How to Milk a Goat
- In This Quick Guide:
- The Mechanics of Milking
- How to Milk
- Keeping it Clean
Goat milk is a main reason why some people decide to get goats. If that sounds like you, good for you! You’re going to have quite an adventure. Once you get the hang of milking your goat, you’ll be drinking nature’s perfect food. In this guide, you’ll learn the mechanics of getting milk from the goat and into the pail.
The Mechanics of Milking
Milking is a simple skill, but you’ll need to practice. Practice is great if the goat is a patient one and you have plenty of time. Remember, a goat fills her udder twice a day, and with a full udder there is some urgency to empty it. If at all possible, practice on someone else’s goats—preferably someone who will both teach you and take over for you when you get tired.
The activity of milking uses muscles in your hands and forearms. These muscles don’t get much use in your daily activities, so your hands will get tired. To build up strength for milking, you can squeeze a small ball or a hand exerciser.
Think of the goat’s udder system generally as a balloon with valves that open under pressure. The openings are called the orifices, and one is found at the end of each teat. The average udder has two teats with one orifice each.
How to Milk
Milking is actually pretty easy. Here’s how you do it:
- Close off the top of the teat between your straight thumb and the lowest knuckle of your index finger, where it connects to the body of the udder.
- Use a pinching action to close off the milk in the teat and keep it from returning to the reservoir of the udder.
- Once you’ve closed the milk in the teat, apply pressure with your other four fingers, squeezing the body of the teat, to squeeze the milk out of the orifice.
- Release the pinching finger so more milk flows down into the teat and repeat.
There’s a lot of variation in the size of both the teats and the orifices. Longer teats are easier to get a grip on, and larger orifices take less pressure to squeeze the milk from. The position of the teats on the udder floor also makes a difference. Teats that point straight down instead of outward make hitting a bucket easier.
These are all things to consider when choosing milk goats. If you’re a well-practiced milker, these things may not be an issue. But for beginners, less-than-ideal teat placement and small orifices will slow you down and might make it more difficult for you to learn.
You can practice the basic move ahead of time on a partially inflated balloon or rubber glove. Obviously, there are some differences, but you can get your hands used to the basic mechanical movement.
Keeping It Clean
Milk is the most perfect medium for bacterial growth. Bacteria love milk. Bacteria ruin milk quality. And some bacteria can make you or even your goats sick. So you can probably see why cleanliness is priority one.
There three areas where cleanliness is of the utmost importance—in the goat yard, with the milk, and with the udder. Both you and your goats will have a better milking experience if cleanliness is one of your priorities in all these areas.
Cleanliness in the Goat Yard
The most open part of the goat’s milk-producing system is on the underneath side of her, and that area comes in contact with the goat yard surface every time she lies down. The cleaner everything is, the less chance for problems.
The process of milking a goat causes a bit more stress on the orifice than when kids nurse. Studies in the cow dairy industry indicate that the orifice stretches and remains somewhat open for up to an hour after milking. If she goes directly into the goat yard and lies down after milking, that open orifice can allow bacteria to get inside.
The risk can be lowered by making sure her bedding is dry and as clean as you can keep it. Avoid wet, soggy, high-fecal-content bedding. Some goat owners optimize the time after milking by feeding hay then so the goats are standing to eat for about an hour. Or if your goats go out to browse or graze after milking, you’ll get a similar effect.
Cleanliness with the Milk
Bacteria in the milk will grow and multiply. They change the taste, making it “goaty,” a taste I can’t begin to describe, but one you’d recognize if you tasted it. Bacteria cause milk to sour. Very clean milk will keep for 10 days or longer in the refrigerator and still be great for drinking. Anything you can do to keep bacterial counts low gives you better milk.
You’ll have better luck keeping your milking area clean if it’s separate from where the goats normally live. Enclosing your milk room also helps with cleanliness. It keeps insects and weather out and dust down.
Your climate may determine some of the details of your milk room. I’ve had many types of milk rooms and can tell you that there’s no one correct kind. Some milk rooms are within barns; others are stand-alone. Some are stainless and tile; others are rough lumber with odds and ends. Only you know what works best for you.
Cleanliness of the Udder
Think about the position of the goat’s udder relative to the milk bucket. It’s directly above it, right? Obeying the law of gravity, any debris on the udder or its immediate surroundings may fall and land in your bucket. Debris is covered with bacteria, which then can get into the milk. That’s counterproductive to getting good-quality milk. Brushing the hair and udder to remove debris before milking helps keep everything clean.
Not only for clean milk, but also to reduce risk of udder problems, prior to milking you should wash the udder. Wash with a damp (not dripping!) paper towel or single-use cloth using warm water and a mild detergent such as liquid dish soap. Washing solutions are also commercially available.
Be sure the towel or cloth is damp only, not dripping! Bacteria-laden water running down to the ends of the teats just puts more bacteria at the most vulnerable point of the udder.
You should also use a strip cup. A strip cup is a small container with a screen attached that filters the first squirt of milk. If there are any lumps, clots, or anomalies, they’ll be visible on the screen. The first squirt of milk contains more bacteria and doesn’t help milk quality, so it shouldn’t be put in with the rest of the milk in the bucket. And if there are any preliminary changes in the milk, the strip cup can show them before you get a whole bucketful.
It’s helpful to use a teat dip after milking, too. A teat dip is an antibacterial liquid dipped or sprayed onto teat ends that helps keep bacteria out of the orifice for that hour or so after milking when it’s most vulnerable. Teat dips are available commercially in a variety of antibiotic or disinfecting chemicals, preparations, and applicators. Various studies show mixed results for teat dips made with iodine, so you’ll have to figure out what works best for you.
If you follow these guidelines, you’ll be milking like a pro and you and your goat will both be happy campers. Good luck, and happy milking!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raising Goats by Ellie Winslow
