I built my own goat stand

Good job.
Nancy

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A small Goat farm in East Tennessee
http://www.freewebs.com/rockytopsis/

Awesome! I'm going to study this later when I'm not about to run outside and milk goats before the human kids are up. I've been eyeballing a pallet in our yard. I may have a few questions. My husband says he'll build me one but has been working overtime like crazy lately. I'm curious about your barn option too. We are a very mild winter climate but I'm still going to need more than what I've got. I have an idea for a 3 sided little shed on skids made out of pallets...once I find 3 pallets that are actually the same height. I was about to start that this weekend only to discover that one of my pallets is about 4 inches off from the others.

@ KrisD we never see the oops paint that cheap at home depot, Im always surprised at how much they want to charge for those hideous colors, but we do have some leftover paint from our old house and we have a Habitat for Humanity RE-store about 2 miles away they sell paint for 5 bucks for a gallon.

@RamblinRoseRanc I am still collecting pallets for the winter barn, I have 2 8'x8' so far but I have a bunch of standard pallets 4'x3' which I plan on using for the stalls and I have 3'x6' that I have in mind for roofing but I'm not ready to get that started yet. I am planning to call all the local spa stores today to get more of the really large ones while I still have my truck. I may do a thread on it. Its still hot here and so we probably dont have to finish until mid November to beat the weather.

Oh yeah and thanks for the idea on the rubber matting, I will have to see if I can find it around here.

phantomriver..... your hubby sounds like mine.. Gotta love a man who works hard.... I dont know how rural you are but most of the businesses near me cant wait to give them away since they are not supposed to throw them away in the trash. Some sell them back but most smaller businesses just don't bother. Im sure you can get as many as you need and in the right size you just have to be willing to lift and load it. Im happy to help with any questions you have just as long as I can throw in a disclaimer...Im really no expert..

Great job!!!!!

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~Candice~

Nice job.

That looks good!

EXCELLENT!! That's a very nice looking stand!

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

Thanks a bunch for the encouragement I really appreciate it

We stapled 2 rubber truck floor mats from an old Chevy truck as flooring on my milk stand. It works great and makes it easier to clean. It even has little low ridges.
They were really cheap too: free.

Nice job BTW. Girls Rule.

What a Great job you did!! Hubby has been going to make me one too & I'm still waiting so I'm thinking I better make it myself. You've given me inspriration & we have lots of scrap wood & pallets but I bet mine still doesn't look as good as yours does!!

I can't wait to see your winter barn!! Don't forget pictures for us please!

I had a solid oak coffee table that I "re-purposed" into a milking stand when I had Nubians..think I'll just cut the size down and use it for the Nigerians!

Good job on the milk stand..gotta love skids! I just used some to partition and gate two stalls in the shed for my 4 new Nigerians as winter/rain/secure quarters.

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" As needs-MUST!!"--- in other words..a gal does what a gal has too!

@ Bee, LOL I wanted a milking stand so badly that I was even eyeing used kitchen tables , I briefly though about the coffee table idea too when I saw a free one on the side of the road. Glad to hear someone did it successfully

@Backfourty.. I still have to collect some more pallets but I will do my best to document it with some pics and put it up....

Good job. Can I tell you a secret without having you laugh too much? I just milk the taller ones on the front porch while I sit on the steps. The short ones, when and if I milk them, I just have stand on the back of the pick up truck. But I don't milk a pygmy very often unless you just have to do it. Wild little things, they are. As long as the goats are eating they will just stand there, you don't have to restrain them in anyway.
And in super cold weather, I would open the front door call their name one at a time, and let them walk into the house. I sat on the floor to milk while my husband fed them cookies or something to keep them interested in standing still. They love coming into the house to get milked because they got sweeter treats like pumpkin cookies and yogurt cookies and cheerios, etc.

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Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Haha thats great. We have a five bedroom house and it has two entrances one on the bottom floor and one on the top floor. Well our family of five can make due on two bedrooms, my husband and I share ours with the baby and the girls share a room. So the downstairs has 3 bedrooms that are all storage and the concrete hallway doubles as a hay/ feed barn until further notice (ive got a shed coming one of these days). I tried to get my husband to let me use that area as a milking area..... he nixed that pretty quick...lol ... apparently the man think animals belong outside...

I love your creativity with the milking. Mocha would never stay still though without a way to keep her secure there. Ive had her in the stand twice to try and milk and she is literally throwing herself off the side with her head locked in to avoid being milked, and tap dancing when I touch her udders. Seems like Ill have to add a corral pretty soon and maybe use a hobble.