# Milking Parlor



## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I've heard people talk about milking parlors and I'm guessing that a milking parlor is a room kept clean for milking your goat.
I used to board a lot of horses here and I have a beautiful, empty barn with a very nice, empty, concrete floor, climate controlled, air conditioned tackroom. It doesn't have a sink but it does have a microwave and a fridge.
Could it be converted into a milking parlor? 
It's 12'x12' (as big as the stalls) and I've brought my old horse inside it when he was hot before (long ago). Since then a crazy lady actually lived in it for a few weeks (long story...LOL).
It's very clean and it seems to me that it might work pretty well.
What do you guys think?


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## Stacie1205 (Mar 26, 2011)

Sounds great to me! Definitely big enough and concrete is easy to clean. Running water would be better but compared to what I used last year, that's a palace


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Cool! I was hoping it would work. 
I suppose if I asked really nicely I might be able to convince my Dad to instal a simple cold-water-only utility sink inside it for washing, there is water and electricity at the barn. And my father built the barn (he built the houses I grew up in and the one he and my Mom still live in).
Also, what should a milking parlor have in it?
The alpine doe I'm getting is used to a stanchion. I don't really know what that it except that she eats from it while being milked. What does one look like? Does she stand on it? is it made of wood?
Sorry for the million questions .


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Sounds like a perfect set up. I want something like that some day. Right now I milk out in the open. My "barn" has no walls only fencing and a metal roof so its not much protection from the elements. We did this because it gets so hot here. And when it gets 120°F in the summer I'm baking trying to milk next to a hot goat body so some AC would be a god send.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Yeah, I'm in Florida. We used to do all day summer camps and the only way we didn't end up with heat stroke (us and the kids) was having that tack room to retreat to LOL. There is even a seal on the bottom of the door to keep barn dust from blowing in.
I think I'll go out to the barn tomorrow and sweep the main isleway and sweep and mop the tackroom.
The barn is designed with 6 stalls on one side and 5 stalls and the tackroom on the other with the tackroom in the middle of that side and a center isleway. The isleway and tackroom are concrete. The stalls all have sliding doors on the isleway side and the stalls on the side opposite the tackroom row have back doors as well.
So I have all the stalls on the tackroom side bolted shut and all the stalls on the other side have both doors open (so no animal can be trapped in by another animal. I have never had less than two horses).
Anyways, I think that the barn will be great for my little herd of goats and my mare and in the meantime, my pony (since her owner wont seem to come pick her up!)
And right in the middle of it all will be the new milking parlor.
Amusingly enough, I can milk my mare. She always has milk and doesn't mind me milking her. She loves having her udders handled and scratched. And she's never even been pregnant!


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

:greengrin: Wow, that sounds like a great milk room. I don't know how you do it...but...I would start most requests like this "Daddy, would you...or Daddy, could you..." you could just see him pump up his chest, always end with something like "how does it feel to be our hero"? You'll get hot running water before long. lol.

Sometimes it help to start picking up his tools...like you are going to "do it yourself"...ask him questions like "do you have any books on plumbing?" What tool do I use to...? I think Stacey did that when she wanted her goat barn improved...the men jumped up when she started touching their tools.


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## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

My milking parlor is 10 X 12 concrete floor that I painted with epoxy paint for an easy cleanup. In fact we ran that paint 3.5 ft up the wall so it would wash easy. I have my stanchion in the corner, lockers for medicine storage (keeps nosey goats out) and stackable feed bins. I love it! I also don't have water but I do have electricity. I keep a gallon jug of water for whatever in there. My house isn't that far away so carrying buckets isn't that bad and good exercise. I carry all my milk into the house to be stored in the refrigerator. i even have a small heater so I can milk comfortably in the winter. 

So... a 12 X 12 room would be great! I think it will all be perfect. YOu will have to post pictures once you get it all done!


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Yeah, grabbing a bunch of Dad's tools especially a power tool or two and carting them out to the barn and asking if I'll need to shut the well off in order to install a sink into the tackroom ought to get me all the help i need LOL.
I definitely need to get a large freezer for out there though.
And I promise lots of pics!
Any help on the milking stand/stanchion thing?


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

I kinda built my milking/hoof trimming stand from scratch. I had good scrap wood, a vague idea of what to do, and BAM, stand built. No finished pictures, I keep forgetting. But there are lots of pictures of milk stands out there that you can reference, and some plans, too. Fias Co Farms has plans, I think, for free (though they ask for a donation if possible).


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Thanks Stacy!


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## pennyspasture (Dec 22, 2011)

I second the Fiasco Farms plans. They are easy to follow!


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I'll have to check them out. Does Molly own that farm? She sure is nice.
After worming Pan with both her wormers Pan's stools are back to normal now. He had a negative fecal at the vet but I wonder if some nasties were setting up shop already, just not shedding.
I'm considering the idea of trying to make goat cheese after talking to a friend from Cuba last night who wants me to try. He'll eat any thing, so even if I don't get it quite right at first I'll have a taste tester LOL.


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