Milking
Lee milks twice a day, once at 6:00 am. and once at 6:00 p.m. In order to milk our dairy does, we had to have a milk stanchion. So, Lee built one in July of 2000:
The ramp makes it easy for the girls to walk up. The height makes it easier for Lee to reach for milking.
Notice the platform on the side which makes it very easy for the does to turn around when they are done being milked, so they can go back down the ramp.
The board on the left moves to the right and locks in with a hook latch. This keeps the goats in the stanchion and makes it so they can't nip the person milking them. Mostly, it keeps them occupied while they are being milked with the nice feed bowl right in front of them.
Lee designed this stanchion and built it out of scraps in our garage.
I'm posting the plans for the stanchion here on the web. We'd appreciate an e-mail to let us know whether they worked for you if you use them. Thanks.
You can e-mail us at: homesteading@sugarmountainhome.com
In 2001, he built another
one, that has access from the opposite side, so now we have a left-hand
stanchion and a right-hand stanchion. He has also re-vamped an old Surge
belly milker so he doesn't have to milk by hand anymore: He bought 2 of these machines and a surplus medical vacuum
pump. He built his own vacuum chamber out of heavy-duty PCV pipe, replaced
the teat cups (those above are for cows) with smaller clear cups for
goats. He traded/bartered one milk machine setup for our Nubian buck and a
Nubian cross doe, and now another goat herding family also does not have to milk
by hand! We have one machine setup and an extra pail for colostrum, which
we always keep separate.
Counter placed 7/30/2000
11/20/04