# Durability of milking stand?



## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

Has anyone else made the milking stand from the fiasco farm plans? 

I used 1 x 4's like it said, and it seems awful flimsy - not the main stand, but the head gate part. I was just reading the post about the goat that hated being milked, and was hanging herself off the milking stand, and started thinking that if my girls started struggling, it didn't seem like it would hold them.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

My headgate is 2x4's even though I have mini's. It's now 6 years old and as sturdy as it was when first built.


----------



## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

Yeah i think i will either use 2x4s or double up on the 1x4s (more likely i will do that, since i used cedar b/c it was pretty, naturally rot resistant, and didn't cost much more)


----------



## crocee (Jul 25, 2008)

Our milkstand was made with the 1 x 4's for the head gate. We built it almost 2 years ago and have had to reinforce the head gate bottom where it attaches to the bed, it was also made out of scrap wood we had laying around. I have standard size goats but they don't fight the stand or the head gate. IF I had goats that did fight it I would definitely use 2 x 4's. 

This year we replaced the bed as it was coming apart due to weather(yeah its left outside 24/7). Now it has a bed made from marine plywood covered with shingles as the ply is slippery. The marine ply was free from the sign company.


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Ours is about 4yrs old & still works good, have had to reinforce the headstall. We also put roofing on it.
But yeah Ive had em trying to commit suicide. So far no one has suceeded.


----------



## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

Reinforced the headgate with another thickness of 1x4s. I decided to test it out with my first ever hoof-trimming.

I did the two older does first, figuring they've done this before. Little bit of struggling, but they settled when they realized i wouldn't put their foot down, and they might as well eat grain. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I recall the farrier coming to do our horses when i was a kid, and it was similar, just on a smaller scale. I might have been able to trim off more, but i was being careful not to cut too far, so i concentrated on the overhanging edges. I don't have a rasp yet, but the trimmers did a good job.

Did my younger doe next. I've never trimmed her, and she was only 6 months old when i got her - I was puzzled when i read how often their hooves need trimming, b/c hers were not that bad. Maybe her hooves grow slowly? My only problem was that she is barely tall enough to fit in the lower part of the headgate opening. She also threw a major fit about being restrained. But she didn't escape, and she didn't break it. 

I finished up with the buck after practicing on my own girls. Now everyone looks pretty and I am happy that the stand held up. :leap: Thanks for the help everyone.


----------



## ChrisAnthumum (Apr 20, 2010)

We were told by a gal that her goats beat the crap out of hers and it was flimsy from front to back...so she needed to ad supports from the upward pieces to the base, it then stabilized very well.
I know you're talking about the stanchion part too. She didn't seem to have trouble with that..except hers was 2 1/2 inches apart for the neck. I went 3 and that seems tight.


----------



## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

I used the fiasco farms plans too, but made it out of left over decking material that we had purchased when we built the porch. As a result we wound up using some pretty heavy duty stuff. Haven't had any problems with the head gate, but I can see how I might need to fix that bit sooner than the rest of it due to the fact that we are now using it on a daily basis for our milker and we have a buck I will have to start trimming hooves on as well.


----------



## pennylullabelle (Nov 22, 2009)

This is the plan I used:
http://homepage.mac.com/hmdahlin/stanchion.htm

It calls for 2x4s, is very sturdy, and was very simple and easy to construct. For anyone having to re-do their head gate I recommend it


----------



## SterlingAcres (Oct 19, 2009)

Thanks Amanda. I'm going to have to build one soon and that looks simple enough  I have to make something heavy duty. Moony probably weighs more than my rott/lab mix. lol


----------



## CrossCreekTX (Aug 10, 2009)

I have one doe that is very large, long and tall, one that is almost as tall and long, and the other 3 are shorter and not near as long with the two smallest being about 2/3 or less the size of the largest. The smaller can easily drop their heads and get out of the stanchion. Going to have to redo the thing.

Mine is similar to the one from pioneer meadows. I'm thinking of screwing a shorter piece of wood to the 2x4 to make the lower part not so open. The light blue is the 2x4 and the dark blue would be the extra piece.


----------



## goatlover (Mar 7, 2009)

CrossCreekTX said:


> The smaller can easily drop their heads and get out of the stanchion."


my goat is doing the same thing i'll have to try that


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Mine is basically from the same plans in the link pennylulubelle provided....except that the area above the feed pan is big enough for a smaller doe to get out of, I have a 2x4 cut to a 8 inch length and rest it on the board above the feed pan, keeps the little girls from getting their heads out and they can still reach the pan...just have to stretch a bit further.


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

For my bigger girls we have about 8" of heavy chain bolted into one side with an eye bolt on the other & a double ended snap to adjust the size. :wink:


----------



## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

We finally built ours this weekend-our buck is getting nasty and I didn't really want to hold him on my lap! Anyway-we built the one on Fiasco Farms-just changed everything but the headgate with 2x4s. We didn't even have to build the front piece to hang the feeder on-with 2x4s and 1.6(ish-I can't remember I just know it was a 1"board) the stand worked out that you can just wedge one of those hanging feeders on! We are stoked as our first kids (now wethers) are going to their new home this weekend and hopefully we will "TRY" and milk their mom....fun times!!!


----------

