# Quik Milker anyone tried yet?



## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

https://quikmilker.com/

Not seen this one before. Anyone used a foot pump? Also looking at the battery powered one.

I'm not huge on using devices to milk but I'm going to have a total of 7 does in milk soon, of various sized teats... and my hands might need a break once or twice a week!


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Interesting... I have not seen that before. Stinkin expensive though! I will never understand the prices of dairy equipment!!! There is a milking system out of Oregon that looked interesting...I'll try to find the link


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I'm not sure if this is the one, but take a look at Simplepulse.net


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

Here's a video link showing how to make your own "Dansha-type" machine.






I'm trying this -- it's so much cheaper!!! The basic materials are:

*Brake bleeder pump (available at auto parts stores, Harbor Freight...The one I got at HF looks exactly like the one on the Dansha videos.)
*Plastic tubing (I got mine at Home Depot)
*Nozzels to fit the tubing (in my market I had a hard time finding these. I finally got brass ones at Home Depot)
*Food grade silicone caulk (Think aquarium silicone -- there may be other types, but this was what I could easily get in my market.)
*Canning jar with tight fitting lid and ring

(Edit: forgot the syringes for teat cups, available @ TSC or elsewhere)

My total cost (excluding gas for trips to the store) was about $40. My biggest problem was getting a really good seal on the nozzels going thru the lid --several applications of caulk seemed to handle that one) and the pump I got for $20 at Harbor Freight doesn't build up adequate pressure -- I think the internal seals are leaking. I think I just got a lemon -- the reviews for this product said this pump is either really good or worthless -- QC at HF apparently isn't the best. I guess I got a worthless one - LOL. I plan to exchange it on my next trip to HF (They're really good about that.)


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

I just bought a dansha milking machine. I tested it on the top of my hand until it shut off. Not even a bruise and was only slightly uncomfortable. Chocolate liked the machine a million times more then me hand milking her.

I know it doesn't pulse and that can be bad for their nipples. I just make sure I stop once the milk starts flowing and I disconnect the line before I take it off of her so I'm not stretching her nipples even more. It has the same idea of the hand held breast pumps I used on myself.


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## harleybarley (Sep 15, 2014)

I made a DIY one, and the canning jar lid rusted. The whole setup was not very disinfect-able. I switched to silicone gaskets instead of caulk (hard to sanitize caulk, hard to get it smooth) but swapping out lids every time they rusted was a hassle. 

I haven't tried the quik milker, did try the henry milker, finally just cobbled together a conventional milker out of ebay parts.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I just use the Maggiedan milker.. It's cheap and very easy to use... My standards I can milk by hand, but my kinders came back and they have small teats...


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

I do not get it. There is no right way to do the wrong thing. Our does are our babies. Why would any one use a milker that may hurt them?
We decided our girls would be milked by hand untill we had the money to get a milking machine.
We found an old cow dairy man that had not milked in years and bought his old vacume pump for $500.00 and two buckets with pulseators for $200.00.
We converted the bucket inflations to goat inflations I felt we got taken because the conversion was $200.00. There were some other peices and parts like a light switch and PVC pipe flex hose so It cost us about $1000.00. That is half what a new goat milking machine would cost. And twice as much as the Quick milker costs.
We milk two goats at a time and our vacume pump is large enough to milk 12 goats at once.
Knowing we are not hurting our goats is priceless.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

No one I know here on this forum would hurt their goats.... Which is why I am asking opinions.....


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

I agree, Dayna. We all participate in this forum precisely because we love our goats and want to give them the best possible care within the bounds of our abilities and our resources.

My sister and I got goats because we both deal with autoimmune conditions which are at times extremely debilitating. Drinking fresh, raw goat milk helps our health. Still, there are times (during and immediately after a flare-up) that my hands are so weak I can barely hold a glass of milk -- much less fully and painlessly milk my girls. In situations such as ours, I think it is kinder to our girls to use a mechanical milker than to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze non-productively by hand.

