These two things are really helping make my goat life much more bearable.

Dave put one of these milkers together for me.  A hand vacuum pump from Harbor freight, tubing, fittings and a canning jar with lid.  This milk is from Nikki, the momma that gave birth early this morning.  In the morning, I milked nearly a pint, at about 3pm, nearly a quart.  This was just taking the pressure off her, and was milked in a matter of minutes.  Nice, clean milk for the 2 day old bottle baby I have in the house.  I put the pint of fresh colostrum in the freezer for an emergency. 

I used this on Sis, my doe that kidded a couple days ago.  I also was able to get much more good usable milk.    I didn't get nearly as much milk from Sis, but she doesn't have the strong LaMancha genes that Nikki does.  It still worked so much easier for me than trying to hand milk. The milk is nice and clean, which is not my experience hand milking.   


Necessity is the mother of invention, so the saying goes. 

I knew there were bottle buckets for feeding multiple calves and kids at a time, but my kids are young, and I don't feed them large quantities at a time.  I brought this old VHS movie shelf out of the basement and used a hole saw to cut holes for the bottles.  The shelves are V shaped, so this worked great.  I have the bottles weighted down with a fabric bag filled with grain.  This really makes my life easier! It's hard to satisfy 3-5 hungry little babies at one time.  They are getting used to it quick.  No more pushing and shoving and jumping all over me.  So nice!

I just love that VHS shelf milk bottle holder!!  That idea is just fantastic.  I'll be looking for one of those at the flea markets or swap shops.  Very nifty idea.

I wonder if you drill or screw in some of those "eye" screws that holds pictures on the wall, and use those tiny wee little bungie cords to hold those bottle in place if that would work good?  You could squeeze the ends of the bungie cords together with a pair of pliers and use the larger "eye" screws...the eye screws would keep them from sliding sideways, and the bungie cord would keep them in place.    Just a thought for you.

Thanks for the new idea.

Tell Dave he did a great job with your milker...sure makes milking a whole lot easier, faster, and fun!! hahaha.

Can you explain how to make one of those milkers in simple (extremely simple) terms? That looks like something I could use off and on for a couple of my tiny teated does.

Dragon, if you check out ebay and youtube, you will find better pics and detailed instructions that may help you.

It is a hand vacuum pump from Harbor Freight. We bought with a coupon for about $30.  Clear plastic tubing, and some barb fittings that fit the tubing that tighten down on the jar lid (which you drill holes in), and seal with a waterproof sealant. 

Dave is going to pick up one of the old time rubber canning seal today.   The seal on the jar lid is not allowing a suction to be held.  This is a tip on one of the youtube videos. 

It worked so well on Nikki, I can't even tell you how much time it saved me.  No hair or feet in the bowl.  I know you are an experienced milker, but I am not.  This is the trick for me.  BTW... she is NOT a tiny teated doe!  She has huge teats, and it worked excellent on her.  The suction sucks the teat into the syringe.  She didn't even flinch either.  Such a good girl!

Let me know if you make one.  Best of luck!

You & Dave are genius! Very nice set up frpm start to finish.