A goat milking stand is kind of a necessity when you have dairy goats. These DIY instructions will have your milking in no time.
How to make a goat milking stand for Nigerian Dwarf goats. This milking stand has an attached step in the back that doubles as a seat for milking.
These quick and easy DIY Goat Milking Stand Plans come complete with printable plans and a step by step photo tutorial!
We built an elevated cow milking stanchion for our first milk cow. It was perfect and made milking a breeze!
These quick and easy DIY Goat Milking Stand Plans come complete with printable plans and a step by step photo tutorial!
In this post I will show you how to build a milk stand for goats to make milking your goats as easy as can be and the concrete top makes it simple to clean!
A goat milking stand is kind of a necessity when you have dairy goats. These DIY instructions will have your milking in no time.
In this post I will show you how to build a milk stand for goats to make milking your goats as easy as can be and the concrete top makes it simple to clean!
How to make a goat milking stand for Nigerian Dwarf goats. This milking stand has an attached step in the back that doubles as a seat for milking.
We built an elevated cow milking stanchion for our first milk cow. It was perfect and made milking a breeze!
Make this DIY Goat Milking Stand using scrap wood, and $20 worth of hardware. Simple for even the most novice of builders.
Follow these directions to build a goat stanchion, a DIY livestock structure that allows you to easily groom, medicate and milk your dairy goats.
Here are two must-have winter workshop tools that make winter projects a breeze: The Reconnx Nail Kicker NR-101 and the Oneida Dust Deputy. If you want to use reclaimed lumber for a project, but it’s full of nails, the Reconnx Nail Kicker will save you loads of time. The Oneida Dust Deputy hooks up to your shop vac and stores the dust, preventing clogs. Originally published as "Winter Workshop Wonders" December 2007/January 2008 MOTHER EARTH NEWS.
People that come here to pick-up their kids (goats) often ask me about my milk stand. Where did I get mine and why do I like t...
How to make a goat milking stand for Nigerian Dwarf goats. This milking stand has an attached step in the back that doubles as a seat for milking.
With 100 different settings, this goat stand should fit any size goat you may have. Our original goal was to spend zero dollars and use only materials found on the property. However, because we hav…
Part 2 of how to make your own portable milking stanchion for homestead dairy production!
Learn how to milk a goat, particularly small breeds like Nigerian Dwarf goats. This beginner's guide to milking discusses everything you need to know.
Check out the 15 designers + makers that will be bringing their ceramics, jewelry, home decor and more to Design Milk's Milk Stand Pop-up shop at ICFF 2019!
Here are two photos of our Dexter milking stanchion for reference: From the side . . . ... and from the rear. List of Supplies NOTE: All lumber is pressure-treated Four 8' 4x4s Fifteen 6' 2x6s One 8' 2x6 Four 6' 2x4s Two galvanized bolts with washers and nuts, 6" long Galvanized nails (5+ lbs.) & screws, if desired Circular saw Hammer Power drill Measuring tape T-square Carpenter's pencil Chalk line Pliers Screwdriver Here's a general explanation of the structure of our stanchion: The four corner posts are 8-foot 4x4s (all lumber is pressure-treated). You could definitely use shorter ones or cut them off to 7 feet. The floor supports are 6-foot 2x6s nailed inside the corner posts. The floor is made of 2x6s cut into 36" lengths. (You could use 12-footers cut into four pieces which is a bit cheaper and a bit more work, also requires a trailer to haul them home.) Six 2x6s made 12 floorboards. The floor area is 6' long and 36" wide. The floor is 7" high off the milking parlor floor. The two upper side braces (Herb's hand is resting on one) are nailed on the outside. They are 2x6s. The two lower side braces are nailed on the inside. The height is customized for me. The lintel brace is really a "header." It's nailed about 7' up, high enough for me to easily walk under. All the horizontal cross pieces at the head of the stanchion are 2x6s. The visible (inside) 2x6s are 36" long and are toe-nailed in between the corner posts. The outside (not visible) 2x6s are 42" long. They are cut from the one 8' 2x6. They are nailed on the far outside of the corner posts. These cross pieces are for structural support as well as to help hold the neck-catcher boards. The two neck-catcher boards are made from 2x4s and are 58" long. The two neck-catcher boards are held in place by the two 6" bolts, allowing them to pivot. Note that we put the smooth head of the bolt on the "cow side" of the stanchion. The parts that protrude is under the feed box so neither cow nor calf can get hurt on them. When the neck-catchers are moved in against the cow's neck, the two latches fold down on their hinges, holding the neck-catchers in place. The latch boards are made from scrap 2x4 lumber and are 10 and 3/4" long. They are attached with standard door hinges. I calculated them into the lumber list. The feed box is built from scrap lumber. If you use our list, you will probably need to buy extra lumber to build a feed box. There are angled braces below the neck-catcher latches and on each upper side support. There is another angled brace above the lintel (header) brace where the cow enters, for a total of five angled braces. There is also a vertical nailer connecting a corner post to a rafter. We used scrap lumber for the braces, but I calculated their total length at about 12 feet of lumber, so I added one extra 12 foot 2x4 to the supply list. The feed box is 22" x 23", sized to hold a large rubber feed tub. It is free-standing from the stanchion, although we built it so that the little piece of 2x4 you can see to the left of the lead rope rests on the horizontal support of the stanchion and also rests against the neck-catchers. We pushed the feed box against the wall and moved the stanchion against it before nailing the stanchion to the ceiling. It takes two of us to shift the stanchion, but it can be done with a fair amount of effort. For now we have left the back open to the barnyard and one side open to the barn. Herb has since covered the lower part of the gates with hardware cloth to keep the chickens out of the milking parlor. Here are some final dimensions: The milking parlor floor is 10'2" wide by 12'4" long. There are 43" of clearance on one side and 45" on the other. The stanchion is 22" from the wall and the feed box is in this space. There is a functional 33" width inside the stanchion for the cow. Siobhan enters this space with no problem now that she's used to there being food in there! If she should move too much from side to side, we can always add nailer boards on top of the side 2x6s to give her less room to move. However, Sara is wider than Siobhan and we want her to fit in here, too. The milking parlor floor is 10" high from the barnyard. The cow has 53" of space inside the milking parlor before she has to step up 7" into the stanchion. We can tie the calf to a corner post near the cow's head if desired, we can bring it around to nurse if needed to get her to let down, or we can leave it in the barnyard to the right of the side gate. The gate you see opened into the barnyard can swing around to close off the area next to the milking parlor. I hope these plans are helpful for anyone considering building a milking parlor and stanchion for their Dexter (or similar-sized) cow. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in a comment. I receive notifications of any comments and try to answer them promptly. Feel free to link back to this post. If you'd like to use any of the photos, please be kind enough to ask my permission! These photos, the supply list, and the tutorial represent a LOT of work on my part in addition to Herb's labor building the stanchion and our custom adaptations to designs available on the internet! I'm willing to share and help others, but I'd like to receive credit (or blame) for our work!
A goat milking stand is kind of a necessity when you have dairy goats. These DIY instructions will have your milking in no time.
There are many options for a milking stand & they are easy to build. I'll share how I built mine to give an idea of what may work for you.
Here are two photos of our Dexter milking stanchion for reference: From the side . . . ... and from the rear. List of Supplies...
If you follow these 8 simple steps I promise your goat milk will taste delicious every time!
