Into The Natural State of Mind: Milking station

Today started off with some real rain! We even had puddles on the ground! With the rain came some cooler weather too, and I could work in the workshop and not be completely soaked through with sweat. As I was bumming around in the garage, I asked my roomy if I could convert an old, very basic table into a Goat Milking station. She said yes, and I was on my way!

This image is from the internet- but I basically copied this idea.

My version of a more sturdy, kick butt, milk stand.

I was glad to score the table, as that saved me time in not having to construct one, and also made it so milking could be done sitting down and not hunched over like a hunchback.. I mean, we have Nigerian Dwarf's, they are 20 inches high at the crest of the spine, so it will be nice to have something table height. Most milk stand tables are only about a foot off the ground, because most goats are much bigger!

I started off by replacing the top of the table with new wood, since it was made of particle board and was crappy, plus it will be outside so you need something a little more rainproof. After I replaced the top of the table I got to work on this mid-evil sideways guillotine looking contraption that holds the goats head in place. I saw a few milking station pictures online, and basically copied some plans of it and created my own unique version of it, because God forbid I ever use the actual plans or blueprints! :) After I got all my pieces cut and put together I attached it to the table. I really like this new contraption and I hope it will be of great use on the farm especially when Leia starts kidding and producing milk. For the time being, it will be a nice way to hold the goat still while I trim the hoofs and attempt to give them a good brushing.

Stole my room mates camera to take these.

Also, Leia's "uni-horn" is starting to curl backwards, so if I don't trim it, it can grow into her head and eventually kill her. This is why, among many other reasons, you "debud" or "dehorn" your goat when they are a "kid". Basically while they are really young and have just the beginnings of little nubs of horns, you take a real hot Iron and press down right on the nubs for a few seconds. Effectively killing off the growth cells in the horns so they never develop. I used to be like most people when they think about it and felt it is animal torture and unnatural. However; these things must be done, if not, they can and will most likely lead to things like what Leia has, and that can kill her later on in life if left unattended.

Plenty of screws = it isn't breaking!

You have to think cost to benefit- yes, it hurts the kid goat for a few minutes of burning pain when they are a baby and they generally forget about the whole ordeal in a matter of minutes and are back to playing and such. But then, you don't have to deal with what I am dealing with now later on. Also Horns can and have killed other goats, created miscarriages in goats, can break ribs of other goats, get stuck in fences, get stuck in feeders, can gore other goats or humans, and of course (like in my case) can start growing back into the goats body (there was a local who refused to have her goats horns debudded or trimmed, "because it is unnatural," and one of her goats had a horn grow right into it's own eye and it killed the poor creature.... if I had my way, she wouldn't be keeping any animals anymore.).... the list of potential bad things the horns can and inevitably will produce far outweighs a little "burn" when they are a baby.

So yeah, in the next week or so, I get to do my first ever horn trimming. Hans horns are doing fine, and growing well and straight, so since he wasn't debudded as a kid, we are just going to leave his alone. The horns are part of their skull (duh right?) but as they grow, half the horn is like a fingernail, the other half is well alive and full of blood vessels and nerves. So if you decide to dehorn a goat later on in life, you need to call a vet, it is an operation, and it will be bloody. So yeah, in short, Han gets to keep his horns. Leia on the other hand will not. She was banded as a juvenile (put a really tight rubber band around the horn, effectively cutting off the circulation and eventually killing off the horn and making it fall off) but it didn't work right on one horn (hence why she has one horn and not two). Luckily though, where the band was has grown out and is now about halfway up the horn and is like a little "channel" where I believe blood flow and nerves were cut off a while back, and I am crossing my fingers that they still are... again, this is speculation, but I hope that is the fact. If so, I will snip right there and hope to have no blood or risk of infection. If not, well, I will have blood clotting agents on hand just in case. FYI- did you know Cobwebs were used throughout history as a topical blood stopper... lick it up! Unfortunately I don't have many cobwebs, so I will be using more civilized and sanitary equipment, should it come to that. No worries... there will definitely be a post on that one!