can i use a cow milker?

**mygoat** · #1 10/01/05, 11:39 AM

i found a cow milker through a friend, and she is willing to give it to me for free. she said it does not come with the tubes or anything, but has the actual steel base. can i use this for my goat, and what do i need to go with it? what are the thingys called that actually attach to the teat called? Is a cow milker too strong? i have a pygmy i would like to milk, would i have to get speciall teat thingys for her size?

TerryJ · #2 10/01/05, 11:51 AM

We have regular goat claws, the thingys are called inflations. A goat pulsator runs a 90 pulses per minute, a cow milks at 60.

**mygoat** · #3 10/01/05, 12:02 PM

will it hurt a goat? so would a goat milker be stronger or weaker than the cow milker?

Laura Workman · #4 10/02/05, 06:35 AM

I'm pretty sure you have to adjust the pressure to make it work for a goat. I believe cow vacuum is too strong and will injure your goats. If your milker has the vacuum pump, which is the most expensive part, there is a guy on eBay who sells goat milkers. He might be able to give you the specs on how much vacuum, rate of pulsation, size of inflations. Or maybe Hoegger's or Caprine Supply, or your local goat dairy would have that information.

woolyfluff · #5 10/02/05, 07:25 AM

we have raised goats off and on for several years and have used the same milker fir cow as we do for the goats . their is a little square that aet the puplse.you can get one foe goats it set the pulpse and the pressure the best way for it to work is to have 2 goats being milked at the same time less pressure and the teir is the other way and that is the OLD fashion way with only 1 goat milk her by HAND

Goat Freak · #6 10/02/05, 07:39 AM

Ah, woolyfluff, her goat beat the snot out of her and hut her finger real bad when she tried to milk her by hand. Right mygoat.

**mygoat** · #7 10/02/05, 07:47 AM

actually it was the goat that i wasnt milking, lol, i guess it is a hairline fracture cuz it still hurts a lil bit.... lol stupid goats.......
milking daisy by hand is nearly impossible. she isnt trained whatsoever. she HATES her udder touched, and before, when i first tried milking, I had been touching her udder and rubbing it with bag balm, so its not like it was never touched before. i had to tie her face into the fence and try it that way, but she kept thrashing and moving her butt away, so i had to haul a leg over my knee to hold her still, and then i cold only milk one side at a time, and exausted my hands on her TINY teats. She is a pygmy goat. my hands got so exausted that i couldnt milk her out so i ended up putting the babies back in with her so she didnt bag up.
im sorry but i didnt understand one thing you said woollyfluf..... misspelled words? i dont know the parts of the milker.

R.Adams · #8 10/02/05, 05:25 PM

There is nothing wrong with using a cow milker on a goat. You just need to make a few adjustments on them. You want you pulsations for a goat to be around 50-60 pulsations/min, with a vacuum of 12 lbs. Normal pressure for a milking a cow is 15 lbs. vacuum. You also will need to run a hose to 2 ports to plug them since you will only be using 2 inflations to milk with instead of the standard 4 on a cow.

Go to partsdeptonline.com these people are excellent to work with and will help you set the system up for the right size inflations you need for your size goat. Their prices are also very reasonable, and they are very knowledgeable.