Functional/versatile milk room

[Moody]

I have half a barn. The other half will hopefully be built this year. It will be mirror image of the first half and will have a connecting higher "hallway".

I know many have the same problem I'm having with designing things right the first time. First year I hand milked in that middle stall in the pic. 2nd year I brought each one down to the garage near the house and milked with a surge Milker (awesome!) but the stand was outside while the equipment was in the garage. That works okay except rain and both years I've had problems with already milked goats trying to bust in when I open the gate for a different goat to milk.

So I need ideas?

I can use one full stall of the three new ones, enclose it with walls, maybe a window and 2 doors. One for entering goats and one to exit out to the field when done. Concrete squares to make a concrete floor that could be washed down if needed with drainage of some sort? But could that work for my jersey cow as well? I don't currently milk her but I imagine the setup would be similar minus the lifted stand. Is a 8'x16' enclosed stall big enough? Feed storage would have to be there as well. The rest of the barn will be used for a bit of hay or straw storage and stalls for livestock.

I could also look into building the other half and getting a 20' container to be a dedicated milk house next to the barn.

But it's cheaper to try to incorporate it into the barn.

Any ideas to make it more efficient? Size seem okay? Convenience is also important. I already have a bunch of very inconvenient things set up. I don't need to add another design failure to our small farm.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Sounds like you've thought out what you want and need. Now it's just abt having the $, resources, tools, time, energy, good weather, etc, etc, etc.

Sounds like you have a lot of patience with your current arrangements that I bet once you've constructed what you want, you will be very happy!

 

[Latestarter]

Well, I don't have any barn yet, and haven't even gotten my first goats yet, but have been pondering the same issue as you... How to set things up right the first time to avoid having frustration and the need for do-overs... If you did the milking room in a center stall with doors into the stalls on either side, it seems to me you could bring all the goats into one side stall and enclose/hold them there to wait their turn. As you bring each in and milk it, you would then release it into the opposing stall which would be open so they could exit the barn back to pasture. There would be no way for them to fight their way back into the milk room. If you needed the stalls either side for something else, you could put one entry into the barn center section and the release door on the outside wall back to pasture.

It looks like the land under the existing barn slopes slightly left to right and front to back... I imagine you could do a load of crushed stone in the milk room to improve drainage... I've been considering a poured concrete slab with a slope and drain for ease of cleaning... But I won't be milking cows, and my milking room won't be as large as the bays you have there... At least I don't think it will be

Hope you'll update with what you decide to do and let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Moody]

It does slope some like you said and I'm hoping some drainage (maybe a French drain is what it's called), corregated pipe and gravel/crushed stone with it all draining a bit farther down the slope. But that would require it to be in the bay closest to the slope I think. Which is fine with me.

I've invested more $$ than i thought I would be on these goats and only sold 4 kids totaling $600 last year. I need other things for the farm too so keeping this all in a somewhat smaller budget is also a major goal.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Here is what I'd want in somewhat of an order of importance:
Solid surface floor that can be hosed/rinsed (concrete, raised deck, etc), at least 10x12 (I milk two at a time on two stands), sink, can be closed off completely, fan, counter, hot water, a window and in a dream world: frig/freezer, ac/heat and a dishwasher.

Right now I have concrete floor, but not good drainage for regular wash down. More of a "twice a year" clean. Closed in room that's about 8x12, electricity, hose outside, and a fan in the corner. We also keep horse tack, meds, two bales of hay on shelves, and the health/med supplies in there. There is a loft above we keep bedding, stray, buckets, and those type of things in accessible by a ladder. I have two steel milk stansd and milk 5 a day now and will be milking 13 by March. I bring my milker inside my house to dump, clean, chill milk, etc. It's a ways away so I'm using a golf cart but I can carry it now. That milk will be too heavy to carry once I have my Lamanchas on the milk like by next week. Right now it's 5 Nigerians.

I milked outside on our back porch for our first two years- so it's come a long way!

