[kye]

ok, its all gone to plan, my shetlands have calves and my really tame one is happy for me to milk her. slight problem is its actually quite tricky to get the milk out! 
the calfs still with her so i separated them for a few hours and she has plenty of milk, its just hard to get her to let down. today was our first proper attempt and we only got 250ml      i have promised the kids we would make icecream .........
she is full but not engorged, i have udder balm. i do have rather big chunky hands for her small-ish teats. all the videos on the net seem to have these huge teats to tug at.
i didnt wash her first so maybe that will help her to let down for me.
any advice ?? 
i have milked my old GG goat years ago so not completely in-experienced.

there some great stuff on this link  check out the fairoaks farm one...wow.
http://on.aol.com/video/how-to-milk-a-cow-by-hand-163417488

this is good - something to aim for..
How to Milk a Cow

[SallyintNorth]

Shetlands may be different to my Jerseys, but with the Jerseys here's what I'd advise.

Firstly, yes, establish a routine which she will learn as her 'let the milk down' signals.  Udder washing is a good thing to do from this point of view, as well as for hygiene! 

Secondly, sometimes a heifer doesn't realise to let the milk down for you - to teach her, one thing you can do is do your pre-milking routine, then bring the hungry calf round.  She'll let down for the calf; you get on and milk some out while the calf is suckling.  You may get so much slobber over you and in the jug/bucket that you don't want to use it, even if the calf doesn't bunt it over while you're working under her  , but don't worry about that, you're just teaching her to accept your fingers milking her as normal, and to let the milk down to that routine.  (If you have some pigs, you can give them the spoiled milk.  Or chickens.  Or dogs, or whatever.)

Another tactic which works with a recalcitrant Jersey is to give her her cake a handful at a time.  A bit to get her tied up and while you wash her / prepare her.  Then a handful as you start.  Then no more until she is doing what you want, be it standing quietly while you pull away, or dropping the milk so you can start.  However, be a bit careful with this approach; I've taught my one Jersey to let down after she's eaten the first bucketful of cake!    (She is a particularly intelligent animal, mind.  Her daughter was a doddle compared to her!)

Other things you have probably already tried include massaging the udder, doing a human version of the calf's bunt, wetting the teats like a calf's mouth would.

I haven't milked goats, but some of the things goat people say about how to milk a goat make me wonder whether it's a slightly different technique... anyone who handmilks goats and cows able to comment?

[HappyHippy]

I've not milked cows and am not terribly experienced when it comes to goats, but I generally bring her to the milking stand, she sticks her head in the feed bucket and I milk her 
There's no udder washing or need to stimulate the let down reflex - it just comes out 

I use my thumb and first finger to 'seal' the milk canal and squeeze my fingers slowly around the teat from the top down to express the milk.
Does that help at all Sally ?

[SallyintNorth]

I use my thumb and first finger to 'seal' the milk canal and squeeze my fingers slowly around the teat from the top down to express the milk.
Does that help at all Sally ?

Well that's exactly what I do with a cow, so maybe it is the same.

I'm assuming your goat was used to being milked before you got her, Karen?  So she already knows that the milking stand means 'drop your milk'.

But maybe goats do drop their milk a wee bit more readily than some cows 

[HappyHippy]

I think Mrs Nibbles (3 year old British Apline) has been milked before, she's a super friendly goat and you can do anything with her but even the wee Golden Guensey who's very skittish and just weaned her first kids let down without needing any sort of stimulation and she was terrified, poor wee thing.
I only took what I had to so she could dry up without getting mastitus. I'm working on socialising and feeding her up a bit, will get her back in-kid later in the year and hopefully add her to the milking routine next year  (when Jess goes to nursery and I'll have more time  )

She's coming round quickly though - cream crackers are wonderful goat taming devices  Even the GG kids are now tame enough for the kids to catch for a cuddle  (sorry ! I digress  )

[VSS]

With a goat, it is usually possible to get the milk out even if he is withholding it, but with a cow, you have no chance.

She is obviously holding the milk up for the calf - in her mind, that is what it is for.

If this was the first attempt, well, you're not doing too badly. It usually gets easier. You might find that milking the cow somewhere she can see the calf will help with the let down - and everything that has already been said about regular routine will also help.

We have milked cows at the same time as leaving the calf on the cow and it does have advantages - often the calf will do better than if bucket reared, and if for some reason you can't milk the cow, it doesn't matter as the calf can do it for you. There are disadvantages. The lactation length will be shorter and the yield will drop more rapidly as the calf grows and takes less milk and IME as the calf gets older, it sometimes becomes harder to get the cow to let her milk down as she gets wise to what you are trying to do.

On balance taking the calf away and bucket rearing works better for us, but there is no reason leaving the calf on shouldn't give you enough milk for household needs for a good bit of the year.