Milking Supplies/Must-haves?

I'm getting ready to buy a milking kit from either Hoegger's or Caprine Supply, and wanted your opinion on which one would be better. I don't need to buy a kit per se, but since this is my first kidding/milking this year, I want to make sure I'm not caught off-guard with anything. (You bet I'll be asking more questions regarding kidding in that forum!)

The milking pail from the Hoegger's set has a half-moon lid, but doesn't come with the cleaner for the teats. It does come with 100 more filters, though. I'm also not sure whether the milking pail is small enough to fit beneath a nigi doe. Here's the link:
http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/Small-Milking-Kit.html

The kit from Caprine Supply is actually made more Nigis, so I'm a bit more comfortable that it will fit under my doe. It also comes with the cleaner, but only 200 filters (vs. the 300 the Hoegger's set comes with). I'm not sure that matters really at all, though. There is no protective lid (like the half-moon one on the Hoegger's pail), and I'm wondering if that's not going to be important in the long run. The CS kit is roughly $10 cheaper, though. Here's that link:
http://www.caprinesupply.com/basic-milking-kit-1-2-goats.html

The rub is that I'm already buying stuff from Hoegger's, so it might help me shipping-wise to just buy the other stuff from them. The only thing I'm wondering is whether the pail will fit under my doe.

Also, besides the milking stand, stainless steel pail, strainer, filters, and something to clean the teats off with pre-milking, what else do I need?

Thanks!

I wouldn't buy either one. You need one of the 2-quart buckets to fit under a ND doe, and you need a strainer with filters to strain the milk. We use cheap washcloths from the discount store to wipe off the udder. A strip cup is probably nice to have when you're new so that you can see if there are lumps in the milk, but we lived without one for years. We finally bought one, but then the wire mesh started to degrade and fall apart after a couple of years, and I won't be buying another one. If I'm worried that a doe has lumpy milk, I'll squirt her milk into my milk filter. I never needed a strip cup to tell me that a doe had mastitis. It was always pretty obvious.

I personally am not a fan of FightBac because I don't want to spray synthetic chemicals on my doe's teats because a trace of that will probably wind up in my milk. I've never used a teat dip or spray in almost 14 years, and we've only had three cases of mastitis. If you really want to use something, organic dairies use iodine. If kids are nursing, a teat dip is kind of pointless. They're made for dairies that are not letting kids nurse. The idea is to disinfect the open end of the teat as it's closing up after milking, which takes about 15 minutes. If kids are nursing, mastitis is less likely anyway because the udder is constantly being emptied.

Replies

Kristi Stone February 12, 2016 at 12:12am

Alright then. It sounds like I'll need to piece a kit together, which is no problem. How tall is too tall to fit under a Nigi? I was thinking that I may not need a strip cup, but being new, yeah, maybe I'll go with one and by the time it degrades, I'm sure I'll be able to "read" my does' health a bit better.

I was wondering about FightBac---actually, I was thinking that I probably could just use baby wipes, and since I stock them here for other reasons, it makes sense for me. I read the milking portion of your book and found that I wouldn't need teat dip, so I'll be foregoing that. My goal is to dam raise. Still, maybe I'll put some iodine in my kit for just in case.

Thank you for your time and the information, Deborah.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle February 11, 2016 at 11:46pm

I wouldn't buy either one. You need one of the 2-quart buckets to fit under a ND doe, and you need a strainer with filters to strain the milk. We use cheap washcloths from the discount store to wipe off the udder. A strip cup is probably nice to have when you're new so that you can see if there are lumps in the milk, but we lived without one for years. We finally bought one, but then the wire mesh started to degrade and fall apart after a couple of years, and I won't be buying another one. If I'm worried that a doe has lumpy milk, I'll squirt her milk into my milk filter. I never needed a strip cup to tell me that a doe had mastitis. It was always pretty obvious.

I personally am not a fan of FightBac because I don't want to spray synthetic chemicals on my doe's teats because a trace of that will probably wind up in my milk. I've never used a teat dip or spray in almost 14 years, and we've only had three cases of mastitis. If you really want to use something, organic dairies use iodine. If kids are nursing, a teat dip is kind of pointless. They're made for dairies that are not letting kids nurse. The idea is to disinfect the open end of the teat as it's closing up after milking, which takes about 15 minutes. If kids are nursing, mastitis is less likely anyway because the udder is constantly being emptied.

This reply was deleted.