Yup, today is the day I can finally show the cheap-chinese-lowest-quality-ever-handmilker.
Let me go over the setup first, then we’ll continue to my experience with it.
So first the setup. The milker comes in several easy to assemble parts. Tubes, milking claw or how you call it, canister with lid and hand pump. No instructions but even a four year old can put it together. (Note: I cut the tube for the milking claw in halve because it was way too long for my setup)
The lid has two openings for the tubes to connect. If you want to disconnect for cleaning simply press on the blue ring where the tubes connect to the lid and you can take it right out.
Not shown here but you can take the claw and pump off from the tube as well
When you connect the milker to the teat you have to hold it a little while cause you need to create a vacuum by pumping before it’ll stick. After that you keep pumping and it takes a little while for the milk to come out. Once it’s starts flowing you’re good and can decide the pace based on how much you pump, you can monitor the flow through the tubes. It goes a long way without pumping at all, once it goes I basically just watch the flow. If at this point you would have two two-teat milkers you could hook up a second goat. I think you have that time. I can easily see one person do ten goats this way in a two at a time setup. Vacuum one and speed up the flow so you’ll have a little extra time, pour feed in the second stanchion let no.2 in, clean teats and hook that one up, then no. 1 might need a little pumping but milk will still be flowing. Getting it to vacuum is the longest part and effort.
Milker on the goat. Her baby drank it all during the day but I still hooked it up to show you while she's happily ignoring my existence.
It has a convenient handle for carrying and I can imagine holding a goat on a rope and the can in one hand while having the handpump in the other hand. This certainly makes the idea of milking on pasture a lot more attractive, plus no flies or whatever will get in the milk.
I view that as a bonus.
My experience so far has been a seamless transfer from hand milking to using this milker. My doe did not even look at it. I have to say she is a very well behaved first time milker, I couldn’t have wished for a nicer goat so your experience might differ.
As for cleaning the thing, I still don’t like the use of tubes or any plastic with raw milk.
The milking claw is cheap plastic but it does have the benefit that it can be stepped on without breaking, that is true for most of this milker, my goat won’t break it that easily if she gets a hold of it. The handpump might be the exception. Overall it looks sturdy.
So what do I like more, handmilking or my cheap-chinese-lowest-quality-ever-handmilker?
Well I find that a hard question. I like the basic milking by hand. I like sitting there and touching the animal. It is different from operating a machine.
If I look at long term, with a larger herd and a one-person-has-to-do-it-all then yes I think it’s a good investment.
We need to keep our milking under the 15 min mark OR I have to create a seperate cooler near the milking area with separate bottles for storage and filters etc. I just don’t see me doing all the steps involved in milking and processing for each goat separately.
I am not saying it can’t be done, I just don’t think it fits in our routine.
It’s also a handy tool in case of mastitis (udder infection) or any other case that requires milking out a teat completely. Or maybe even just milking for the bottle in case a kid doesn’t want to nurse, nothing beats mom’s milk. For around 40$ i´d keep one on the self. The milking claw fits on sheep, goats and small cows furthermore spare parts are easy to get and not expensive.
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts the milker did give me three times as much milk and other homesteaders claimed two times as much. In terms of efficiency I can't beat it.
The long term experience still has to come and I am not giving any advice on how you should milk your dairy animals. It's not some great machine, It's a simple cheap manufactured tool to get the milk out, period.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Let's state my personal opinion like this: I am not sure if I like it but it gets the job done.
I think the real test will come next year with more goats and more chaos bouncing around the morning milkings.
Would love to try milking on pasture also.
I genuinely look forward to it.
