We Made a Milking Stand

This has been a long time coming. I’ve been working at it for months, but it just hasn’t been a high priority.

I worked at it bit by bit when I had time for it. It wasn’t a complicated design, but I never had a full afternoon to give to it.

Dane has been pushing me to get it done now that Alice has kidded, so we hit it a few times this week and knocked it out. Dane loves doing woodworking projects, especially when he can hammer nails into something.

We worked up until supper time last night and got it nearly done. We tried it out with Doris and Barbara. The yoke was just a bit too tight, so I expanded it this morning.

This afternoon, I added a hook to hang a bucket and a chain to keep the yoke shut. The evening milking went smoothly. They don’t like jumping up on the stand or going up the ramp, but they stand quietly while they eat.

I think we’ll be happy to have it. Once we have a dozen in milk at once, we may want to find another setup for multiple head catches. The children are already practicing milking, and I expect they’ll do well.