reconditioned surge belly milker (pics)

[Cheryl aka JM]

I finally got pictures online. I didn't think to take any before pictures of the milker~ but basically it was just VERY dirty and the hoses and inflations were rotten. I put $75 into the new parts for the milker and the pulsator, another $138 into the pump and I scrounged the rest of the parts from around the house and garage~ so it's not pretty.....but it works well and it only cost me $213.

Here is the whole set up~ the pump is tied to the bottom of the dolly~ I'm using a mason jar covered with duct tape (in case the jar breaks it won't shatter glass all over) above the pump as the balance tank. I used hot glue around the pressure gauge and the hoses to seal the balance tank. I made a home made strap to hang the milker on the cow that is hanging on the dolly with a lead, a anti-kick bar (working up my nerve not to use the bar for long) and I zip tied a plastic coffee cup on the dolly to hold the udder cream.


This is a picture looking down at the balance tank


This one is on Bessy wearing the hole contraption and being milked (she is such a good girl!)


This is looking more closely at the belly milker


And here is three half gallon jars of milk (I can't really seem to decide when to stop milking~ right now we are going with I stop when Bessie gets antsy to go and I usually get one and a half to two gallons of milk on once a day milking while her calf is on her 24/7. I mostly am milking to keep her in milk until I can get some more calves to put on her but we are enjoying all the milk too....the pigs really are happy about it!)


And Bessy mugging for the camera~ "All done where is my cookie?"

[Nicole Irene]

That is almost exactly us! DH made our milker and we bought the Surge belly milker. We milk once a day and get between 1.5-2 gallons/day. We are not quite sure when to stop, either. She has a calf on her 24/7 so, vet said don't worry about mastitis.

[gone-a-milkin]

Great job! Duct tape and zip ties, yep. Only thing I dont see is some baling twine wrapped around something to complete the set-up.

Bessie looks like she is adjusting nicely to the routine.

Extra points for the peacock being in the pic.

[pfaubush]

What are you using to strap it to her? They want too much for the strap and bar thing, so I'm using a concrete vent block and setting it on top of that.

[gone-a-milkin]

Originally Posted by pfaubush

What are you using to strap it to her? They want too much for the strap and bar thing, so I'm using a concrete vent block and setting it on top of that.

My grandma had a piece of foam rubber out of a couch cushion that she used for years. (much lighter than a cinderblock)

[pfaubush]

Yes, I'm tired of lugging that thing in and out of the stanchion! I'll have to see what I have laying around here!

[Madsaw]

Ok folks. to all that are wondering about the straps. New ones still can be bought. The last one I got was $19.00. They have a series of holes in them to adjust the level at which the milker hangs. By you picture you can drop you milker down some more. It should hang level under the cow to a point. Some cows I hang the milker to where it actually pulls down a bit by having the front of the milker( thepart toward her front legs) tilted down.
As to when to stop. Well the best way to discribe it is when you first put the milker on pull down on the teat cup between the shell and the lid. You sort of pinch and pulll down at the same time. You pinch the inflation with your thumb tip against you index finger. Yes it will kill your thumb till your used to it. Or you can also use the side of the thumb against the index finger too. Yes this will build your thumb up nice and strong. Never thumb wrestle a old time farmer!! I will see what I can do for pics of milking tomorrow.
Antoher thought too. If you experince alot of inflation slippage you may need to go to narrow bore inflations. They are designed for the smaller teats and milk them out better. For the narrow bores you will need a smaller set of shells for them too. If anyone needs small or big shells let me know. Got a few extra sets of each.
Bob

[Cheryl aka JM]

Thanks all! Pics of that would be great for a lot of us I think Madsaw~ thank you very much!

I actually have dropped the milker some~ i've been playing with exactly where to hang it and lower does seem to make her more comfortable. I'm using a sliding ratchet strap with a loop tied onto the end to hook the j hook on as the belly strap. That way I can change how high it is pretty easily and when I'm done I can pull the j hook and slowly lower the whole thing to the ground underneath her.

Yeah~ the peacock was very interested in watching me rig that thing onto Bessy! Nosy bird!

[springvalley]

I think I have a bunch of milker straps in the barn, I just couldn`t throw them away when Dad quit milking cows. Any one interested in one just let me know, all you would have to do is pay for the shipping and maybe a bit of gas to get them to the poost office. > Thanks Marc

[SGFarm]

I just today put my order in at portable milker for the surge bucket rebuild kit and they straps (which I tried to buy) are on backorder.

Are you willing to ship to Canada? Do you have a paypal account?

Thanks

Mike

[Cheryl aka JM]

I've got a strap that is working for me so let others go first~ but if you have any left after that I wouldn't mind having a correct strap and I'd love to buy one. Thanks Mark!

