# I couldn't milk today



## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

So I could not milk my does today. 

I tried, but my hands just wouldn't work. So I massaged the udders, did their normal feed, and turned them out with their kids.


I'm looking into a milking machine for days like this (not for every day use since I heard they are not that great for the udders).

I know lots of folks here handmilk, lots of folks use machines. 

How many folks do both? Like milk by hand 3 days, then machine on the 4th day to give a rest, then have your daughter milk on the 5 day (haha!) to give your hands a second day of rest? Seriously though, my daughter is going off to college in a few months so I need to figure out a decent backup. She had school today, otherwise I would have had her milk.

I know it shouldn't hurt tooooo much to skip a day every now and again if they have kids on them, but soon I'm going to wean the kids so it'll just be me. Right now I'm only milking once a day but when the kids are weaned I assume I'll be milking twice a day.

I milked Mamma Nacho for months, only taking Sundays off (my daughter milks on Sundays for me) and never had any issues. But she has nice teats and a good flow.

I'm now milking her daughter and an unrelated sannen mix. Her daughter has GREAT sized teats, but small openings. I've been being aggressive pushing the milk out and the teats openings actually seem to be getting bigger BUT at the expense of my hands hurting. Then the saanen mix I'm milking has GREAT openings, but her teats are TINY. Like the size of the tip of my pinkie. So that's hurting my hands too. Put both these together? And owie owie owie.

I've got good technique, good posture, a great milking stand and patient does. It's just MILKING that is hurting right now.

I was doing some searching on the forum (now that I can read again YAHOO!) and decided which milker I will go with. Probably the Dansha. I also read to try epsom salts soaks on my hands? Will that really help? My pain is a mixture of:

1. Not having milked in a while
2. Milking two goats at a time now
3. Problem teats
4. Joint pain and inflammation (on meds for that) Mobic and Tramadol

Any other suggestions on anything I could do more/better?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would go with a good milking machine that you just use daily. You still have to milk out the last bit when you use a machine. Not sure what the Dansha milker is but I would go with a pulsating one that will milk them correctly and not just from constant suction. I bought a milking machine from Perry's Milkers and it has been worth every penny. No more sore hands.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

There is no way I could justify spending that much on a milker. I only have the goats as a hobby. I sell a couple quarts a week, and some cheese. But that doesn't even pay for their feed/upkeep. 

I just enjoy having the fresh milk/cheese myself and enjoy the company of goats.

One thing I've considered is just having 2-3 higher quality milking goats. Like saanens, with decent teats and openings. That would solve that problem. But I really like the personality of my feral goaties...


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

You could hire a couple good kids to milk them for you once a day, it'll save you the trouble lol.
It must stink that you can't even do the things you enjoy with your goats because of your hands  .


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I use the Maggidan milker. It was $45.00 the trick with the constant suction milkers is to go slow and release often... I do like 5 pumps slowly, release, and then go again. I actually do both I use the machine first then hand milk some. The girls that only have the buckling son on them I usually milk out. The girls with the triplets I don't milk completely out..


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

From what I've heard the orifice size is chance rather than genetic, so buying new goats wouldn't guarantee that unless you milked them first (I always do.) I have several with good orifices but slightly smaller (not tiny) teats, and one with perfect handfuls but smaller orifices. She takes more time and effort to milk, the others I just have to make sure to keep my pinky out of the way so I like them better.


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## DesertRose (Apr 12, 2013)

Boy, does this post hit home with me. I will be 61 in a few months, and I have been milking since my early teens. Cows, then goats.

When my human kids were small I milked 24 in two hours.
In 2012 I milked 9, last year it was 7.
This year, knowing my hands were worse I decided I'd only milk 4. That was fine but then that 3 year old third freshner refused her kids at two weeks. She milks nearly 2 gallons a day ... and that extra wear and tear on my hands is killing me off.

I've had carpel tunnel before and do NOT want to get it again so I decided to sell off that three year old ASAP. Have a guy coming in a couple of days to pick her up.

But ... long term with my arthritis so bad ... I don't know. Will probably just keep two for milking sooner than I had planned. 
Makes me sad to think about it ...


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## Hollowdweller (May 5, 2011)

Dayna said:


> One thing I've considered is just having 2-3 higher quality milking goats. Like saanens, with decent teats and openings. That would solve that problem. ..


Bingo!

Get rid of the hard to milk goats.

I used to have this doe, an old saanen, she weighed 280 and milked at peak 18 lbs a day. She had tiny teats with VERY small orifices, I developed severe arm and shoulder pain that lasted nearly a year after I quit milking her.

Why buy an expensive milking machine when you can buy a goat that might be easier to milk?

I have a doe right now, 2y/o FF er. She has a big udder decent milk but tiny teats. HURTS my hands to milk her. Plus with her tiny teats takes forever to milk her out. She should get bigger teats since she's only been fresh a couple days but if they stay small, she goes. Her orifices are fine though.

I have another doe right now. 2 y/o FF er. She has longer teats and good orifices and at 2 days fresh she's a dream to milk.

Orifices are usually fairly heritable so maybe you can find a buck to correct that or maybe just buy a new doe that comes from easy to milk lines.

I used to have a few does hard to milk due to orifices but then got bucks that threw good orifics and more ergonomically friendly udders.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

I just bought the Dansha milker for my hubby (he does the milking most of the time). It works really well for us. I don't get out and milk because of my fibro (think pain in your hands in your entire body :sad He only does one teat at a time and it doesn't seem too hard on our girls.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

kccjer, I too have that. So I do understand.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Yep. Exactly. The Dansha wasn't too expensive...I think I paid $90 for the entire setup. It's battery powered and hubby says it milks our 2 for almost 4 days before he needs to charge it again. I don't know what shipping would be for you tho...I don't know if it's more expensive to ship to Hawaii than the mainland...


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## HerdQueen (Oct 15, 2012)

I had the Dansha milker with hand pump. I actually like it. Just took it easy pumped, let the pressure go down, pumped again. I oonly put as much pressure as needed to start the flow. I use it for show now, and I have a machine milker for the barn. I can't hand milk because of a shoulder injury.


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

58 here, with Rheumatoid arthritis since I was 6. I so hear you! I milk by hand, can't afford a milker. I have gotten to where all my does milk easy EXCEPT 1-the herd queen. The same one who recenly had premie quads that died except for 1 who is a bottle kid. I haver to hand milk her twice a day and she pounds out the milk. Takes me FOREVER to get her empty. My hands and fingers and back are killing me by the time I am through.

I have been thinking about one of those constant suction milkers.


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