goat vs cow

[PeytonM]

I was gonna use that on a cow if I got one, When I looks looking at farms there was a guy up north that had a goat parlor and milked 3 at a time, think he had 12 or so. I don’t know what all consisted of the set up but he told me he milked in to a tank farmers use for treated cows to it wouldn’t go in to the bulk tank, If you dont know what I’m talking about here’s a pic http://dairycarrie.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/wpid-20130203_185135.jpg%3Fw%3D500%26h%3D375

[Carl Russell]

My own personal preference has been to milk the cow by hand. After 27 years I suspect I could have paid several times for the investment to use a milking machine, but I also have not had to add cleaning and up keep of equipment.

I have at times milked two fresh Jerseys, to the tune of about 6-7 gallons. It took about 45-minutes to an hour. I suppose one could argue that over the years I have used labor time that I could have been multi-tasking while a machine was milking for me.

My own value system is actually supported by other considerations. Laying hands on my food is huge for me. The direct personal contact, the requirement to sit still and connect with the live being I am dependent on, and to allow my thoughts to wander to plans and dreams, or personal relationships, goes beyond any financial bottom line analysis.

Carl

[Does’ Leap]

We milk 60 goats in an elevated, double-four parlor. We have a bucket milking system with modified cow components. Carl (NY) is correct that the set-up is different for goats compared to cows – lower vacuum and higher pulsation along with different rest ratios on the pulsator, smaller inflations etc.

I agree with Carl (VT) about questioning the value of an a vacuum unit for one cow. In order to do that effectively, you need a good place to wash up, plenty of hot water and a “bucket washer” ( http://hambydairysupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=383&page=1) to properly wash your hoses and units. With set-up and wash time, I imagine you would not save much, if any, time compared with hand milking.

George

[carl ny]

George;

Just wondering, what breed of goat do you have and why?? just curious.

carl ny

[PeytonM]

What in the world do you do with all that milk? You must sell it somehwere

[Livewater Farm]

if you are going to milk every day you might as well milk a cow have enough for the family make yogurt cheese and butter raise a calf or 2 and have some to sell to neighbors
cow would pay for itself in no time

[Does’ Leap]

Hi Carl:

We started with Nubians in 1997. After 5 years or so we were not happy with their performance. We are big on rotational grazing/browsing providing a fresh paddock every 12 hours and Nubians did not work well in this system. They were also slow to mature, which made it difficult to get a kid up to breeding weight (80 lbs) at 9 months. We picked up a couple of Alpines along the way and found they outperformed Nubians in almost every way. Our experience is that they are hardier, faster maturing, better grazers, and less likely to go off feed. The bottom line is, that despite their lower solids compared to Nubians, we yield much more cheese from Alpines b/c of their higher milk production. We invested in a couple of nice Alpine bucks and a few does and transformed our herd to all Alpines within a couple of years. Now 15 years into raising goats, we have some nice bloodlines that are well adapted to our system. The beauty of goats over cows is that you can breed a goat a 9 months and they have an average of 2.2 kids/goat. As a farmer/breeder, I can transform my genetics more than twice as fast as anyone raising cows.

George

[PeytonM]

Gorge could you post pic’s of where you milk yours?

[Does’ Leap]

Peyton, I am having trouble with my camera so I attached a picture of our old parlor. This is a single 4. Five years ago, we built a new parlor with a double 4. The milker stands in the middle of the two milk stands. Each stand has a bucket milker with two milking units so that we are always milking 4 while we are prepping the other 4. Average milking time for 60 goats is about an hour and 45 minutes with set-up and clean up. Only one person milks.

George

[PeytonM]

That’s not very long to milk! It took my parents 2 hours to do everything milking 36-38 cows with 5 units all manual, in a stanchon(sp?) barn.

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