats the plan anyway!

[Skirza]

Takes me 5 minutes to milk one of mine and 15 to milk the other due to the fact that she has impossibly small teats (but gives a gallon a day). Obviously you'll get quicker as you get more experienced at it. The only equipment I use is a milking table (sterling board on some breezeblocks covered with checkerplate), a stainless steel bucket, a home made stool, udder wipes and teat dip. You can be really posh and have a strainer on your bucket, I have sterilised muslin held on with elastic  

[little blue]

so how long does it take to milk, & what is the best equipment to use?

... depends on your goat!
Seriously, it does - some are big, some small, some patient, some cantankerous!
  It doesn't take all that long (will try and time it for you later)
We use a bright yellow bucket to hold her feed (so they all know its milking time) and a small Pyrex jug to milk into (well, squat rather than small) and take the large saucepan into the pen to empty the jug into periodically.  As the kids are only 5 week old, we can't separate "Mum" from them, she gets stroppy  - I'd recommend you lead-train yours - it makes all the difference!

Udder wipes & cream are useful.

We then sterilise the milk on the hob, and filter it (tea strainers are great!) into glass bottles (via a funnel) which go straight into the fridge to cool.  It takes approx 24 hours before we then use it.  We dont bother filtering it before sterilising, unless it has obvious 'bits' in!  Wine bottles or Jacques Cider bottles (ie with screw top lids) are the best, I swap the empties from my friends for eggs... though I do my best to empty them myself too!   They go through the dishwasher, get Milton-ed and once the cream gets stuck, get recycled.

When I say "we" ... my husband does the actual milking - he is a pianist so has really strong hands & fingers.  I am in charge of entertaining the youngsters & filling the buckets!  He just kneels on the floor (If it was me, I'd need a milking stand to make the goat higher up!)

[Anke]

I milk all three of mine single handedly - one teat at the time, other holds the jug. My BT which gives about 3.5kgs in the morning has VERY small teats and I have Carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands (hence only one hand at the time and other gets a rest), so she takes just over 30mins, but I am getting a bit quicker. My GG's also single handed, take about 20 mins each, one is first kidder, so a bit of legs in the air still goes on, but she is settling.

It is quite long - but it is my "me-time" of the day, usually have the radio on and nobody minds me singing along to BBC2!

Not quite sure what will happen when I take my gang to a show, as is the plan, I may be expelled for being too slow to milk....

I use food grade plastic buckets with snap-on lids, then weigh once in the house, filter, using milk filters and a conical shaped sieve, then fridge. We do not pasteurise, and buckets etc get washed/rinsed in very hot water straight afterwards. I feed before milking, never on the milking stand. In the first few days it is helpful to have kiddie running around for mum to see, so she is not worrying what may happen to him/her while she is being assaulted. After a couple of days they usually knock over the bucket, so go back into the pen.

[ballingall]

We have a wooden milking stand that my brother in law made for us. We always used to use a milking stand, and then having the goat higher up allowed us to sit on a chair to milk- much comfier. However, my brother in law wasn't that accustomed to the goats when he built the one we have now, and he made it too wide for that. So, we sit on the milking bench alongside the goat!

We use stainless steel milk cans- find they last better, and of course can be sterilised. We had to throw 2 milk cans out last year- small stainless steels with lids, which held about a gallon of milk. My mum had had them for over 30 years, and she got them second hand, so they do last well. We just milk two handed into the bucket which sits on the milking bench. We might use a jug to milk into for the last bit of milk at a show if we had a goat which was likely to kick the bucket over.

It does depend on the goat how long it takes to milk, and on you as well. The more practice you have the quicker, and more confident you generally become. Some goats are as easy as pie to milk, others can be hell on earth, even if you are experienced at milking. Even the most well behaved goat can occasionally have a strop, or be upset and manage to kick the bucket over (and that somehow manages to happen at a show).

You can buy milking stands/benches online from Ascott Smallholding supplies, but it's not too hard to put one together that suits you. Use a small seive (tea strainer) and milk filters to strain through the milk, we don't pasturise. Store it in the fridge in plastic or pottery jugs, or plastic 2 litres bottles. If freezing, freeze in either 2 litre plastic bottles, or in a 2 litre ice cream tub. Once frozen, the milk can be tipped out of the tub, and the tub reused to freeze another block of milk. The advantage of this is that if you freeze a lot to feed orphan lambs, calf's etc, then it stores neater in the freezer.