 

[babsbag]

A concrete floor will be a must if you are going to milk a cow. Cow patties on gravel would be nasty IMO. If you can't do a drain then maybe make a floor level trap door that you can open to wash the floor and then close it to keep out rodents. I have one in my coop for cleaning and I love it. The in and out door would be tops on my list as the milking=grain and the goats always want seconds. I have fought that problem for years and oh so annoying.

Of course you need power for the milker and running water. While hot water would be nice I use cold and wash the machine with bleach and soap and cold water and bring it to the house once a week for a good take apart and scrubbing. Now if I was drinking my milk raw I would have to rethink the cleaning with cold water. I take a plastic food grade bucket to the barn and empty the milk into that for carrying it to the house. The milker bucket stays in the barn.

Last year I used a rubbermaid type shed and other than the washing the floor it worked really well. This year I should have the dairy done.

 

[Moody]

Ideally ac and a bit of heat would be awesome. stainless sink and counter would also be awesome but doubtful unless I find one for super cheap. Likely no sink and wooden counter and some crude hooks for hanging the surge lid

I'm afraid the electricity I will have will be basic at best. pretty much 3-4- 110 outlets. a small hot water heater would be great but at best right now I can only imagine cold water at the spigot run through a hose. (Better than lugging water in buckets or dragging a 100' hose all over to fill troughs of water like I do now).

It was recommended to use cold water to flush my surge milker and a Second bleach/water combo run through it to sanitize.....I'm sure dairy regulations are more stringent but I hope what I did last year was sufficient. This allowed me to bring two buckets with 1 gallon water each. That's all I was thinking I would need would be a spigot closer to my milk room. And then take the milk back to the house for straining and washing

I was also hoping that instead of cement, just those ft square or 18" square pavers would work with the water runoff running into pea gravel and a corrugated pipe underneath to drain it.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[babsbag]

I use cold water with Dawn to wash the milker and then bleach/water to rinse it. And yes, the dairy requires hot water and it needs to be certain temps to work with certain chemicals. Also, milk stone will remove better with certain temps too.

The pavers would work for goats, not so sure about the cow. I have never owned a cow so not sure if they will defecate while being milked or not. That would be my only concern.

They make 110 hot water heaters. They might only give you "warm" water but still good for washing hands and udders in the winter.

 

[farmerjan]

Yes cows will pee and do manure when milking. Either a concrete floor, or at very least get some "crusher run" that is very fine gravel and will compact to very hard and put/ use shavings and/or straw behind the cow so that you can collect the manure and pitch it out. You will get some urine that will make it a little wetter....some cows never lift a tail and I have one that waits to get in the barn then do her thing.... those foot sq concrete blocks like paving tiles or whatever you call them will break when a 1000 lb cow steps on them. Maybe not the first time, but they will crack and break.
The dairies use a cool water rinse for the first rinse, not above 100 * so that the milk stone doesn't set. Then a hot water chlorine wash cycle and then an acid rinse cycle. The acid rinse offsets the chlorine and makes the rubber inflations last longer since the chlorine will "eat" everything. Too hot water for the first rinse will set the milk stone, so the cooler rinse and then the hot wash.
Mobile homes used mostly 110 hot water heaters, usually 5-20 gallon size. Also, there are hot water heaters that are "ON - DEMAND" (most are propane) and will heat the water almost instantly and will keep heating it as long as it is run thru the lines. Most dairies now are replacing the old hot water tanks with on demand water heaters as it keeps the water hot and there is no recovery time. If I get my own house that is one of the first things I will get. They cost about twice what a hot water heater costs, but the life is way longer with no heating elements to burn out ( for electric) and no tanks to leak, and constant hot water...The one that is motion activated is made specifically for places with no electricity. Way more efficient than having a tank keeping water hot for only a couple hours usage a day.

 

[Moody]

I didn't think a about the weight of the cow being too much for pavers. Maybe I can talk my husband into trying to cement some.

Definitely will be saving the hot water suggestions for a later date

Thanks for the ideas!