Oh and your thoughts on both!

 

I milked by hand until this year, I got a Hoegger's milking machine last winter. Hand milking is really good for bonding with your goats. But my hands are getting older, and I was milking six goats, and by the end of the evening milking they really didn't want to work anymore. It was easier than I expected to teach my goats the machine, and it is easier than most to clean up. (Still a pain) It is fast too. It's quieter than many milking machines also. I like it. My hands especially like it. I'm still hand milking two, for the moment, once a day, and that is just about the right amount.

 

All I have ever done is hand milking. And the most I can handle is 4 in one day.
Like lisablack, my old hands find it harder and harder. So now I am breeding for easy milkers. I like the close personal contact with my milk providers. But if it gets just too hard I will probably go to a manual *machine*.

 

Always by hand and likely always will...most I've milked was 4 least has been 2 and will likely only freshen 3 at most....I can only use so much milk :wink:

 

I hand milk. But I only intend to have at most 2 milkers at a time. This provides plenty of milk for my family and pigs

 

I haven't tried machine milking yet and so far I like hand milking.
I have 2 in milk so far. I have a FF to freshen soon, although she may not have much.
I am buying a doe that gets around 2 gallons a day. So that is 4 to hand milk.
Next year I will have 6 to freshen...although I may give the heavy producer the year off and only freshen 5.
I may end up selling one or two next year..I just want to see them all in milk and pick out the best ones.
I will have a doe (shes a kid now) to breed next year to freshen the following year.
I was thinking to get a milking machine once I have at least 6 to milk...at 4 it might not save too much time.
Our family can use 1-2 gallons a day without making any cheese products.

 

I don't have a machine but want one sooooo bad! I milked a friends goats with a machine when she went on a trip and it was AWESOME! I enjoy hand milking, but the machines make it so much faster.

 

I farm sat for a local dairy goat farm. I hand milked 9, count 'em NINE big gals, including some very prolific Sanaans, twice a day, every day. I was nearly crippled when that job was done. I almost killed the farmer (bless his heart) when he said, "Oh, I coulda let you use the machine. I just thought you LIKED to milk by hand." :veryangry:

I DO like to milk by hand when there are 1-3, but more than that? Give me a machine every time!

The following year I farm sat again for the same fellow and he set me up to machine milk the 7 milkers he had then. It was a MUCH happier (and less painful) experience!

 

I recently bought a used surge milker..and I love it! I have one ND doe that has tiny teats..almost impossible to hand milk! But she's a nice milker with the machine! In the evening I milk only one doe, so it's not worth the clean up, so I hand milk her..I like that too, cause she's easy!

 

My 4-H leader uses a machine.... she was showing me how to use it last time I was there doing farm chores, it takes soooo long to clean it after milking.... to me unless I was milking a million goats it would just be faster to hand milk. Plus I enjoy the time I spend with my does while I milk and the machine is so loud! JMO....

 

Milk and honey I know what you mean about the small teats... one of my does has small teats... I don't mind but it kills my left hand half way through milking...

 

Never thought of the clean up involved in machine milking.
Maybe that is why the local breeder said you need to have at least 8 to make it worth it.
Although she was talking mostly price. It is far fetched that I would have 8 in the next 2 years.
I like hand milking as well. I think I will keep to hand milking...unless I find a really good deal on a machine and then I could use the machine when needed.

I also have a doe that has small teats.
They are not extra small to the women(2 different breeders that are friends, owned her at different times) that owned her before me...just for me. My hands are kinda big so her teats are so that I can only use 2 fingers to milk. I am getting better at it but it is so annoying. At the start of things I can milk her just fine but as I get towards the end I can't get the rest of the milk out. It seems empty (my hands can't work it anymore) but yet the kids know there to be milk in there. So when the kids are off her I don't know how I will empty her completely.

 

machine we have 26 does on milk at this time we have 75 does in all :lovey: :wahoo:

 

Hand milk - we have 9 in milk at the moment, with 4 more still pregnant. Definitely a chore every day : )