Do you milk with your dominate hand?

[Suzyq2u]

I noticed this morning I was far more comfortable on her left side
using my left hand (I'm right handed)...perhaps it's because
that's the side I was working on. I swapped a few times but strongly used the hand that correlated with the side.
Used the right on her right side more.
So, do you use your dominate hand to milk, or swap.

[Rockytopsis]

I set on Sarah's right side facing her rear and milk with both hands.
Nancy

[suzyhomemaker09]

I milk with both hands as well on most of my goats
I have one with IBT syndrome that I can only use 1 hand at a time on.

[haphaz_farm]

depends on which one i am milking. the ones on the milk stand i milk right hand to right side and left hand to left side because that is the way i sit but i have one that wont get on the stand and when i milk her it is left hand to right side. i would just toss her up on the stand but of course she is my biggest doe and is *cough* "well conditioned" so i usually just milk her right on the floor.

[mary,tx]

I sit on the goat's left. Sometimes I milk two handed, but when I milk one handed it is with my right, my dominant hand. My right hand is stronger than my left and even when I milk two handed, my left hand sometimes gets too tired to finish up and I will finish out one handed.

[rootsandwings]

i have 2 stands - I sit on the right of one stand and the left of the other. I face the back of the goat, so I always milk left hand to doe's right and right hand to doe's left, both hands at once.

[coso]

I sit on the right side, an use my right hand to milk left teat, left hand to milk right teat. That is the way I was taught 35 years ago.

[PrettyPaisley]

I'm self taught so I'm probably doing this all wrong but still manage to fill the pail!

I sit facing the side of the goats, with their heads to my right. I usually milk one teat at a time, if I do milk with both hands it's intermittently. I milk them with both hands, oddly enough. If one hand tires I switch but mainly milk with my right. And bat with my left.

[coso]

I sit facing the side of the goats, with their heads to my right.

That means you milk on the right side of the goat

[Pam6]

I sit on left side of goat and I usually only milk with my right hand. I would like to use both hands but my first time freshener is still to antsy and I don't want to lose the little bit of milk that I am getting.

[saanengirl]

I sit on the left side of the goat (most of the time) and milk with both hands. If one side has more milk than the other, I will alternate hands after the other side is empty.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I sit on the goat's left side, facing toward the rear. Milk with both hands at the same time.

I *learned* to milk on a one-teated goat. It was very difficult to learn to milk with both hands when I got a dual spigot goat!

[hiddensprings]

I sit on the right side but switch up hands when one gets tired. It must be my age because my hands are really getting tired this year. I think I will have to invest in a milking machine. I am hand milking 3 girls right now and by the time I am done, my hands are so, so, so, so, SORE

[mekasmom]

Originally Posted by Suzyq2u

Used the right on her right side more.
So, do you use your dominate hand to milk, or swap.

dominant

I am not a good two handed milker.

[Heritagefarm]

I milk on the right side of the goat. When I don't use the machine, that is. I have goats that prefer the milk machine, and some that prefer hand milking.

[LoneStrChic23]

I mostly milk with my right hand but am trying to teach myself better coordination to use two hands at a time on my Alpine.. I sit on the right side of the goat.

I had the bones in my hand crushed thanks to an Arab mare that I swear was the spawn of satan and my hands hurt....At first I thought I needed to build up hand strength, but that's not the case. I'm saving for a milking machine because I don't think I'll last long otherwise.

At this point I'm not even milking my miniatire girl.... I hook up my daughters new bottle kid to her 3x's a day on the stand instead to let her empty her out. Only milking one has made a difference in how my hands feel....Breeding 5 does this season....next year my hands may fall off!

[KimM]

I'm weird and uncoordinated. I sit behind them on the left side (NDs), and milk the left side with my right hand, then move to the other side and milk the right side with my left hand. I cannot manage to milk both teats at once. The job gets done though.

[PrettyPaisley]

When I milked Oma tonight I paid attention and it seems I do milk a lot with my left hand, especially when she is really full. Towards the end of the milking when she is empty I switch to my right.

Very odd indeed!

[rabbitpatch]

I don't have a milk stand so I have to get on my knees to milk Molly. I sit on her left side. I milk with one hand and mostly use my right hand but sometimes switch to my left if my right hand gets tired.

My goats don't live at my house - they are about 10 minutes away. So my milking set up may be a bit unconventional but it works. I have a small soft-side cooler and I put a gallon jar in it and then fill it up with a water/alcohol frozen slurry. When I get to the goats, I open the lid of the cooler, take the lid off the gallon jar and put my filter in the jar. I then milk into a quart jar and when it gets full I pour it through the filter and continue milking. I usually just get a half gallon from Molly so it doesn't take more than a few minutes to milk her out and filter the milk. It goes right into the gallon jar surrounded by the frozen slurry so it gets chilled very quickly. I rinse everything right then and take it home to wash and sterilize. The milk chills in the slurry until I get home and then the jar goes directly in the freezer for an hour (assuming I don't forget it and leave it longer!). From goat to freezer is usually no more than 15 minutes tops, but because of the slurry the milk is already cold to the touch before I get home with it.

[Suzyq2u]

Do any of you curl your thumb along the teat, like you made a fist with your thumb tucked in? Seems to work better on Mama, her teats are pretty small, even with my small hands; I have no where to put my thumb, lol Am I missing something?