Surge milkers... ease of cleaning?

[Cara]

Could anyone who uses a Surge milker tell me how easy it is to clean? Finally I can afford one, but i'm wondering whether the clean-up takes longer than just milking by hand. I currently have two does in milk, but have three other doelings. I'm trying to weigh up whether to stick to two or three and hand-milk, or keep more does and use a machine. I know i'm not going to hand milk 5 does twice a day!

 

[seymore0626]

Five minutes tops. We milk three jerseys every day. It's not difficult and really easy to keep very clean. We bought a reconditioned one with clear inflations, and a really good, but noisey pump for $795.
Worth every penny!!!!

 

[PotterWatch]

Man, where did you find such a deal?? I have been looking for a little while now for a used milker and have found some that weren't too expensive, but they didn't come with a pump.

 

[Cara]

Pumps can be found quite cheaply. It's also possible to build one at a low cost if you're handy. I've seen nearly new pumps on Ebay for less than $200.

 

[Cara]

Quote:
Can I move in?

Nothing beats a Jersey for delicious milk.

 

[Cara]

I believe something like this is suitable:

http://cgi.ebay.com/GAST-VACUUM-PUM...cmdZViewItemQQptZBI_Pumps?hash=item3efe1fda41

 

[steward]

Seymore- five minutes to clean the milker? How long to milk each cow?Anyone tell me how long it takes to hand milk a cow? A goat? Would like todo this I think but kind of scary! thanks all.

 

[seymore0626]

Including washing up the cow its about ten minutes to milk, give or take. If they behave it's a breeze, but we have one very bad cow that takes a little more time, but her milk makes it worth it. We hand milked for two days, and then bought the milker. It took way too much time for an already busy farm. The hardest part is organizing all of the milk, and finding containers that will fit in the dishwasher, but are big enough to hold a day's milk. We did buy a big milk can with a strainer and when all three are in milk it is really handy. I make alot of cheese, yogurt,sour cream, buttermilk,and butter and have "friends" that enjoy the milk, but when all three are fresh it is quite a bit of work. We hope to have them kind of staggered now. Two are dried off ready to calve next month, and the one that will calve in July.

I jumped into this project last summer, and it has been quite a learning experience, but very worth it. We were pretty well set up, and already had the farm help. The cows are paying for their expenses, and we are able to enjoy really good dairy products. We bought two of the girls already bred and bred the third with sexed semen. Easy and cheap as far as we were concerned.

 

[Cara]

How long it takes to milk a goat (or cow) depends on two things; you and the animal

At first milking can take a while until you've got the hang of it. Equally some animals are just not good milk cows/goats. They can have small teats or very limited milk flow, meaning the amount you get per 'squeeze' is very small. We had one goat that I could have spent three hours milking and would maybe have got half a gallon. I sold her pretty quick. The two I have now are a breeze, it takes 5-10 minutes to do each of them.