Beth

[wytsend]

Into this discussion I will throw another thought/fact.

Like all milking animals, goats have a let down period.  When this is over, the milk does not flow down the udder and may have to be helped by massaging.
Unfortunately, this let down period is around 7mins  which is not very long.  But you have to equate this with how kids would empty the udder.

It is possible to damage udder tissue with taking too long to milk.... before anybody gets upset at the thought I am suggesting they are damaging their goats udder..... it is possible but not probable.   If your goats get mastitis/ have had mastitis and you hand milk, there is a link because the teat canal is being kept active longer than nature intended and infection has a direct route of access.

I would suggest, that for those who have difficulty in milking.. I do also - arthritis both hands,  get a small milking machine.  Kinder to you and the goat.  With a machine you can strip a goat in less than 3 minutes, finishing off by hand with a few squirts.

I know it means cleaning the machine each time, but have a bucket of hot water standing by and suck that up after empting the milk churn first !!

[Mays]

thank you for all the detailed advice! You have all given my things to think about which I am hugly grateful for. I do get a stiff neck so I will need my girls raised on a table of sorts, so I guess I will be going down the milking stand route.

[Mays]

are the milking machines gentle enough on the udders? - this sort of thing http://www.milkingmachines.co.uk/portable/twin_goat_portable.htm

[wytsend]

Yes absolutely.   I have an o0lder one that runs 3 bucket units.

On the thought of gentleness,  have you ever seen a kid of about 4/6weeks old being gentle with its mother's udder ?  The same goes for lambs.  If you watch them feeding, you will see the youngsters giving mother's udder really hefty thumps.  There is a reason... the mother obligingly lets down more milk.

[Mays]

Yes absolutely.   I have an o0lder one that runs 3 bucket units.

On the thought of gentleness,  have you ever seen a kid of about 4/6weeks old being gentle with its mother's udder ?  The same goes for lambs.  If you watch them feeding, you will see the youngsters giving mother's udder really hefty thumps.  There is a reason... the mother obligingly lets down more milk.

o yes, I am hand rearing kids and lambs just now... they are strong nudgers alright!

[jaykay]

I have a wooden milking stand, made from a pattern on the Fias Co Farm website.

I use a handpump for milking, called an UdderlyEz. The thing I like best is that you milk directly into bottles, so no filtering milk etc. and no kicking buckets - bottles go straight into the freezer for chilling. Important for me cos I have to go out to work early.

Also, one of my goats has tiny teats but the UdderlyEz has inserts to account for different sized teats so that's a breeze. Also no pipes to clean like some milkers - just rinse it under the tap. I sound like a commercial for it (not involved, honestly!) but it's just such a good bit of kit.

[McRennet]

I was just about to post something similar to the original question, this is brilliant timing!

My goatling is the one with the uneven udder but she is hell to hand milk and given that we are hoping to set up a dairy herd (around 100, possibly less) I was wondering about the milking machines, going to go google now.

I have said it before and I will say it again, oh how wonderful this forum is!

Wytsend, I shall call you tomorrow night, I haven't forgotten about you!

McR

[ballingall]

are the milking machines gentle enough on the udders? - this sort of thing http://www.milkingmachines.co.uk/portable/twin_goat_portable.htm

That's the kind of machine we have. They are expensive, and I know not everyone will be able to walk out and buy one. But.... if something happened and you had to go into hospital mays, (or Anke)- consider who would milk your goats for you?

Unless you have someone else in the house who can (and will) milk, the plus side of the milking machine, is that virtually anyone can milk your goats for you. Previously for us, if we had milkers at home, mum, my sister or I would have to be there to milk. My OH and my neice can both milk, but not 6 goats in a row! Now, even my brothers in law or neighbours could milk the goats if need be.



Beth

[jaykay]

That's why I bought the UdderlyEz milking pump (click here for details) - so hubby could milk them too, if I had to be away. It certainly allowed a friend to look after the place for us for a week last year.

Everyone said to me when I started out that a goat gets so used to the way you handmilk that someone else taking over can be difficult.

[jinglejoys]

How are you getting on with the Ez?
I've been trying to source someone who's stillgot one of Jon Norris's fantastic little milking machines or may know how to repair one