How long to get used to milking?

whinnyninny · #1 06/12/08, 07:41 PM

For the past couple days I've been milking by hand (instead of starting with a hand-pump milker and finishing by hand)... but I have to stop and take a few breaks (just a few seconds at a time) because my hands and arms get so fatigued!

It only takes me about 10-12 minutes total, about 1.5 qts each milking (though interestingly, I've been getting a couple more ounces per milking since I started doing it all by hand). How long will it take before my hands and arms become used to it?

I was pouring the milk from the bucket (after pasteurizing and cooling) into some glass bottles, and my hands actually started cramping up. They haven't done that before!

Maybe it's somewhat pregnancy-related, though.

TennesseeMama23 · #2 06/12/08, 08:56 PM

6 weeks the first year.

4 weeks every year after that.

TennesseeMama23 · #3 06/12/08, 08:58 PM

Just wanted to add you do get used to it. I milk a cow (until the other day) and 4 goats by hand and it ain't nothin.

Now, one or two goats killed me when I first started. Just keep at it and don't give up.

Don't be a sissy, LOL!

nehimama · #4 06/12/08, 09:30 PM

Yep, it takes 3 - 4 weeks. You will get used to it. Hang in there, and enjoy the milk!

NeHi

Alice In TX/MO · #5 06/12/08, 10:06 PM

The first week is the worst. Gradually better after that.

whinnyninny · #6 06/13/08, 06:40 AM

LOL, so I'll get used to it just in time to have my surgery next month and have to take 2-3 weeks off from milking goats? (I'll be having a cesarean, no way I'll be able to hunch down next to a milking stand for a while afterwards).

Alice In TX/MO · #7 06/13/08, 07:44 AM

Get a low stool, so you don't have to hunch. Abdominal surgery is a witch with a B, but getting moving after the initial week is the best thing you can do to recover.

Alice In TX/MO · #8 06/13/08, 07:47 AM

http://sawdustmaking.com/MilkingStool/milking_stool.htm

whinnyninny · #9 06/13/08, 08:41 AM

Don't know that it'll do me any good... having had 3 cesareans already (2 vertical, 1 horizontal), I know that I wouldn't be able to get onto the stool anf off of it, if it was low to the ground. The milking stool I use now is about 12-13" tall (depending on how far it sinks into the pea gravel). DH is going to have his manager schedule him from 8am-6pm those couple weeks (unheard of for him) so he'll be home to do the 6:30am & 6:30pm milkings.

Guess what I'll do for now is use the hand milking doo-dad in the mornings (where I still have to do half the milking by hand) and in the evenings I'll milk by hand completely. Maybe I'll get one of those squishy stress balls and squeeze it for 10 minutes at a time.

coso · #10 06/13/08, 09:07 AM

On one stand I use I just sit on a 5 gallon bucket.

Ernie · #11 06/13/08, 04:23 PM

My hands used to ache like crazy. Now they feel great and I don't even have the arthritis pains I was having there for awhile. I actually look forward to milking time.

That's one of the benefits milking by hand gets you over milking by device.

**mygoat** · #12 06/13/08, 04:41 PM

I also sit on a 5 gal. bucket as my milking stool.

whinnyninny · #13 06/13/08, 04:46 PM

A 5-gallon bucket wouldn't do me any good to sit on either, as it's taller than what I currently use and I'd have to lean over to milk (and if I make the milking stand any taller, it'll be a lot more difficult for my small-ish goat to get on and off). The height of my current wooden stool is just fine.

I can't believe how much my hand has started cramping up during normal activities (pinning fabric, stirring foods, etc) since I started milking completely by hand. I'm really hoping I get used to it very soon!

Wags · #14 06/13/08, 08:08 PM

I have repetitive stress injuries in my wrists (similar symptoms to carpel tunnel syndrome) and it got worse the further along into each pregnancy I got. I take short breaks while milking and massage the udder or just stretch my shoulders. It does help. Getting up and moving is one thing, but having had a couple of c-sections myself I would guess at least 3 weeks before you even try milking. And you might not make it through the first time or two.

I was pretty lucky to be up and moving around in a matter of days, but don't think I could have handled milking. I have Nigerian Dwarfs and sit on the milk stand behind them and milk from behind.

mamajohnson · #15 06/13/08, 09:03 PM

I sit on the side of the milk stand and milk my smaller and larger does both. I couldn't get a stool, bucket or anything to work out!
As far as my hands getting used to milking, I have one hand that has had an injury, and the ligaments were all put back together, and sometimes that hand will try and give out on me. Just take your time, don't try to milk in a hurry. That helps the most. It will surprise you, you will suddenly one day realize you have not had any trouble milking.

I started with one doe milking by hand, and now I milk 5. Just hang in there!

christie · #16 06/13/08, 09:11 PM

Hey I was wondering the same thing!
It has only been 2wksand my hands get tired, especially my left, I have to take breaks, or massage, sometimes my right hand has to finish the job.

whinnyninny · #17 06/13/08, 09:58 PM

Wags, I developed deQuervain's tendonitis {sp} after the birth of my last baby. Had to wear a thumb spica and everything. I wonder if that's likely to happen again, and if it'll affect my ability to milk the goats. After a round of steroid pills and a month of some other medication, it seemed to clear up okay...