One of them cheap milkers

A couple of my favorite homestead youtube channels featured the use of hand milkers for their dairy animals. At our homestead I always milk my animals by hand. I use a simple pot with a lid on it. Milk in the pot, filter it, put it in a jar and cool it down quickly. If you want to keep your raw milk in excellent condition then the whole process must be done in under 15 minutes.

I can be a real purist when it comes to raw milk. When its grass-fed only (meaning herbs and grass) and only have come in contact with glass (no plastic or whatsoever) it is the best. I really think it makes a difference both in taste and preserving. However I do plan on keeping more goats and that means I might run into issues.
Any minor issue with a baby goat even a scratch on the mouth, could transfer wrong bacteria to the udder. Not to scare anyone, this is normal, both good and bad critters live on our skin.
If you deal with raw milk you have to make sure there is no infection going on in the teats. I start the milk process by cleaning the teats, this gives me certainty that the outside which I am going to touch is clean. The udder should not be hot or look red or blue/black. Then I milk a little bit on the floor of the milking stand, this is a visual check to see if the milk is good. You don’t want to see any clumps or strange things in there. Also if she lifts her foot, kicks, or won’t stand still you can bet something is wrong, restlessness could be a early sign of upcoming udder infection also called mastitis.
These early signs are often ignored as goats can be mischievous.

Anyway as I was thinking ahead to the milking process with more goats or in a case of possible udder infection in which the teat of the goat should be milked out completely, I thought about getting a one teat handmilker. Some homesteaders claim you get twice as much milk which is a benefit but also the speed in which you can milk plays an important role (cause you need to do all of them in under 15 mins). So I decided to go for a cheap-chinese-lowest-quality-ever-handmilker to just see how it works. It cost around 40 dollars. Ofcourse there is also a two and four teat set available but for mastitis purposes I choose the one teat option. Also the teats might not be equal in size and this way I can get the udder straightened out more on first timers, dairy animal keepers will know what I mean...

Anyway I had no expectations from it. Last time I milked was two weeks ago. She gave hardly any milk and was in heat so her milk tasted goaty. That was when I stopped milking and decided to wait it out till fall when she will be bred. Her baby, not so baby anymore did still nurse occasionally. So yesterday I separated them out at night and tried the hand milker in the morning. To my surprise it gave me THREE TIMES AS MUCH milk as I got previously when I was actually milking and right now she was not getting any feed to stimulate milk production.
Darn.. that cheap-chinese-lowest-quality-ever-handmilker does actually work.

The parts the milker has can easily be taken off for cleaning. The only thing is that it is plastic which I purist like my does not want. It feels like a huge compromise. Also I clean out all my milking equipment with alcohol (sorry dudes.. scientist here..) and plastic with alcohol does not match.
Btw I also use alcohol on the udder for cleaning instead of iodine solution, alcohol sterilises and dries up on its own (and dries out/kills all living nasties), it doesn’t make for raw teats and I use it on my hands before milking at the same time so we’re both clean.

Back to the topic, cleaning the plastic tubes and jar thoroughly is something I need to look into more. I have several books on dairy animals and working with raw milk but haven’t found a satisfying way of cleaning yet. If you also use some sort of plastic container please let me know in the comments how you clean this. From a scientific perspective plastic has the nasty habit to keep bacteria on the surface meaning it will be a matter of time before it accumulates, theoretically. I might need to bring out the old chemistry books as common sense chemical reactions often cleans better then any store bought stuff, like using vinegar (acid) against limescale.

If this milker does survives the long term use then I might buy a more expensive glass one, the tubes will still be an issue if I want something non-plastic but that is a concern for a later date. For the next couple months I will continue my journey with my now loved cheap-chinese-lowest-quality-ever-handmilker.