Where to buy?

[Vkp23]

I’m looking for the best online (USA) place to buy goat milking supplies. Most places I’ve found have larger herd equipment. I’m looking for equipment for a small herd. I would like to find a very small basic pump with very basic cups (I think that’s what they are called) my idea is to be able to have several sets of the cups so I can quickly change them from one goat to the other so I can keep everyone clean And infection free. Another option would be a way to use a human breast pump if anyone knows a hack for it. My 1.5 yr old quit nursing like 3 months ago but I still have my pump so if anyone knows a hack for converting it to work on a goat would be great also. Thank you!

 

[Alaskan]

I used both

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www.caprinesupply.com

To mail order supplies.

However, the local feed store had some stuff, and the one up the road (2 hours away) was VERY well stocked. For many things it was the best prices to buy from the feed store since I had such a small herd. At the feed store I could buy just 3 syringes and tubes for blood draws... etc.

I tried one milk pump off of ebay, and didn't like it. All of that tubing to clean, and how do you REALLY clean it well anyway???

Milking into a pot or pail, was so much less work for me, and so much easier to truly fully clean.

So, I am no help with your pump questions.

But maybe if you google, some you tube video will pop up showing how to turn a human milk pump into a goat milker.

 

[Mini Horses]

Some depends on goats you have...size teats, etc. Next, I have used a human breast pump...non electric, just hand held and squeeze...and it worked BUT the flow was too much to handle well and bottles too small. (Was fine on mini mare with flatter udder and shorter teat!) That takes you to type machine and type doe. How the containers for milk attach makes a difference. If hosed into a bottle, you have a chance by adapting a screw on cap to a jar.

Also on Amazon, various small herd units are available at favorable prices....read reviews before you buy. Type in pulsating goat milking machine to search engine.

 

[Ridgetop]

Caprine Supply is one of the best. Also Hoegger's. They are online and carry everything for goats.

If you start milking a LOT of goats then it might be worthwhile to look for a standard cow dairy store within 50 miles. I used to make a monthly run when we were milking 20 (4-H project that became family consuming LOL) for bulk milk cattle grain and supplies in a dairy town abut 50 miles way. Brought home a pickup bed full of grain on tarps and the kids shoveled it into metal bins. Since you feed grain to milk animals pound for pound of milk, it was more economical. Particularly since we sold our buck kids at the auction in that town and then raised calves on the milk after the fair was over and the doe kids weaned. Sold those calves in that town too.

Round trip started right after dropping off children at school. First to the auction to drop off kids or calves, then dairy stores (2) for milking supplies, teat dip, wash, meds, etc., finishing up at feed mill for truck load of bulk grain, then bagged feed for other livestock and poultry on top, tarp all down, and be back in time to pull up outside school at 3:00! One day of livestock shopping instead of every day trips at the feed store spending more money on feed!

 

[Legamin]

I’m looking for the best online (USA) place to buy goat milking supplies. Most places I’ve found have larger herd equipment. I’m looking for equipment for a small herd. I would like to find a very small basic pump with very basic cups (I think that’s what they are called) my idea is to be able to have several sets of the cups so I can quickly change them from one goat to the other so I can keep everyone clean And infection free. Another option would be a way to use a human breast pump if anyone knows a hack for it. My 1.5 yr old quit nursing like 3 months ago but I still have my pump so if anyone knows a hack for converting it to work on a goat would be great also. Thank you!

I think I found an answer for the small herd milker. It is extraordinarily popular and well made. Try

EZ Animal Products | Dairy and Equine Supplies | EZ Milker & More

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udderlyez.com

This is the right direction for under 20 goats. And if you expand they have a very well made and affordable vacuum pump for milking which is easily cleaned.
I have found cheaper ones….all over Amazon and Alibaba and they all claim that you will sing and dance with your milk all the way to the bank….and then you get them and reality…hours of cleaning process…and impossible to find replacement parts…all become a little less dancing..a little more rain.
I have made a hybrid milking machine for my sheep using a vacuum pump of my choice and the rest from their equipment. I think theirs is fine but I already had the vacuum pump on hand. If sheep milk cheese becomes a thing for me and I can afford to hire a milker and build up yet another barn for milking…I will go with their entire pump system. It makes sense. I have a small operation but done right it can be extremely profitable…at least that’s the plan.

 

[Ridgetop]

Look online at Caprine Supply.

If you are milking up to 6 does, it would probably be cheaper to milk by hand. We did not switch to a machine until we were milking 10-18 daily.

You don't need to change inflations between each doe. Instead, you should have a bucket of sanitizer and drop the inflations in it as you change does off the stanchion. After removing the inflations you still have to strip the udder by hand. The important thing in dairy sanitation is to wash the udders before and after with a good sanitizer (we used (Iodophohr) and then seal the teats with a teat dip after milking. After milking, run the sanitizer solution from the bucket through the inflations and machine. Then remove the lines ad inflations and bring them to the house where they need to be completely disassembled, washed in cold water and a special dairy soap designed to cut the milk solids. Then they need to be dried (I air dried them) and reassembed in the evening for the next milking.

