Have u tried the Udderly EZ Milker???

[deafgoatlady]

I am just wondering becuz I have couple of goats is SOOO hard to milk by my hand!!! It just pain in the rear!!! UGH.. So I was wondering if people have tried that or not. Cuz I dont want to waste my money on that. I cannot afford to buy milking machine. It is too expensive for me to buy.. Please let me know. Thank u so much...

[alidansma]

I wrote this review in the summer but it might help you out a bit.

I am now the proud owner of two milking contraptions.

The Udderly EZ Milker and the Maggidan Milker

At a glance here is how I rate them.

-------------------- EZ -------------- Maggiedan

Value ..................... 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Ease of Use .............. 5 . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Ease of Cleaning ......... 4 . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Fits Mini's ................. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Comfort ................... 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

I will start with the EZ Milker. The EZ Milker is an entirely new invention developed to extract colostrum for foals. I don't know how many of you have tried to milk a horse, but I have and it ain't easy! Every piece of the EZ Milker (except for the silicone insert I believe) is American made and it all fits together very nicely. It retails between about $130 - $185. I consider this a good value because EVERYTHING is included. Different sized extractors, different sized bottles, even udder wipes. Once it arrives it is very easy to assemble and use. The milk only comes in contact with the extractor and milk container so as long as you start with a clean udder the milk stays perfectly clean. Disassembly is very easy and cleaning is also very easy. The extractors are smooth and contoured to be comfortable for the goat.

The downside to the EZ Milker is that the unit is almost 12 inches high. Now if you have Nigi's or Pygmies go outside and measure your goats udder floor to the ground - I will bet you find you only have about 8 inches - maybe less! Also the entire unit is right under the udder, so your hand risks getting kicked during milking. The cost may seem high at first, but it is a high quality product. You can find them on sale sometimes. Also the pump unit may be ruined if it gets wet or if milk gets inside. There is no way to clean it out.
One down side is that they don't have more than quart sized collection containers - so if your goat makes more you will be dumping it into another container half way through milking. My goats tolerated the EZ milker well as long as the correct fitting was on the end.


The Maggidan milker is not really a new invention, but rather a new use for something that has been around - Maggie and Dan (that is where the name of the milker comes from) are very clever folks! They have put together a relatively inexpensive milker that works well on small goats. It is just a drenching gun, tubing and a syringe with the plunger and needle removed. It costs less than $50 including shipping. I have heard that you can make it yourself for less money, but Maggie is really nice, it is packaged well with instructions and she has taken time to answer all of my e-mails. Also I am just a sucker for supporting people who think up clever things, and they have a lot of really great ideas on their website. The Maggidan milker is also very easy to use. I only rated it lower in that category because I feel it takes a bit more hand strength to use, so your hand may get tired after a while. Ease of Cleaning I gave a 3 because it is difficult to get very clean. There is a good length of tubing that the milk flows through and although it is easy to rinse, it doesn't dry well. Also the milk is flowing through the pump itself, and there are a lot of nooks and crannies in the pump mechanism. To clean they recommend pumping warm water, then warm soapy water, then warm bleach water then a thorough flushing with clean water. they also recommend a once a week disassembly of the entire unit. The unit will fit any goat as long as you have the correct sized syringe on the unit - I tried to milk Sasha (a FF nigie) with the supplied 30 cc syringe and it pulled some of the udder into the syringe and gave me pink milk (blood in the milk) but once I switched to a 12 cc. the problem cleared up - I also realized I needed to use a gentler pumping action. Releasing the pump slowly helped with Sasha's comfort a great deal (harder for me though). This contraption has the advantage that you can squirt the milk into any container you like - the container doesn't have to be on the milkstand to get kicked over - and she even sells collection jugs that make the system a closed system for better sanitation.

Bottom line - both contraptions are well made and do a good job of extracting milk. I feel both units keep the milk cleaner than hand milking. I would prefer the EZ Milker *if* it would fit under my goats. It is easier to clean, easier to squeeze and seems easier on the goats udder. The Maggiedan Milker is less expensive and less for the goat to kick at. Both units makes some squeaking/wheezing noise - the Maggiedan Milker seems a little louder. Maybe turn the radio on if your goat is really bothered by weird noises.