Perhaps I misunderstood fivemoremiles response -- If I did, I sincerely apologize. I would hope that we could all give each other the benefit of the doubt -- believing each is trying to do their best and communicating the support needed. If I had the resources for an expensive milking machine, I wouldn't be trying to build a fruit-jar milker. I expect there are others in similar situations.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I built my own milker like the video years ago and used it with success for a year or two... I later learned to hand milk better, bought bigger goats, and then purchased a used Surge milker and fitted it out for smaller teats. It has a pulsator so I felt better about using it...personally, the hand milker worked fine but I didn't want to use it for years on the same goats incase it did damage their teats. I paid 325.00 for my surge milker w/vacuum pump on Craigslist and put another 100 or so into it for new inflations and pulsator rebuild kit. That is about as cheap as you can get in dairy equipment! Good luck on your quest!!! (It's not easy)


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

Sorry I was not clear in my post. Some times a constant vacume milkers prevent the blood from circulating properly. This causes damage to the teat simular to a hicky. 
If you are willing to spend $500.00 on a milking contraption that may disappoint you. Wouldn't it be wise to spend more money on a milking system that has stood the test of time. 
One last thing before my wife met me she bought a 1/2 horse vacume pump milking system. I used it for a year and didn't like its performance. Having used a 5 horse vacume with a belly band bucket 20 years ago I knew how much better it was. So I found one on line and i bought it. The cost was 1/2 the price of a new 1/2 horse milker and has 4x the performance.


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## GreenMountainNigerians (Jul 3, 2013)

Hi Dayna
I spent quite a lot of time researching the vacuum milkers like the quick milker. I do believe a pulsator set up is best. But like many ,I'm not in the position to buy a 600.00 milker. I have severe RA and cannot hand milk. I ended up buying a Dansha milker. It's cheaper and darn near the same thing. My plan is to use it temporarily and buy a Simple Pulse milker for daily use. The vacuum milker is working well and my FF seems not to mind it. A lot of people use these milkers on a full time basis and it works for them.


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

I haven't seen any damage to my Chocolate. It works fast and easy. I don't have money to buy an expensive milker. I can't milk well by hand because I broke my wrist when I was 20. The vacuum milker by Dansha had great reviews and my goat Chocolate is a million times happier with that for 5-10 minutes when it took me almost an hour trying to do it by hand in pain the whole time.

My DD is allergic to cow's milk. With goat's milk $8 a half gallon at the grocery store we had to buy milking goats. All of my goats are rescues. They are the one's being sold for meat prices because of behavior issues or because they are cull(wrong buck bred the doe in the case of Stubby, plus she was attacked by a dog twice before I got her) or because they are so overweight no one else wants to deal with them(my two Pygmy/ND's).

I'm sorry if you think me using a vacuum style milker is abusing my goat. I don't know why I'm defending myself. I'm a little upset at the idea when I've put a lot of time, energy and what little extra money I have into getting them healthy and happy.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

Goats4Milk, I have a goat that I am going to have to use a vaccum milker cause her teats are one finger teats..... No reason to defend yourself, we all have decisions to make based on our lives.


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## melbah1 (Jun 28, 2013)

I have the quick milker. I bought the rechargeable batter powered one. I hand milk 4 standard does, but I have been doing that for a while and my hands and arms are in shape for it. We use the milker if someone else in the family needs to milk or if we are gone and we have someone milking for us. Also, I don'lt have electricity out where I milk.

It is a great milker for a vacuum milker. It has the pressure guage on it. I wouldn't use a vacuum milker at all if it didn'lt have a guage.

The battery one only milks about 3 gallons before running out and you have to charge over night to get the charge right.

I think the foot operated one looks great, but is over priced. If you are going to spend that much money, there are some good pulsing ones out now for not much more.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

There is a man up here that makes the milkers using the brake bleeder thing. It works awesome! I used it on my FF with tiny teats, sure has saved my hands. It's easy to clean up, just suck up rinse water, then the soapy wash water and then rinse again. I hang up to drain and dry. Slicker than snot on plastic!


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

I have the foot powered one. I like the teat cups VERY much. I have installed shut off clips on the milk lines so I can cut off the suction as soon as one quarter stops flowing and continue the suction on the quarter that is still milking. Otherwise I would have to stop both at the same time and have a lot more "finishing'' to do. The top that you snap onto a wide mouth mason jar cautions you to not try to lift the jar by the top. Good advice, because it will fall off, guaranteed. You must lift the jar itself. One last thing, it took forever to arrive.

