How many can you milk by hand?

midkiffsjoy · #21 12/21/07, 07:30 PM

Giggle. I'll never forget how Holly kicked me in the head. It never occured to me that she almost took out my eye, I was more worries about my glasses! giggle. Out of my 7 this year, 4 have never been milked before. And even then.....I always break out because I'm allergic to goat dander. giggle. That's why I'm saving up for a milking machine. It's not any fun when you have an allergic reaction. The kids like to help, but it's more fun for them at the moment than actual helping. But theres always the future. grin.

Tracy in Idaho · #22 12/21/07, 08:12 PM

We get the machine out by the time we're milking over 12. Less than that and it is hardly worth the effort of cleaning the milker. We can actually milk out faster by hand than the machine does anyhow.
Now when it comes to those FF's with the teeny tiny teats, I hook up the machine!

I don't deal with bad milking attitudes either.....pooping on the stand would get you 86'd outta my barn pretty fast! And if you kick my milk bucket, you'll be wearing it on your head next! That said, it's been pretty few and far between that we ever have problems -- these girls live to be milked, and they love it.

Tracy

HazyDay · #23 12/21/07, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tracy in Idaho

I don't deal with bad milking attitudes either.....pooping on the stand would get you 86'd outta my barn pretty fast! And if you kick my milk bucket, you'll be wearing it on your head next! That said, it's been pretty few and far between that we ever have problems -- these girls live to be milked, and they love it.

Tracy

Good to hear I am not the only one! I have a very strick milking rule! No kicking or yelling! I had a doeling who used to pee when she was eatting, and when you have a rubber mat on the stand pee doesn't go away.

So I started putting a bucket under her (you know whats!) After that it all stopped. I don't know why the heck she did that!

dezeeuwgoats · #24 12/21/07, 08:34 PM

Our first year we milked three. This past year we milked ten, but near the end we finally got a milking machine. These are all good milkers with high averages. My two older sons help out at milking time. We kind of do it all together as a family.

This year I am freshening nineteen, but the due dates are scattered.

Niki

christij · #25 12/21/07, 10:12 PM

I milked one experienced milker this year -- she is spoilt and stomps when she runs out of food. I should have 3 this year to freshen with two being first time milkers and unknown EDDs but I am hoping March. Instead of kidding vibes please send preggo vibes to my gals! Grin.

hoofinitnorth · #26 12/21/07, 10:22 PM

I only milk 2 and I'm just learning. They are NDs. Some times it is no big deal and I feel like I could milk all day long but other times I feel like I can't even get through half a milking of one! I have arthritis and other health issues, though, and I am still building my milking muscles. It will come with time.

The breeder that sold my goats to me hand-milked as many as 15 this year (all NDs). Some of her girls milk over 6 pounds daily! The trouble with doing that is that if you don't have a sub when you're sick or hurt, it can be very painful to have to get through it!!!

There is DEFINITELY something to be said for a soft, pliable udder, good-sized teats, a nice let-down reflex, and big orifices! My first freshener's orifices are larger than my senior doe's but my senior doe stands like a champ and never gives me any grief on the stand. The first freshener has is a challenging goat with lots of ideas about how things should go but she is learning that it's my way or the highway.

Gentle, firm, consistent requests and progress are the only way to go with the beginners.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #27 12/21/07, 11:17 PM

Shoot Tracy I use mine to even milk out colostrum form the first doe!

I get used machines all the time, rebuild them so they are ready to go completely for $650, local folks, it's too expensive to ship, plus that way you can come and milk my does with it to see how to work it

You can put your own together for $700 everyday. With milking doe prices what they are, sell a doe or two and buy yourself a machine! And with soo many folks wanting family milkers don't under price your milkers, it's just way to much work! Vicki

susanne · #28 12/22/07, 12:25 AM

for the beginning big orifices are nice, doesn't strain too much on the hands. after a year you might want to prefer more medium sized orifices, healthier for the udder and not so much milk loss

i had one doe this year that i needed to let out of the pen with the bucket already in the hand.
when i started milking three years ago, i thought my hands will fall off. now i can milk ten before it starts to hurt. Diane that would make about 8 gallon here.

it definitely improved my arthritis and my hands are not swollen anymore.
heather i hope your niggies don't have too small teats?

hoofinitnorth · #29 12/22/07, 01:26 AM

Susanne, I am lucky in that my girls' teats are good sized and quite easy to milk. The one with the larger orifices, thankfully, does not leak. I sure can tell the difference between her orifices and my other doe's though!

My other first freshener was already dry when I bought her so I haven't milked her yet.

steff bugielski · #30 12/22/07, 05:35 AM

I expect to be milking 22 this year. Two are FF the rest are used to the process. I milk by myself, twice a day. My milking area is set up for two goats at a time. The first two are always a quick eater and a slow on. So I can let the slow one eat while I bring out the next one and we keep swapping out like that. I am always done milking before the goat is done eating. That gives me the chance to do other things at the same time. Like feed the bunnies or the chickens or the llamas and donkey.
It takes me about 2 hours in the morning including cleaning up afterwads.
My favorite time of day.

Ark · #31 12/22/07, 06:20 AM

In the spring of '06 I was milking 16 by hand.

5 or 6 were first fresheners, all very well behaved and easy to milk, but they just didn't give that much milk.

Plus, some of the rest of them were not heavy milker so it only took me two hour to do morning chores, and two for evening chores. That includes feeding ALL the animals, filling waterers, locking up kids, etc...