First time dairy goat owners think a milking machine will be easier than hand milking, but it is not. Hand milking gives you the chance to check udder health. Washing the udder before miking allows you to gently massage it which will let down the milk easier. You will find any lumps or sores and can treat them. Also, if you do machine milk remember to squirt a small sample out of each teat before attaching the inflations to check for any change in milk consistency which could signal mastitis.

We started with a small machine and eventually graduated to a larger machine. The small machine went to the shows with us while the larger, bulkier machine remained home. We had 2 double stanchions set up, side by side.DS2 would put 2 in at a time and while they were being milked, he would switch out 2 others. He could milk 12-18 in under an hour, including the set up and take down. Of course, he had learned to hand milk at the age of 6, and our dairy herd were all trained to come to the stanchion when called.

If you decide to buy a miking machine, try to buy locally so repairs and parts will be available. Read all the comment on the various kinds before you buy. Our first machine was very fragile.

 

[Legamin]

Look online at Caprine Supply.

If you are milking up to 6 does, it would probably be cheaper to milk by hand. We did not switch to a machine until we were milking 10-18 daily.

You don't need to change inflations between each doe. Instead, you should have a bucket of sanitizer and drop the inflations in it as you change does off the stanchion. After removing the inflations you still have to strip the udder by hand. The important thing in dairy sanitation is to wash the udders before and after with a good sanitizer (we used (Iodophohr) and then seal the teats with a teat dip after milking. After milking, run the sanitizer solution from the bucket through the inflations and machine. Then remove the lines ad inflations and bring them to the house where they need to be completely disassembled, washed in cold water and a special dairy soap designed to cut the milk solids. Then they need to be dried (I air dried them) and reassembed in the evening for the next milking.

First time dairy goat owners think a milking machine will be easier than hand milking, but it is not. Hand milking gives you the chance to check udder health. Washing the udder before miking allows you to gently massage it which will let down the milk easier. You will find any lumps or sores and can treat them. Also, if you do machine milk remember to squirt a small sample out of each teat before attaching the inflations to check for any change in milk consistency which could signal mastitis.

We started with a small machine and eventually graduated to a larger machine. The small machine went to the shows with us while the larger, bulkier machine remained home. We had 2 double stanchions set up, side by side.DS2 would put 2 in at a time and while they were being milked, he would switch out 2 others. He could milk 12-18 in under an hour, including the set up and take down. Of course, he had learned to hand milk at the age of 6, and our dairy herd were all trained to come to the stanchion when called.

If you decide to buy a miking machine, try to buy locally so repairs and parts will be available. Read all the comment on the various kinds before you buy. Our first machine was very fragile.

All great info! I have been considering milking sheep since we opted to breed only once per year on their natural cycle…that and sheep milk cheese is a thing around here and a great new revenue stream..(the more the better)..
when I make the move to production..(if?)..I will move away from my frankenhomade milker. It works but it could be better. .I have found the matching that milks two at a time so that you are not just sitting and waiting for one to finish. I like being efficient. I always thought it was God’s little ’inside joke’ with sheep that they have four teats but only two give milk! This means the lambs have to know what to do and where to do it the first time!…if only I were born so smart! Buying a machine with parts available locally is just plain smart. You will not get an overnighted inflation to replace a torn one from the Wang Pu River Valley in Shanghai Province “Happybuy Milk Machine Factory” without some major dollar expenditures going out there. I have done this with machined parts and the process is tedious and never inexpensive when you need it fast.
thanks for the informative read.

 

[Ridgetop]

I always thought it was God’s little ’inside joke’ with sheep that they have four teats but only two give milk!

Do your sheep have 4 teats? Most have only 2. In most breeds multiple teats are a disqualification.

When buying a miking machine consider buying extra lines and inflations at the same time.

 

[Legamin]

Do your sheep have 4 teats? Most have only 2. In most breeds multiple teats are a disqualification.

When buying a miking machine consider buying extra lines and inflations at the same time.

Again, good advice! The Leicester Longwool mostly have a forward set of non-functional pseudo-teats…really just small bumps. It seems to be consistent in the breed and because they are still so low in numbers and critically endangered they have not yet set a universal standard which includes more than the basic disqualifications. When you see a genetically perfect LL you know it and it is stunning. But another breeder may have been working on a slightly different focus genetically and when it comes to a show there are not two of them to show against each other yet. Currently they are judged by ‘Carding’ . If a judge cards them and sees one of five main weaknesses known to plague parts of the breed, each of those judgements costs a ’Star’. A Five Star Lamb is basically the blue ribbon. I have only seen one and I have purchased several of it’s descendants for our breeding line. He is a truly majestic ram. Thanks again for the wisdom of the milking machine questions. You have many good points.