Big learning curve!
Finally got all the bits and bobs put together (which pipe goes where? Is this full vacuum or vacuum off?) and tested the machine by giving it a good clean through. Didn't seem too noisy - but we were outside the garage. Then took it into goat house and - with me holding out dried mixed fruit as bribes - switched it on. Phew! Inside it was much louder - my two milkers had come from a machine-milking premises but that goat shed was much larger, so they jumped and then looked horrified, but still ate the fruit. The little female kid having never heard anything like it was charging round her pen, and I can't blame her.
Anyway, come milking time I put apple and banana in with their grain and after a quick snort my older girl who had been machine-milked before was perfectly calm about the whole thing. And my goodness it was so much quicker than hand-milking - creaky arthritis and carpal tunnel problems definitely make milking a lot slower.
Tomorrow morning will be the next test. I only milk my first-kidder in the morning as she is feeding her offspring as well, so we will see if she will accept the new regime. So far, so good.
Topic: Milked by machine for the first time today (Read 2258 times)