Hope that helps when you are shopping for a milking contraption! - ali

[waygr00vy]

I got the maggidans milker when I first started milking. I was learning on a FF nigerian doe and was going crazy getting the milk pail kicked over constantly, plus it would take me FOREVER. It did work well, and once I got her hooked up, even a good amount of fussing and I could keep pumping the milke. Plus the closed container didn't allow any dirt to get in and wouldn't spill if it got tipped over. It was, as ali stated, kind of a pain to clean out real well. I got very paranoid about not getting cleaned well, or wondering if i missed one of those nooks or crannies. Once I got a bit better at milking, I found it easier just to milk by hand rather than use it and then clean it all out. Plus, I would always have to hand milk quite a bit at the end anyways. It definitely is a good product though, and affordable. Just my two cents!

[Alice In TX/MO]

I made myself a Maggidan's style milker. Easy to do, costs less, works well. You can put any size syringe tube on it that you need for your goat(s).

Look at this thread, and you can see the one I made. Scroll down.

Tiny Teats; Trials & Tribulations!

[HazyDay]

I diddn't like the EZ-Milker at all! I tried one of my firends milkers. and my Nubians hated it. I made the Maggidan's milker and I know it was the pump that diddn't work. So I just like hand milking. Sure it is old fashion but it works.

[firefly81]

all my big dairy goats i milk by hand it is easyier and faster, but i have one nigerian who i wilk with the maggie dans milker, and it works well on her.

[alidansma]

also I forgot to mention - you still need to finish milking by hand with either milker - the milkers are mostly used for training the goats. I have these two milkers because this year I had two first fresheners and I wasn't sure how they would do on the milk stand - but now I milk them by hand just fine.

If too much force is used with the milkers the udder or teats can get bruised and that goat will be sore and get a real attitude. With these squeeze operated milkers - go slow - the faster and harder you squeeze the more likely the goat will be hurt.

[dbarjacres]

I bought the EZ milker last year for my husband to use (if he had to milk) our Nigies and Mini Manchas. It didn't work at all, we bought all the extra inflations and everything and even though it fit the teats, it required so much suction it'd suck the bottle into itself! And it's really hard on those short goats to get the proper suction, tip it just a bit too much and it didn't suction right - which was probably part of our problem. Sold it after trying to use 4 times.

Bought Maggidans. Works good enough for when someone needs to fill in for me.

I personally like milking by hand. It's quiet and relaxing!

[alidansma]

dbarj - were you getting the strip milk out by hand first? If the bottle is collapsing on itself then it seems like those girls just were not letting down their milk. Once they get started the milk just streams into the bottle. You might need a few squeezes to get started and then only need one squeeze for every couple of ounces of milk after that. If I had gone a few squeezes with no milk flow I would break the vacuum seal between the EZ and the udder with my finger (don't just try to pull it off - ouch) massage the udder a bit to encourage milk flow and then try again. The EZ is suppossed to be like a constant gentle vacuum - it only slows down when the container starts to fill up.

The Maggiedan is releasing the vacuum when you squeeze and sucking the milk out as your hand opens - so you can squeeze fast -but be sure to release slow.

[GSFarm]

Maggidans broke on me after the second time for some reason. It was good while it worked but I just got so frustrated with it.

[dbarjacres]

Oh, trust me, DH and I tried everything to get that darn little unit to work. My girls are always stripped when washed, so that was done, and we massaged and massaged. It just didn't work well at all on our little girls, even with those extra, more expensive inserts.

