Milking in -2 weather...

[Frosted Mini's]

Here I go to brave the cold; Wish me luck!!! I'm glad I don't have more than I do to milk right now!

[Donna1982]

Originally Posted by Frosted Mini's

Here I go to brave the cold; Wish me luck!!! I'm glad I don't have more than I do to milk right now!

That would suck. At least your milk will cool fast.

[mrs whodunit]

This is when one really loves their insulated bib's!!

[Frosted Mini's]

YES! I also have Merino wool long johns. My body was actually quite toasty...it's just the face and hands that can get a bit chilly, but I've been using my ski gloves lately.

Donna-I was totally thinking that! I have this bucket of salt water brine in the freezer that I filter the milk into a ss tote and put into that...and I was like, "Why am I even doing this...just leave the milk sitting outside for a few and it will be plenty cold!" Heck, the milk mist and little squirts at the top of the bucket froze to the bucket even!

[Backfourty,MI.]

That's why I dried my girl up. I can't imagine milking in this cold. Would be nice to have a heated milk room! Something to keep in my mind for future wish list!

[mammabooh]

I just came in from milking. It's 4 degrees outside, but it was a balmy 12 inside the barn.

["SPIKE"]

You ladies are tougher than I am. My hands can no longer take that kind of cold.
Are you hand milking? Can you milk with gloves on?
Happiness is a warm udder! LOL
It is 18 here, and I really do not even want to go feed and I can do most of that with the gloves on.

I guess when it comes to the cold, I have become a wussy boy.

SPIKE

[Sherry in Iowa]

I feel your pain..still milking two here too. It's the little fingers that get the coldest on me. LOL..the girls probably don't appreciate my cold ice cube fingers on them.

[andabigmac]

I quit milking when my wet hand stuck to my milk pail for a second. I felt bad having to dip teats too.

[noeskimo]

There's plenty of land in Texas, all. We had 2 days last week that were 12 and 14, and I thought I'd died it was so cold.My fingers are so dry, cracked, and flaky. I'm sure yours are worse. What do you all recommend?

[andabigmac]

Hmmmm. If they actually have bleeding cracks I use super glue. Works great. I make a body butter that I slather on my hands at night and then sleep with nitrile gloves like the ones doctors use over the top. You could use olive oil, crisco or whatever too. Try not to get your hands wet. I wear the nitrile gloves if I'm watering. They're nice because you can wear your warm gloves over the top. Put a thick quality lotion on before you go out. Drink a ton of water. This has been the first year that my hands haven't been raw chapped messes. I guess the winter is just starting though.

[thaiblue12]

This is one of a few reasons I keep kids on my does, I am not doing milking in these temps.

Two years ago I was milking a doe and we had two weeks of temps that never got above the negatives. At night it was -25, the high during the "hottest" part of the day was -4.
My windshield wiper motor and the fluid in it was frozen for those two weeks. Water in the non-heated tank was a solid block in less then 30 mins.
My hands were killing me, the doe I am sure did not appreciate me shivering so hard and shaking her. I was wearing layers and it did not help. So that is when I said I am not doing this anymore ever unless I have a heated milk room.

The kids can take care of the milk for me during these temps, they have fur and are usually in little coats out there anyway so my butt feeds, waters and pets really quick and would go back into the warm house

[mammabooh]

I don't really mind the cold too much. As long as I'm out of the wind, I'm fine. I don't even wear long johns...just jeans on my legs. I guess I'm just a tough old hag!!!

[Frosted Mini's]

I'm hand milking now because I'm only milking 3 1/2 goats (one is down to once a day milking). I keep gloves on in between bringing does in (I bring in 2 at a time). The hands stay pretty warm while milking with the warm goat, actually. I guess they are getting cold because I plunge them into the ice cold water buckets to fish off the big top chunks of ice in the buck and doeling pens. LOL.

I have a coat on one of my doelings...she was born in August, was dam-raised, and the other doelings aren't all that fond of her-I have recently weaned her and put her in the pen with them...she looked rather cold and the others don't cuddle her like they do each other. I have to milk for sales, and besides, my goatlings are usually born in spring, so by now, they surely wouldn't be keeping a doe in milk very well.

My teat dip is frozen, so I've been using fight bac...so far it's not frozen. They do make a dip that is a powder for the really cold weather. The dip doesn't seem to bother my does any more when it's cold than when it's warm

My hands haven't been too dry this year, but my lips are pretty bad!

No thanks on moving to Texas...I cannot handle the heat! It does get super hot in the summer here sometimes as well...typically we have some days over 100, but not constant like a Texas summer-and that humidity, erm, no thanks! And my goats hate the heat too-as well as I don't want to deal with the parasite problems. Naw, think I'll just survive these short times of uber-coldness to keep the beauty of the seasons here!!

[CaliannG]

In cold weather (sometimes it gets cold here, and it DEFINITELY got cold in Colorado!), I don't leave teat dip or udder spray in the barn. I keep it in the house where it is warm.

Hand warmer in the pockets, a bucket of boiling water with the teat dip in it, and other little things all insure my hands stay warm, and does aren't dealing with cold hands and cold udder cleaning.

Just me, but I like the extra warmth too. It keeps my hands from cramping.