Deval or Surge

midkiffsjoy · #1 10/17/07, 10:45 PM

Okay.....

This spring we're gonna be milking about 10 dairy goats and a cow and I want a milking machine. Since we can't afford to buy one new we're gonna buy a referbed pump and a milking bucket seperate. I'd LOVE to hear any and ALL opinions ya'll have on which bucket would work best for our situation!!! We know that the goats and the cow will need seperate pulsators, hose, & cups.

THANKS!!!

Joy

sammyd · #2 10/18/07, 03:59 AM

If you can find an old 2 or 3 HP Universal pump they are the quietest in the biz. The old red ones are whisper quiet. DeLaval and Boumatic are loud no matter what you do. Surge is OK.
DeLeval and Universal made a decent floor bucket. You can get good claws and pulsators from any manufacturer. Having a dealer nearby or one that would be willing to put you on his soap route with a bimonthly stop just to see if you need stuff is a plus.
Milking equipment isn't like machinery, and most dealers will be able to fix any brand. As a Universal guy I had tons of Surge and DeLeval stuff on the truck.

francismilker · #3 10/18/07, 07:36 AM

In my personal opinion, I'd stay away from buying Universal Bucket until I found out about parts availability for the particular specific bucket I was buying. The one I have works great with no complaints. (Just not the most popular brand when it comes to getting parts.)

DaleK · #4 10/18/07, 10:39 AM

Talk to the dealers, see which one you can work with best. A lot of them will work on the other companies equipment anyway but just see what they say.

We've always had DeLaval equipment because of our dealer, about 4 years ago we had that reinforced pretty strongly. One Friday night a neighbours milking parlour burnt to the ground. The cows were still ok in the freestall barn. Saturday morning he called his Surge dealer (dealt with them for 40 years) to see if they'd come out and set him up something temporary in the freestall barn to milk 100 cows with. They said they'd be out first thing Monday morning. He called our DeLaval dealer who he'd never even spoken to before and they were there from 60 miles away within an hour and had him milking by 2PM. Guess who built the new parlour for him?

midkiffsjoy · #5 10/18/07, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleK

Talk to the dealers, see which one you can work with best. A lot of them will work on the other companies equipment anyway but just see what they say.

We've always had DeLaval equipment because of our dealer, about 4 years ago we had that reinforced pretty strongly. One Friday night a neighbours milking parlour burnt to the ground. The cows were still ok in the freestall barn. Saturday morning he called his Surge dealer (dealt with them for 40 years) to see if they'd come out and set him up something temporary in the freestall barn to milk 100 cows with. They said they'd be out first thing Monday morning. He called our DeLaval dealer who he'd never even spoken to before and they were there from 60 miles away within an hour and had him milking by 2PM. Guess who built the new parlour for him?

Holy Molie! The thought of attempting to milk 100 cows by hand for three days.....yeah.....I'd have told the surge dealer to go bump a stump too!!! *big eyes* A lot of goat people buy one bucket off ebay and then that's all they use. Two at the most, untill they give up and put in a small pipeline system. I tried posting in both forems since we'll be milking the one cow along with the goats. I'm allergic to dander and break out during milking, have really bad arthritus, and feel that I'm getting lazier as I get older (though my DH and therapist would both disagree) so I really am big on getting a milking bucket. Vicki was nice enough to point out that the surge buckets are harder to pour than the Devals (for girls with floatation devices anyway) which is a handy piece of info. I know of a company on ebay that works on and sells referbed pulsators for surge and deval, but I dont know if they do universal. I HAVE seen universal buckets on ebay though. I think when I get one I'm gonna make sure to bid on one that has the lid and all. As long as theres no rust. I've learned that everything else will scrub off! grin. Rubber parts can be replaced. It's getting the OTHER parts to match up on a bucket that's half a century old that can bite!

Thank you all for your answers!!!! You made me look at things from a different angle (I grew up on a beef cattle ranch so the idea of a dairy cow is a new thing!!! My dad used to SWEAR we never had a dairy cow....my family's had the same land since 1836....after he died I was cleaning the barn and FOUND the cow kickers and collar! *humph*)

Joy

midkiffsjoy · #6 10/18/07, 07:07 PM

You know I'm always surprised that I dont find more milking parts and beehives at garage sales around here. Grimes county used to be called "The land of milk and honey" till the price dropped in the 80's and the government was paying the dairies to pour the milk out on the ground. Every last one went under, or changed to beef. No one even has beehives anymore. It's like the soul was just sucked out.

All that stuff has to be SOMEWHERE. I doubt theres even a dealer around here anymore. That's why that had never occured to me. I thought EVERYONE either buys from ebay or orders from one of the catalogs you can find online. That's what I meant by "seeing it from a different angle". I'd probably be in as much awe of a big time cattle dairy as people around here are of me with my "earless" goats. giggle. Sometimes I feel like we live on the last farm on earth! grin.

Joy

sammyd · #7 10/18/07, 07:30 PM

you have to keep your eyes open.
I found a 3 horse Universal at a thresheree. Needs bearings and the motor needs capacitors but got it for 100 and even with the parts I need it'll be cheap.
Picked up a Universal Tidal Flow claw (Their best and the industries best IMO) for 65 at a bearing place that used to be a DeLaval dealer. Picked up a DeLaval bucket with pulsator and an older Universal claw for 100 at an Amish consignment auction.

Tad · #8 10/20/07, 01:18 PM

Should have said something before, I see surge buckets with pnematic pulsaters go for 10-25 dollors at auction. There was an old timer around here had a surge bucket with the pnematic pulsater and he had a petcock drilled into the intake of a farmall M hooked up a hose and opened the valve and used the draw from the engine to run the milker in the pasture, no vacume pump needed!

Ralph in N.E.Oh · #9 10/20/07, 01:32 PM

Tad, we milked 33 head that way when the electricity went off. It wasn't very often, but by golly it worked good!

sammyd · #10 10/20/07, 06:15 PM

Back in the day almost everyone had a petcock on a tractor. Usually something small that would fit in the barn. You could hook a stiff rod to it and make it whistle when you drove down the road too.