How to Hand-milk a Goat

Here at Twin Willows Farm, if we only have one or two does in milk, we choose to hand-milk instead of using the milk machine.  We feel that the cleanup time required to use the milker is not justified by the time savings during milking.  We currently only have one doe in milk, and her name is Precious.

First, let's start off by listing the items required to hand-milk:

A goat in milk (obviously)
A stanchion w/ feeder
A milk stool
Some grain (we feed Purina Noble Goat)
Paper towels
10% Bleach water solution in a spray bottle
1 clean & sanitized milk bucket
Small cap or jar
1 gallon plastic bag (the twist tie kind, not the zipper kind)
Fight-Bac Teat Disinfectant Spray

How to milk:
First, lead the doe to the stanchion.  Ours usually come out of the stall willingly and go to the stanchion on their own, and when we have more than one doe milking they will come to the gate to be milked, in the same order, everyday.  Feed your doe grain in the stanchion so that she is occupied during milking. This creates a pleasant experience for the doe and is enough to make her want to come to the parlor to be milked the next time.

Precious on the stanchion ready to be milked.

Cleanliness before,during, and after milking is paramount, especially if you intend to consume the milk, which we do.
We line the milk bucket with the plastic bag.  This makes everything easier to clean up while providing a sanitary vessel for storage and transport of the milk.

Line bucket with gallon plastic bag for cleanliness.

Next, we spray the teats with the 10% bleach water solution and wipe clean with a clean paper towel, and use the bleach water solution to disinfect our hands, using a clean paper towel to dry them. We also have teat wipes to clean the teats before milking, but I, personally, like the bleach water better.  I find that teat wipes create a stickiness on the teats and hands, and makes it difficult to milk. We find that the bleach water does not have any adverse effect on teats, but it DOES badly dry out the milker's hands.

Next, strip each teat once into the small cap or jar to check for any signs of mastitis.  Any blood, pus, lumps or irregularities is checked in this first milk.  If all is clear you may proceed with milking. If not, you need to treat the doe for mastitis immediately.

Precious- Ten hour fill.

I prefer to milk from behind the doe, but you can easily milk from the side as well. If the doe is used to being milked and is content with letting you milk her while she eats, I find that milking both teats from behind is the easiest and fastest way to get it done. Place the bucket in front of and centered between the doe's back legs, underneath but slightly forward of the teats. Now you are ready to milk.

The method of milking a doe depends mostly on the teat size (I can address this issue of smaller teats in a later posting.) Luckily, Precious has large teats, and I have small hands, so milking her is extremely easy.  The trick to milking is to trap the milk at the base of the teat with your fingers and roll it out of the teat with your other fingers.  I like to use my thumb and index finger in a circle to trap the milk, and then gently close each of my other fingers in turn to gently extract the milk out of the orifice.

Note--The following pictures are a little awkward because I had to turn my hand toward the camera for demonstration.  When milking, the backs of your hands should be parallel with the doe's inner thighs.

Trap the milk in the teat with thumb and forefinger encircling the teat at the base.

Close your second finger to advance the milk down the teat and out the orifice.

Close your third finger to finish advancing the milk down the teat. Release and repeat.

When the teat is empty, I release my thumb and forefinger to let more milk into the teat, trap it again with my thumb and forefinger, and repeat the extraction by closing my other fingers down the length of the teat.  Sometimes, I milk both teats simultaneously, while other times I alternate one teat and then the other.  Whichever way you decide, it is important to milk both sides evenly to keep the two halves of the udder producing equal amounts of milk. The key to milking is to be gentle, yet firm and always be calm.  Milking should be a relaxing experience for the goat as well as for the milker.  Never pull or otherwise displace the natural position of the udder or teats.  You should be able to gauge whether or not your doe is relaxed.  If she tenses (and this is easy to gauge if you are paying attention) she may kick over or step in the bucket, so you need to be quick in the calmest way, and remove the bucket from under her before she moves. This tension or restlessness in the doe usually means that her grain is gone and she wants more.  When this happens I remove the bucket and set it in a safe place, refill the grain, and start again. If she does kick over the bucket before you remove it, do not worry.  It happens!! Clean it up and start over again. I've spilled lots of milk, and had lots of hooves in the milk bucket!

Precious gives us a full gallon of milk every other day.

Continue milking until there is no more milk to trap at the base of the teat.  When her udder is empty, remove the bucket and set it aside. At this point, I get up from my stool, remove the bag from the bucket and tie a knot in the bag. The sooner the milk is out of the open air, the better. Next, I spray each teat with a hefty dose of Fight-Bac teat disinfectant to each teat.  This helps to keep the teats clean and free of disease.

Release your doe from the stanchion, and start your cleanup. If you are milking more than one goat, the next one in line is probably waiting at the gate.  Make sure that everything is clean and disinfected thoroughly for the next milking. 

Stay tuned for next week's installment, "How to Trim Goat Hooves."