# dwarf goat milking machine question



## Marty1876

Hi everyone, I've tried two different milkers for my goats so far, and have pretty much given up on the vaccuum sealers for one goat - you know, the hand squeeze kind and and the vac. sealer kind. They just didn't work for us. I had terrible time with "latch on" and they were very uncomfortable for Ava, my lone milker just now.
I was diagnosed with arthritus at 12, and it's all I can do to milk 1 a day now, but I've got another coming fresh in a few monthes (we hope) and I'm getting 3 more doelings from the best lines I can afford for huge milk quantities and long standing milkability, so I need to get a regular milker. 

I have 3 questions:
1- do surge milkers work better than any of the others when set correctly (10-12 lbs press and 50/50 or 40/60 pulse)?


2- do regular (standard) goat cups work ok, or do I have to get the mini cups for only nigerians? Will they work for all the nigerians, or will the super milk lines with the bigger bags have teats too big for the mini?


3- which ones are easiest to keep well cleaned? I will be washing and hanging to dry in my kitchen sink, unless their is one thats easier!


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## kristinatucker

I cant answer you completely because we just started milking our nigerians with a machine. We have hand milked as well as used the EZ milker hand pump. We have better luck with it if we squirt some of the milk around the part of the cup that touches the udder. When I used to pump breast milk I also did this and it created a better vaccum. So we have a Conde milk pail and it has a pulsator then we use the DeLavel teat cups. The ones we have are actually for cows and they work okay but are too big. We have just practice milked a couple times to get our settings right. We will start milking next weekend when the babies are 2 weeks old. We found the best prices on replacement parts through a website called parts deptartment.com They do offer different size goat teat cups. The ones we had we bought from a lady that said she milked with those cups for nubians. It did work for our nigerian but we are going to get a smaller size. You may want to consider trying squirting a little milk around the top of the cup to help it hold on to the udder better.


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## StaceyRosado

have you looked into the milk machines from Hoeggars? I want one SO BAD


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## ksalvagno

Perry's Milkers http://www.perrysmilkers.com/

A regular milking machine is worth every penny if you have problems with your hands.


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## aceofspades

StaceyRoop said:


> have you looked into the milk machines from Hoeggars? I want one SO BAD


We use the udderly EZ hand pump on our nigerian dwarfs and have been very happy with it


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## ksalvagno

With Perry's Milkers you can buy the cups for smaller breeds. My machine is set up for both large and small goats.


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## StaceyRosado

aceofspades said:


> We use the udderly EZ hand pump on our nigerian dwarfs and have been very happy with it


I have one -- not really that thrilled with it.


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## StaceyRosado

ksalvagno said:


> With Perry's Milkers you can buy the cups for smaller breeds. My machine is set up for both large and small goats.


but arent their buckets like 5 gallons? I couldnt find a smaller bucket


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## xymenah

The surge says its 5 gallons but they only hold about two and a half. You can buy a different smaller bucket. Most lids fit most buckets so you could just sell the bucket it came with. They sell pretty fast on eBay if they are in good condition. The surge needs a clip to hold it on the bucket so you would have to rig the lid to seal unless you find one that has a clip. Or you could buy a lid with the smaller bucket and sell the bucket and lid of the larger one.


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## StaceyRosado

what Im saying is that its a LARGE bucket and I didnt have (and still dont) have the room for it. 

when Im ready for one again I may contact the companies to see what they can do to work with me -- or by then they may see the market to the mini goats and make a smaller one


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## ksalvagno

StaceyRoop said:


> but arent their buckets like 5 gallons? I couldnt find a smaller bucket


Yes, they do have the larger buckets but it was worth the lower cost for me. I would think you could probably find a smaller bucket to use with it.


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## kristinatucker

Look up a quarter milker. Thats a smaller can. We have one.


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## milk and honey

Just my 2 cents... I use a surge milker set up for minies and do all of the clean-up in my kitchen. It's not too bad, once you get a routine... I probably spend 15 minutes getting my milk into chill and clean-up. I hang the tubes and lid up to dry and prop the bucket to drain on a clean towel. (on the back porch - out of the way)


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## ksalvagno

I agree with you, Milk & Honey. Yes, it does take some time to clean up but it was taking me longer to milk goats when I had to stop because my hands were so numb. Once you get a routine down for cleaning the machine, it is really nothing. It was taking me at least 15 minutes per goat to milk by hand and it takes about 15 minutes for setup and then clean up of the machine. It takes only a few minutes to milk out a goat with the machine.


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## Marty1876

Thanks for your thoughts and info!

I have procured parts to make my own surger based milking machine. Yay!


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## kristinatucker

Great! One tip I have learned so far milking our nigerians vs our nubians with the machine is that they milk out really fast, like a minute! I was nervous to hurt their teat and udder by over expressing one while the other finished so we ended up caping off one teat cup and we do one at a time now vs both at the same time. They seem like they do better and I can control it better. Some milkers have the ability to close off one side and let the other finished but our current set up does not so just capping it has worked great. I ended up liking it so much that I do my nubian this way too just for convenience.


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