Milking Lilly aka Lilliana

I wanted to get a better video of the homemade hand pump milker as I was so excited when I made the first one.  I also wanted to capture the entertainment of Lilly heading down to the barn.  She gets very excited.  As a matter of fact she was 1/2 down to the barn before I ever got started down there after letting her out of the gate.


Here is Lilly heading to the barn yesterday morning for the AM milking.

There is our favorite lamancha helping us demonstrate our homemade hand pump milker.  She is such a good goat.  She gives about 1 quart a milk each milking.  We milk Lilly twice a day and sometimes three times.

Lilly's AM Milking
February 10, 2012

As for our Pygmy/Nigerian cross goats.  They all are not quite as good about the milking.  I don't think they are doing to bad for having never been milked before.  If we can have them free range all day then milk them before we reunite them with their babies for the night then we can get 1 quart from 5 goats.  We do not milk them all out as they are still nursing their babies and we only milk them once a day.

Pygmy/Nigerian Dwarf Cross PM Milking
February 10, 2012

Successfully Milking With The Homemade Pump

We did it!  What an adventure!  We finally tweaked the pump to work without a hitch.  It took some plumbing parts, silicone, and lots and lots of patients that I did not have today.

Note:  The lid was replaced with one with better drilled holes.

 The JB Weld that we used didn't work very well and the fittings just didn't seal good enough to get a proper vacuum so we decided to invest in the plumbing parts.

Fittings in place.  The silicone was added on both sides
to insure a full seal.

The finished product worked like a charm.  Now if it can only get the goats to cooperate.  Why on God's green earth we would decide it is a good idea to try and milk, now 6 goats that have never been milked before is beyond me.  Our neighbor sent Lilly, her lamancha down for us to milk.  They have given us so much and are great neighbors that it feels good to be able to give back to them.

Lilly the Lamancha

As I was saying I don't know what we were thinking milking the goats that have never been milked.  Sugar is really good.  Nanny is good when she is in the mood.  Penelope is NEVER in the mood to be good.  Lilly the lamancha didn't know what was going on and she missed her three babies.


Today was more like a wrestling match and let's just say, I lost.  We decided to move our operation into the yard as we have the nannies free ranging and we can bring them in one by one.  We usually do it outside the yard and usually have to fend off the other just to feed and milk one.  Well, today we had to fend off babies who thought they were hungry.  Which there were not since we had fed them just before we started milking.  I also went down when I tried to bring the first goat in.  They were all at the gate and they all wanted in and the babies were fighting to get out to them.  Let's just say it wasn't pretty.


The babies also kept trying to jump on the milk stand when their mom was on it to nurse while the six month old babies kept trying to get to the feed.  I tried to fence the older ones off but they squeezed there fat bellies through that fence.  When it was all said and done today I stated it might have been easier to walk ten miles in the snow to buy milk.


Just joking.  Kinda.

We really are proud of what we are doing and from reading this you can see we are still learning valuable lessons.  By the way the milk stand was promptly taken out of the yard when  we were done. We happily delivered Lilly's milk to our neighbor who was surprised at the quantity already.  Now I am sore from the battering I took today.  It will be all worth it in the morning when I have a little goat milk with my coffee.


As for our future milk goats.  Our babies at one month old already have what we call the "squat button".  We have been training them since day one to be friendly.  We also rub their utter so they can get use to it and they squat just like they are suppose to.  Most of our girls look like they will have good teats too.  That is our goal.  Small friendly milk goats.  Heck even our barbado sheep Mary has a squat button.  Yes, one day we will milk her too but she is not old enough for me to breed her yet.

Milking Update - Day Three & Hawk

This is day three of milking.  Today we used the new hand pump milker that I made.  We used a 10 ml syringe.  (It is the kind you can purchase at the store to administer medication to children with.)  The tip is larger so it fit more securely on the tubing.  The syringe it's self is also smaller than the ones we tried using yesterday.


The result was a better seal on the teat.  We did have a problem with the JB Weld holding.  Who would have thought that?  I thought JB Weld held EVERYTHING.  We didn't give up and with some modifications to our procedure we made it work and got over a pint of milk from our five girls.  We need to figure out how to get the tubing to seal better to the jar lid.

We are very excited about our progress.  The goats have started to identify the milk stand with food.  I caught them a couple times today around and on it looking for food.  They all were eager to jump right up there (at once) when it came time.  It is good that there are two of us to milk because one person couldn't do it with all that we go through.  I am sure things will level out once well all get into a routine.

On another note, I have had  a pair of hawks checking out my fowl.  Today I was outside and heard this sound that just wasn't right.  I headed in the direction of the sound (which did sound like one of my girls) about 100 yards, around the Grandma Post Oak Tree and came within 8 to 10 foot from a redtail hawk.  Needless to say I was less than pleased.  They are beautiful and majestic when they are feeding on wildlife but eying my girls and trying to have them for dinner is another thing.  

The good news is the chicken got away.  I am sure it was due to timing with me running in that direction with the GP as well as the immaturity of the bird.  We believe it is a young bird that isn't very skilled in hunting yet as it dove into thick underbrush to get to said chicken.  The other good news it the fowl stayed closer together for the rest of the day instead of their usual running off on their own.

Homemade Hand Pump Goat Milker

Yep, you read it correctly.  This little pile one day very soon will be our future hand pump goat milker.  Harriet was looking around for one on the web last night and they cost almost $200.  Then she came upon a video on how this guy made his own.  We figure if he can do it so can we.  I'll post a picture of the finished product and let you know how it goes.


I am excited because it will keep out the hair and other possible debris.  I don't know about you but I don't really care much for hair in my milk.

First Milking

Total after straining

I had intended to take a bit of video of the milking however I was needed to help hold the back legs.  They kicked and kicked until they surrendered and just ate.  We were generally good until they ran out of food.


The stand worked well.  I can see where there is some need for modification.  You will note the various modifications already for the head gate inclosure.  Wood, baling twine, then finally part of a coat hanger.  All three worked to various degrees.  We are planning to actually have the stand against a wall for it's permanent placement.

Our smallest adult goat, Sheri

One of our largest goats, Nanny

Ernestine is in training

Ornery felt a bit left out so we had to let him join in.
We figure it is good for all the goats as this will be a good
way to trim their hooves also.