Spotting a Keeper Isn’t Always Easy
When I told my husband I was thinking of not keeping Bella, he asked, “Why? She’s a nice goat.” I wasn’t so sure about that.
The Nubian doe was a little more willful than I like to see in my dairy goats. Especially when time came to trim her hooves. She’s one of our bigger goats, and when she doesn’t want to do something, there’s no budging her.
And then the first year we bred her, she didn’t settle. That’s when I started thinking she might make some mighty fine burger.
But the next two breedings gave us two sets of twins. Unfortunately, when I started milking her, I discovered that her curved right teat didn’t want to quirt milk into the pail.
Instead it squirted up my nose, down my shirt, and sometimes on her leg. When it did hit her leg, she’d give a little kick and knock over the milk pail. Then I’d have a big mess to clean up. And not just once.
That’s when I decided I’d had enough of Bella. But my husband’s comment made me decide to spend more time thinking about it.
While I was thinking about it, I learned to tame the wild teat (most of the time), and Bella learned to be more compliant about my requests (most of the time). Then one day she surprised me no end.
Our milkstand has a hinged stanchion at each end. The purpose is, when I’m trimming hooves, I can turn the goat the other way to reach the two feet that would otherwise be on the far side.
All our other goats struggle to understand the two-way concept, so I expected Bella to balk big time when I first turned her toward the stanchion she hadn’t used before. But instead, she voluntarily put her head right through the opening. That’s when I started to think maybe she wasn’t so bad, after all.
Then one day I reached for her leg and she miraculously lifted the hoof, waiting for me to trim it. Wow, I thought, what a nice goat!
And now, to top off her other accomplishments, this year she gave us triplets — two doelings and a buckling. She produces plenty of milk to raise all three, and waits patiently for each to take a turn nursing.
It’s hard to believe I ever considered getting rid of Bella. She’s now one of my favorite goats in the herd. She’s a keeper, for sure.
Hi, I’ve been reading your books for years and just discovered your blog. I’d love more information on how you made your wall-mounted stanchion. I think it’s a great idea and I’d like to do something like that. Thanks
I have thought of writing about how we constructed the milkstand, but I haven’t figured out how to furnish good illustrations that would be more instructive than photographs. Basically the platform and headstall(s) are build separately and each is hinged separately to the wall. Sorry, that’s probably not helpful. If only I could draw!
Thank you for getting back to me! I do have another question about the platform. It’s hinge to the wall, correct? Do you keep it there permanently or do you fold it up when not in use. Also how do you do the legs. Just two in the front?. I saw one photo and I can sort of get the idea. Thanks so much
Yes, the platform is hinged to the wall in two places. I leave it down when I’m milking. I fold it up to sweep the floor, or when I don’t have milkers. (We have two barns, so two milkstands. When all the milkers are in one barn, the milkstand in the other barn gets folded out of the way.) The legs are two 2x4s “hinged” loosely with bolts to the side of the platform away from the wall. In the photo you can see one of the bolt heads showing, toward the left corner of the platform. When the platform is up, the legs fold against the bottom of the platform. When the platform is down, the legs swing into a vertical position to hold the platform steady.
Thanks for getting back to me with more info on your milking stand. I can visualize it now… Appreciate your help and happy kidding season🌞🐐