does anyone know where i can get plans to build agoat milking stand?also what is the best way to train a goat to stand on one and be milked?thank you for any help.randy

-- randy risner (risner@bellsouth.net), October 14, 2001

Answers

I have several plans for making goat milking stands. i recently started putting my files on the Goat Shed located at MSN communities. You can see them there or I will also e-mail them to you. or anyone else. but come by the Shed, w ewould love to chat with you, we are a freindly bunch.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), October 14, 2001.

Where are you located? I have a double one free for the taking in western Wisconsin, if anyone is interested.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), October 14, 2001.

Getting them on the stand the first time just involves sheer muscle power or tempting them with grain..... after that it get much easier when they realize that they get to EAT while up there. Then it becomes a matter of how to get them off the stand! Most will protest about milking for the first time but being patient and persistant pays off. I have had few that still kicked, stomped and stepped in the bucket after a few weeks of milking and they all found new homes shortly thereafter. Life is too short and there are too many does out there more than willing to be milked.

-- Tana McCarter (mcfarm@totelcsi.net), October 14, 2001.

I have a stand that you can have too if you want to come get it. I am in Oklahoma (North Central). Send me an e-mail if you want it and we will set up a time.

-- Patrick Zehr (pdzehr@poncaity.net), October 14, 2001.

My husband made one over 20 years ago and we still use it today. He took a wooden pallet, the hard wood kind, and put legs on it and fashioned the parts for holding their neck in place with a wooden box for the feed. A hook and eye keeps the neck part tight while you are milking and they are eating. He even put a little ramp for them to walk on onto it !! Not real fancy but it is wide enough for us to sit comfortably and you can hose it off too. I coax any new goat up on the stand with a bucket of grain. It's about 2 feet off of the floor. They soon learn if they want the grain they have to get up on the stand. Goats are fast learners...don't know if that is really good or not sometimes. Good Luck !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), October 14, 2001.

My goat milking stand is a little different than most and is very convenient and easy to use. I started by making a long, low table, the length of the goat plus a bucket. I put this table in the milk room on the wall between the stall and the milk room. Then I made a door that opens by a pull chain (a slide door that pulls up to open) at one end. The door into the stall is at the other end of the table. I put two large eyes at the end of the table by the stall door. On one eye, I attached a short piece of braided twine with a clip on it. When I want to milk, I put the appropriate amount of grain in a bucket and clip it to the eye with nothing on it. Then I call the goat I want, then slide open the door. The doe jumps onto the stand and starts eating. I hook her with the hook on the braided twine, then go about milking her. When she is done, I take the bucket down, unhook her and let her out the stall door. Then I reset for the next doe. There's no fuss or muss. All traffic is one way, so there are no traffic jams. It took me initially about a week for my does to get the hang of this system, but now I can even change the order that I milk them and they don't fuss. The clip on the braided twine doubles as the clip I use to "lock" the doorlatch so the goats can't get out (since prehensile lips are nearly as good as opposable thumbs, but not quite!). I'd love to say that I invented this system, but I have to credit Cleo Sanborn, a wonderful goat dairy woman who has some very good common sense goat raising ideas!

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), October 14, 2001.

My husband built me the one in Raising milk goats the modern way...and I love it. I have had no problem teaching my does to get up there....I bribe them with grain and they hop right up. I did notice that mine is a little higher (from the ground) than some I have seen. I like it that way..and the goats have no problem hopping up..I am tall, so a shorter person may prefer the low type. Mine is made of plywood and 2x4s. There are alot of plans out there. Good luck!!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 14, 2001.

My family and I raise Whitetail deer, and we heard that goats milk is the best to give the fawns. We were just wondering if anyone selld goats milk or can recomend me to anyone you know of who does. We live in the Southeastern part of Minnesota and we were also wondering if goats milk can be shiped frozen. Your help would be really appreciated.

-- Katie Willard (kwillard21@yahoo.com), November 30, 2001.

Katie, you live in goat diary country! No need to ship it. Lots of us, alas I am in Texas, sell milk frozen either in gallon water jugs or ziplocks to, among others deer folks. It is actually cheaper in the end to buy the milk frozen than it is to purchase the goat and keep her, especially if you know nothing about goats. I could send you names and addys of folks near you if you email me privately. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 30, 2001.

Katie - while I would love to sell/give you some goat milk we are in NW Minnesota so probably too far away but if you don't get in contact with Vicki, then email me and I can give you some names of goat people too. The MN Diary Goat Association also has a email group you may want to check into. Hope this helps.

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), November 30, 2001.