I started to get a lot of pain in my hands and wrists during the night. It hurt so bad that I couldn't sleep. When we got our tax return $, my DH insisted on buying a milk machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HazyDay · #32 12/22/07, 08:32 AM

We have 3 FF does due this year, but only one is dairy and will be milked twice aday. She doesn't worry me, as I have been getting her used to it. The one thing you don't want to do is buy a SF doe, who weaned a kid and has been dry for over 8 months! She was a killer to milk. The first day it took me 1 hour to milk her out! And I had been milking well over 6 months at that time! (For 2007) She has weird orifices, because one milks stright down and the other milks a little sideways! It took a few weeks to learn how to get it into the pail!

So lesson learned! Never buy a second kidding doe, who dam fed her first kid and hasn't been worked with! She is now one of my really good milkers in the barn, but has a bad udder.

So it is good bye this spring :

dosthouhavemilk · #33 12/22/07, 09:28 AM

I'm not a real dairy goat milker...lol
I was milking three does for about a week last winter, just to keep the udders healthy. This year, there will be a lot more. I may milk more regularly this year, but with 40 cows milking by August (that will be about 4 hours for milking twice a day)? Not so likely.
I had one doe I milked regularly for a few months...finally dried her up.
We have parts of a machine, but I need to replace the inflations and find a betetr teat cup set up. They turned Milky Way's teats purple.. ugh.
I enjoy hand milking, but I also enjoy me free time. Since I have the vacuum line and the Grade A cow barn...it is fairly simple for me to go ahead and machine milk.

cowgirlracer · #34 12/22/07, 09:52 AM

I am only good for about 5 or 6 - right now. I also work full time (plus a lot of OT) so it is a time thing for me. When I first started with goats we bought two goats one was a kinder that was somebodys house pet and boy does she have an attitude. We still have her, but I don't know why except she started it all. She would kick on the milk stand, knock the bucket over, never drop berries though. She lost 1/2 her udder 3 years ago to mastitis and now the other half went - her bag is not that well attached and drags on the ground when full. So I don't know what her furure holds - freezer maybe.

The other goat we had was wild - I mean absolutely wild. To milk her we would have to catch her, lay her down and sit on her. She was big enough that it would take two of us - she was a beautifully marked nubian her name was "Jane Doe". Needless to say we never freshened her again and she went to the auction.

Of the girls I milked last year - they had great milking manners. Now that I know how bad it can be I won't put up with it. Occasioally we would get a foot in the milk, but it had more to do with the kids escaping and jumping up on the milk stand than the does manners.

Never a dull moment.

When we get to the "farm" I plan to have a milking machine and a milking parlor. Right now tho it is done outside, snow, rain, wind or shine. If it is really bad I take them to the feed shed, but have to leave the door open to the elements as it has no lighting. Can't wait to get to the farm.

Anne

lonelyfarmgirl · #35 12/23/07, 04:30 AM

I milked 2 over the summer and am still milking both of them. they are only just now bred.
I have a doe due in march, and one in early May, and 2 FF due sometime in May, so that will be 6 at some point. So when I dry out my 2 I am milking now, my March doe ought to be kidding, so hopefully no break in the milk. I have probably 10 gallons frozen, though just in case.

cmharris6002 · #36 12/23/07, 04:55 AM

I can easily milk 6 by hand, taking less than 2 hrs to do all the chores from start to finish. I switched to a milking machine when I started milking eight.

Christy

goatkid · #37 12/23/07, 08:38 AM

Right now, I'm milking 9 by hand. It's not too much work this time of year as they are bred and production is down. I will be freshening about 20 in the spring, but I leave kids on most of them as I have an off the farm job as well as my goat chores. I do get DH to help sometimes, but am on my own for the rest of this lactation as he had surgery a few weeks ago and can't have the does pulling when he leads them.

**mygoat** · #38 12/23/07, 11:09 AM

This year I milked 2, and I was able to get them both done and get to school on time every day. The entire process didn't take me more than 15 minutes when I was rushed, and I got 7 lbs from one doe and 11 from the other in the beginning.

This year I'll be butchering those two does, though... My experienced does!

I'm getting a pair of FF purebred alpine does... Hopefully they're good producers for FF, as I need the milk for babies! I'm not looking forward to the training, however... or tiny teats...

I think my limit will be 10-15 does, though I'll probably try to keep it under 10 if I can.

HazyDay · #39 12/23/07, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

This year I milked 2, and I was able to get them both done and get to school on time every day. The entire process didn't take me more than 15 minutes when I was rushed, and I got 7 lbs from one doe and 11 from the other in the beginning.

This year I'll be butchering those two does, though... My experienced does!

I'm getting a pair of FF purebred alpine does... Hopefully they're good producers for FF, as I need the milk for babies! I'm not looking forward to the training, however... or tiny teats...

I think my limit will be 10-15 does, though I'll probably try to keep it under 10 if I can.

Sounds like my time! this April, when I was feeding 6 kids I had it all timed out! It would take me 20 mins, to milk, bottle, refill all water buckets! This year I am home schooled! So I can take as long as I want! My limit is 10 milking does also.

Freeholder · #40 12/23/07, 01:04 PM

I have milked six before, and three of them were hard to milk (small teats, tight teat orifice). I don't want to do that again, however! Right now I figure four is my limit, and I would prefer all four to be easy milkers. I only have one doe at the moment, and she's dry -- she should be kidding next month, and then I'll be buying a doe in milk so we will have two next year. The year after that I expect to be milking either three or four does (and making a lot of cheese!). But that's where it will stop.

Kathleen