[jordan]

I had one and sold it after a month. I'm not a fast milker at the best of times but even I was faster and more efficient than the EZ milker! I would have to get so much suction to get more than a trickle of milk out that it was bruising the udder (and yes, I was using it correctly). I figured if I had to start by hand as well as finish by hand, I might as well do it all by hand!
Everyone that I know who bought one either sold it or still has it up for sale. If you are interested in one, a friend of mine has one for sale with all the attachments for $130 (much less than she paid).
http://oakhollowacres.com/sales_page.html

[DixyDoodle]

I was under the impression that there was a "mini version" of the EZ milker? Or is that what you ladies were using and still had trouble? I've been thinking of getting milking contraption of some kind before spring. Still looking into leads as to what is the best, though.

[Spinner]

Like Rose, I made myself a Mggidan's style milker. It's easy to make, costs less than $10 and the tubes can be changed in seconds to fit any size milker. I milk a Saanen and some ND's. The Saanen takes a 60 cc tube, and one of the ND's uses a 20 cc size. I can change them out so fast that it's no trouble at all to use it for all of them. The parts are easy to find and it's easy to assemble.

[Freeholder]

I made my own 'Maggidan' milker. I wouldn't use it on any goat that I could milk by hand, but I had a couple of first fresheners who were going to take half an hour to milk out by hand (and I still wasn't getting all the milk). I felt that for what I was using it for it worked reasonably well. I did put the milk that went through the milker into separate marked jars, because I'm not too sure about the cleanliness issue with it -- that milk was either used in the cooking or fed to the dogs. After a while the FF teats grew a bit and got so that I could milk them by hand, so I put the milker up until I need it again.

I have arthritis and carpal tunnel, and IF your doe has decent teats, I don't feel that the milker is any improvement over hand milking. It takes some strength to pump it, made my hands tired fairly quickly, and, as mentioned, you still have to do some hand milking in order to get them stripped out.

Kathleen

[Lizzieag]

I had the EZ milker and it didn't work well for my Nigerians. It was just too tall. I did use it on a Nubian and while the fit was better, the only benefit I got was that the milk was cleaner. It was so hard to hang onto it wil a kicking goat. Mine just kicked like mad. I want to like it, but it just took so long. I could only milk one side at a time, and I still hand milked the last bit out, so it was just extra dishes

[deafgoatlady]

Okay Thank u so much.. It just i have been milking my goats for 6 years and now I have couple goats that is VERY hard to milk becuz i think it is a lot of do to with the hole . U know some have bigger hole and some dont. I think that is my problem becuz i get a lot of pain in my hands. I wish that I could buy milking machine instead of EZ milker. But It is expsensive. Dont know for sure 100 percent..

[DixyDoodle]

I sent some emails to a local place here and they sell the EZ Milker for $219! Yikes! But they also said something else: that the EZ Milker is designed not for goats but sheep? Are there different versions or you are just adapting it to fit goats? Maybe this is why it's not the greatest milker for goats?

Anyhow, I think I will try to make the gadget you have all described! Sounds easier and certainly cheaper!

[Jillis]

I tried them both, they both broke. The Maggiedans worked well but the suction was much harsher. It caused one of my girst fresheners to bleed a bit and have some blood specks in her milk. It was harder to clean than the Udderly EZ, but you could collect a lot more milk in the same container. The tube system made it easier than the Udderly EZ because that had to be positioned right under the goat. With the Udderly EZ I had to milk out more by hand afterwards. They both made a lot more work cleaning than hand-milking, but the Maggiedan was the worst because of all the tubing.
I have never had very strong hands. I play guitar and piano and it has always been a trial to me as I never had any free time to squeeze soft balls or do an other hand strengthening exercises. When I first started milking I judt didn't have the strength, so I got the milking apparatuses. The Udderly EZ takes a lot of strength to milk with, too. The Maggiedan was not as strenuous. The Maggiedan broke right off, the Udderly EZ lasted some months, and then the pump flange just snapped while I was milking.
The good news is that pumping in thet Udderly EZ thing had built up my hands and now I can hand milk!

I prefer hand milking. Although, when you are breaking in a goat to the milk stand, it is nice to have the hand machines because they don't kick them over.

I hope that helps!

Blessings, Jill~

[alidansma]

The goat and sheep version of the EZ are just different attachments.
And if your goats have small orafaces (how do you spell that?) The EZ will take FOREVER.