This is not my everyday milker, but it is my travel milker, and all of my goats that are in milk at the moment have been trained to be milked by it. Even my super touchy pygmy who is completely certain that the only way to be milked is by her own little buckling! Have you ever tried to change the worldview of a stubborn pygmy?

My everyday milker is one I found on ebay in desperation because the quik milker was not showing up. It was actually cheaper, and in my opinion, slightly better, but not portable because although you have to clip it to a twelve volt battery for power, the box that has all the components needs to be fixed securely to the wall. It is very nicely put together, it is quiet, large milk container, good communication with the maker, has neat ideas that I had not seen before, (like the cut off clips that I added to the quik milker? this is where I got that idea) But I do not like the teat cups nearly as much. They are too large. The suction won't hold to the end because as the udder empties more and more of the quarter got sucked into the teat cup. The seller/maker sold me a teat cup assembly with smaller cups and that works much better, but I still prefer the teat cups of the quik milker. I really recommend just communicating with the seller that you want the smaller teat cups rather than having to buy them extra (with much added shipping later.)

In the morning I will try to find the maker of my everyday milker for you.

In short, my foot powered milker was more expensive, more portable, took a long time to come to me, and is solidly put together. My everyday milker was less expensive, (even if I had had to buy a battery, which I did not because I had one), less portable, less 'fiddly', shipped fast!!!! teat cups not as good, but everything else better.

I'll find the link to the everyday one. Here it is.

http://ebay.com/itm/goat-milking-ma...864?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f4c518268

The ebay user name is goatman1950. He builds other milkers as well, but this is the one I got. Hope I was of help to you.


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## lovinglife (Jun 6, 2013)

Check out simple PULSE milkers, they are just like the huge cow milkers only much smaller and milk into gallon jars. They are pulse milkers with inflations and let me tell you they are AWESOME! They cost around 600 but worth every penny!


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I've looked at the videos for the simple pulse milkers...they look great! (I have an old surge)


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## GreenMountainNigerians (Jul 3, 2013)

I love my Simple Pulse. You can build your own now. I paid 430.00 for mine. So worth it.


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## SerenitySquare (Jun 28, 2014)

I got my Simple Pulse a couple weeks ago and I love it. I went for the smaller pump since I only milk one ND at a time. It cost me $430 with the build your own system as well.
I highly recommend it.


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## lovinglife (Jun 6, 2013)

I love mine and now I don't worry about next year when I have 5 Nubians to milk. I am up at 4 to do chores and get ready for work then an hour commute each way then home to do more chores, this is a real time saver and hand saver for me. I have a couple that are more difficult to hand milk but my simple PULSE has no problem, so YAY! Great you could build your own and save, I really like the people who make them, I think its great for small business to thrive.


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## ms_mac (Oct 7, 2012)

*Dansha farms milker*

I use the Dansha farms rechargeable milker and it has been great when I have a doe in milk. There are videos on You tube that feature these devices. It is much less frustrating for the goat if you are not adept at hand milking as I am. It is easy to clean up and you can make your own for cheap. I had received a teat cup that was cracked in shipping and called the folks at Dansha farms and was treated well. They sent a replacement right away.


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## AncientBlue (Dec 21, 2014)

I started with a Dansha milker (hand pump) because I was new to milking. It worked well. I haven't seen any damage to my girls, although, Annabelle's teats do seem a little bit longer then they were. In her case, that's a good thing. She a ND with very small teats. At this point my Dansha is for others to use If I have to be out of town for some reason.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I think an inventive person could build a cheaper pulse milker from an electric fuel pump. I've kind of been looking at it but, don't really have the shop I'd need to do it.


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## AncientBlue (Dec 21, 2014)

I was thinking the same thing. I need to look further into it.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Honda makes a pulsating snowmobile fuel pump that is right at 14 pounds, and tiny besides. If it worked like I think you could carry it anywhere with it's 6 volt battery.


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