[sammyd]

nice set up

personally I'd find a collector willing to pay good money for that old hanging bucket and invest in a decent floor bucket.

[Catalytic]

Where did you get your pump Cheryl? And can you explain the parts I'd need to make the balance tank/jar?

[Cheryl aka JM]

I can explain but understand I've only been using this thing for a week...I may not have found all the bugs yet....

This is the pump I got~ I paid $138 total after shipping for it~ it came very fast. It does the job~ but it gets pretty hot doing it. I think I will run into trouble if I try to do the goats or my other cow when she freshens without giving the pump a break between animals

http://www.automotivetoolsonline.com...A_p_14848.html

My balance tank is a 2 qt mason jar wrapped in duct tape. I took a canning lid and drilled three holes in it~ one for the vacuum tube in, one for the vacuum tube out and one for the vacuum pressure gauge (I got the gauge off a little hand pump I had been using for a little hand goat milker~ I got that at a auto parts store too ~originally intended for bleeding brakes~ so I would look there if I needed another) I put a bead of hot glue around the inside and outside of each hole after I put the tubes and/or base of the gauge through the lid. Slipped the hoses through a canning ring~ fastened the rig onto the canning jar and so far it seems to be working. I got a little milk in it this morning when Bessy ran out of grain and kicked the milker off herself (bad cow) but because of the balance tank I didn't get any milk in the pump it got caught in the balance tank and I was able to clean it up pretty easily.

If your feeling like a drive your welcome to come up and check it out~ I'll let you milk Bessy and teach you to hand milk the goats (yeah....I'll LET you like I'm not always looking for someone else who can do this stuff if I wind up injured again! LOL!)

[Catalytic]

Originally Posted by Cheryl aka JM

I can explain but understand I've only been using this thing for a week...I may not have found all the bugs yet....

This is the pump I got~ I paid $138 total after shipping for it~ it came very fast. It does the job~ but it gets pretty hot doing it. I think I will run into trouble if I try to do the goats or my other cow when she freshens without giving the pump a break between animals

http://www.automotivetoolsonline.com...A_p_14848.html

My balance tank is a 2 qt mason jar wrapped in duct tape. I took a canning lid and drilled three holes in it~ one for the vacuum tube in, one for the vacuum tube out and one for the vacuum pressure gauge (I got the gauge off a little hand pump I had been using for a little hand goat milker~ I got that at a auto parts store too ~originally intended for bleeding brakes~ so I would look there if I needed another) I put a bead of hot glue around the inside and outside of each hole after I put the tubes and/or base of the gauge through the lid. Slipped the hoses through a canning ring~ fastened the rig onto the canning jar and so far it seems to be working. I got a little milk in it this morning when Bessy ran out of grain and kicked the milker off herself (bad cow) but because of the balance tank I didn't get any milk in the pump it got caught in the balance tank and I was able to clean it up pretty easily.

If your feeling like a drive your welcome to come up and check it out~ I'll let you milk Bessy and teach you to hand milk the goats (yeah....I'll LET you like I'm not always looking for someone else who can do this stuff if I wind up injured again! LOL!)

I have one of those brake bleeder pumps, I'm using it with the "cup" from the UdderlyEZ and milking into a mason jar. This sounds easy enough, THANK YOU! One question, without vacuum exchange thing, how are you adjusting the vacuum to stay under 15?

[Cheryl aka JM]

The vacuum pump I bought has two different sized hose ports. I have a line running to my balance tank on one of them~ the other one I tighten or loosen the cap on it to release some vacuum pressure as needed till I can get it to balance between 11 and 13 when the pulsator is running. Then when I'm done milking I completely unscrew the cap on the extra port so the vacuum is completely released. That way I can slip my thumb between the teat cup and bessys teat without yanking her teat so much.

[R.Adams]

You may want to consider changing your ballat tank from your mason jar to a large pvc pipe. With ends capped they makea great ballast tank and you don't have to worry about anything breaking and you would have a much larger reservoir than a mason jar can provide.

[mozarkian]

I handmilk, but am always interested in seeing the different milker set-ups as we would have to do that if we add more cows later. Cheryl, nice set-up, really like how creative you were to save $$, but I am also impressed by the fact that the concrete under Bessie is clean and poop free! None of my 3 let it fly during the actual milking, but the ornery one will do it as soon as she is untied EVERY time, just to show me she can... Give Bessie an extra cookie!

[CarolT]

Cheryl has a pressure washer. (Not saying Bessy did, just why Cheryl's not paranoid about it)

So, how do you put the hoses on pvc?

[R.Adams]

You put a stall cock on it. You would just drill a hole the correct diameter than I use pipe thread that you use for water and then screw it in and silicone seal it all up. The hose goes on the stall cock. Here is what i'm talking about

http://www.partsdeptonline.com/cgi-b...exact_match=on