Am I milking in the wrong order?

[HollyBearFarm]

I have two does and am getting my third today! Hooray! This is my first time owning goats (and my first time milking anything except myself) and I've had my two for a week. Everything is going GREAT...except that my older doe, Tia, keeps stealing grain from my younger doe, Wendy.

I only feed grain while on the milking stand, but Tia keeps standing on her hind legs and eating Wendy's grain straight out of the feeder. This morning, she actually jumped up on the milking stand and tried to stick her head in the stanchion. Wendy is a first time freshener and needless to say, this made her kind of nervous. She's an easygoing girl, but I didn't get her usual yield this morning.

Is it possible that I am milking them in the wrong order? I started milking Wendy first because she was the one that jumped on the stand first. In fact, for my first couple of days I had to do some serious coaxing to even get Tia to let me milk her. But it seems that now that she's more comfortable, Tia REALLY wants to be milked first.

What do you guys think? Thanks!

[mamajohnson]

What I do is clip my greedy girls to the fence. That keeps them from getting in the way. Most of mine like to do that, get in the way!
I am milking 5 right now, and once you have an order, keep it that way, they will learn your routine.
But, without restraint, they will try and get to the feed, whether you milk them first or second (or so it seems with mine)

Or, you can try locking them out of the milking area.
I actually have a little fence around the shed that has the milk stand in it, I close the gate, and then a couple of the girls also get clipped to the fence. That way I don't have to fight them when letting the last one milked out of the little shed. They all think it is their turn next! lol!
So, they have pretty much learned. One of my girls will always go to where I clip her and wait (she hollars a lot, but waits in that spot)
Another one will go stand on the milk stand until I get done with everyone's sorting - she knows she is first. And heaven help the goat that wants to change that order - she will knock them off the stand! lol!


Anyway, I think a little restraint for the second one to be milked will help a lot -and for the third when you get her-

[jBlaze]

My milking area is seperate from the pen. I have a milk stand next to the feed storage box. I have two does that I pen together and one will holler if she cannot see the other when I pull her out to milk. I have sliding doors, and I leave the door open a crack and she does not open it, just looks out at her friend with one eye.
I could not imagine having one loose next to one being milked and fed! LOL! goats don't know about taking turns to eat. hehe.

[Alice In TX/MO]

You need a waiting area. Our milk house is small, and we only let in the doe we are milking. The others wait outside by the gate.