goat stanchions

[lorihadams]

Can you all tell me where you got the dimensions for your goat stanchions....pictures would also be helpful.

How tall do I make it for comfortable milking? I have nigis coming and I am 5'9ish

 

[Wannabefree]

DH made mine by getting a general idea from the www.fiascofarm.com site. I am 5'9 too, so he put the base 12 inches off the floor for me, but I have Nubians so those and the other measurements will be very different. I'd recommend a few more inches for your comfort since the goats are shorter. Just measure from hoof to shoulder of the smallest, and go up a couple inches to get the stock opening measurements. The stocks can be pretty tall to accomodate taller goats too. You want to measure the width of the heads and make the stocks opening an inch and a half larger. the things are really easy to make from scrap wood though. That particular stanchion is for Lamanchas, so it will have to be tweeked for Nigi's, which is fairly easily done. Hope that helps

 

[Our7Wonders]

we built for the plans at fiascofarm.com too. I love my milk stand. I milk from behind and sit on a milk crate and that puts me at just about perfect height. Mine are full size nubians - so with nigis you'd want the legs of your stand longer.

 

[freemotion]

Another though...if you make the uprights hinged at the bottom, you have an infinite number of head/neck sizes that it can accommodate. Also, you don't need to make the curved cuts in the boards as shown in most plans. I used straight boards....the part that touches the goat is straight, anyways, I couldn't see the logic behind the more difficult curved cut. It was beyond my carpentry skills. Also, you'd have to really sand and smooth that cut edge. I used scraps that already had a nicely finished edge, so there is nothing to bother the goat or give her splinters.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Here's mine . My dad made it for me as a birthday gift last year. I love it. He used the plans from Fiasco, and built the stool on his own.

 

[TanksHill]

Katie that is a very nice milking stand your Dad did a great job.

How many of you sit on a stool? When I visited the neighbor gal who milks she would sit on the stand next to the goat kinda pressing her right shoulder against the goat. And face towards the rear. I guess maybe this was because here goats where some type of smaller breed.

But I just wonder if it wouldn't be easier to have a wider platform to allow for this rather than a stool.

Just thinking aloud.

 

[Wannabefree]

I use a stool.

 

[freemotion]

A wider platform allows you goat to get further away from you. If I were to do it again, I'd make mine narrower.

I sit on an upside-down five gallon pail and straddle it. I find that sitting twisted to one side is very hard on my back and makes it much more difficult to reach both teats easily without getting tired.

 

[TanksHill]

I think she had a top rail across the back so by sitting sideways she kind of pinned the goat.



So Free, what do you have in all those canning jars???

 

[aggieterpkatie]

My stand is almost wide enough for me to sit on next to the goat, but not really. It's also wide enough that if I didn't have a very well behaved goat they could be a little too far away to comfortably milk. If June is too far away, I just pick up each back foot and place it where I want.

It's not comfortable for me to face the goat (straddling like Free), but I find if I cross my right leg over my left, sitting facing the rear is pretty comfy. Funny, last year when my sister came to visit she milked June so I told her the tip about crossing her legs. When my 5 yr old neice tried it after my sister, she also crossed her legs. Monkey see, monkey do.