Here I am, ready to milk my Nigerian Dwarf goats this morning. This is a picture of my new Ultimate EZ Milker that I just purchased this past spring. I've been using the hand-held Udderly EZ Milker for 8 years. I'm a big fan of the EZ Milker as I have a lot of pain in my joints, which is exacerbated by milking tiny Nigerian teats. I usually only milk one doe a year for my family's table milk and for making soap, as that has been enough to satisfy our needs. Historically, I've always milked Limerick. Last year, I gave Limerick the year off and milked her granddaughter Poem instead. But, this year I chose to go on DHIR Milk Test and was expecting to be milking 6 does twice a day, so I upgraded to the electric Ultimate EZ Milker.

(p.s. The Ultimate EZ Milker will SOON have a portable solar unit to power the milker!)

I recently saw a post on one of the Facebook groups for Nigerian breeders that asked how folks got their milking systems to the barn each morning. I saw pictures of wagons, carts, and such. Goodness sakes, that would be quite a lot of overkill for Nigerians. If we were blessed with living on flat land, I might be able to swing something like that. But, we live on a hillside, so I have to navigate two sets of stairs between the house and barn. I am very grateful for the handy canvas bag for my Ultimate EZ Milker (picked out by Buck Wheeler's insightful wife Karen). I just loop the handles over one arm and carry my little stainless-steel bucket full of collection bottles in the other hand--easy as pie and very lightweight (which is a huge blessing as I am in the most pain early in the morning).

Here, you see Goat Mountain View Limerick during her milking. (Don't ask me why my does squat while being milked, just their weird thing.) It only takes a minute or two to fill the bottles, so I had to snap the photos quickly! She is only a couple weeks fresh here, so I am still able to (just barely) use the 8-oz bottles, filling them to the rim. I pop a lambar nipple on top, and I am ready to feed kids.

As you can see, Limerick is relaxed and content. The Ultimate EZ fills those bottles so quickly, that even my "Hoover" cannot finish her grain before she is done being milked. So, I use the extra time to dump, bleach, scrub, and re-fill all four water buckets while she finishes her breakfast.

There have been some folks on the Facebook group spreading the rumor that the EZ Milkers cause "hickeys" on the goats' teats, ruin their udders, and give them mastitis. That has certainly not been the case on my farm. It concerns me what kind of psi breeders are cranking up to cause such issues. There is a very visible mark on the psi gauge to not exceed 11 psi for goats. I usually have mine set at 10 psi. On the hand-held milker, you only need to pump until the milk flows. Use the smallest collection bottle available that will hold the amount of milk produced from your goat, and you will have  faster milk collection that doesn't need much suction.

Here are Limerick's teats. Tell me, do those look bruised and damaged? Nope. I've used the Udderly EZ Milker on Limerick for 6 years and the Ultimate on her this year. She's never had a case of mastitis. (Limerick is a gold doe with spots, so those are freckles, not injuries.)

Another option is to just milk one teat at a time. Buck Wheeler told me that Mary Jane Butters does this so she has more time to relax in the barn. I absolutely understand! Milking is one of my few moments of down-time during the day as I work as a copyeditor, teach homeschool, run the farm, handcraft goats milk soap, and also do all the normal things a housewife/mom does during the day.

For those folks in the Pacific Northwest who have believed the story that anything that is not a pulsating system is bad for the goats, please do some independent thinking on this point. I told Buck that I used a breast pump just fine on myself with no ill effects, and I was a very milky mama. OK, maybe TMI, but that is an important part of the story. If someone would have tried to stick a pulsating claw on me, I would have slapped them! Ha, ha. Really, think about: if Buck's system hurt the teats and udders of milkers, would someone like Mary Jane Butters be using it on her $6,000 mini-Jersey heifers? Try placing the inflation on your own hand and see what the suction feels like. It is very gentle. Think about the amount of suction you use to suck the chocolate cake batter off the tip of your finger (who bakes a cake without tasting?). That is what the suction feels like.

Here is Hailey being milked one side at a time. I'm using my favorite collection bottle on her: the 18-oz bottle. Thank you so very much, Buck, for the recent gift of more bottles!

I do bring the collection bottles back into the house so I can add a spoonful of yogurt to each bottle. My friend Penny Tyler just recommended this to me, so it is my first year adding yogurt to the bottles. The babies like it, and they are all thriving. I prefer using the EZ Milker collection bottles because the opening is big enough that I can easily spoon a bit of yogurt into the top. But, for my really young Nigerians, I use a Pritchard nipple. So, I have to use a smaller necked bottle, and therefore the assistance of a funnel to get the milk and yogurt inside.

Here are the bottles ready to load back into my bucket to take to the nursery.

My 3-year-old Nigerian Dwarf named Poem will be kidding tonight or tomorrow. Here are her pre-kidding photos. I just love this doe!

And, for some fun, here are the babies after getting their bottles. Well, Tuppence Magnum Opus was not so happy when the milk ran out; silly baby!

Yeah, they all look calm here--little angels. But when they hit those bottles, it's a completely different story! Now that they have full tummies, they are all going to curl up in a Pile O'Babies and nap.

One of the best parts of the Ultimate EZ Milker is the cleanup. Here is what I just had to wash after my morning milking and kid feeding. Yeah, seriously--that's it! I feel sorry for the folks who have to have a dedicated utility sink for washing out collection jugs, claws, and milk lines. I can see that if you have a cow, or maybe a herd of 20 standard-sized dairy goats. But, for a handful of Nigerians, this is all that is really needed. And, you will only pay a quarter of the price of a regular milking system.

Well, time to get back to work copyediting. I am currently working on Amazonite: Mineralogy, Crystalchemistry and Typomorphism by Ostrooumov. Later, I'll make some goat milk soap. I think I want to make another batch for my twin nephews' birthday. They are going off to college in the fall. I'm going to make sure those boys are scrubbed clean and smelling sweet, so they meet some nice girls <wink>.

Buck, you need to tell me which scents you and Karen like so I can send you a couple sample bars! Pick from here: http://www.editormelinda.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Folks, please ensure you read the comments below, as there is more good information there. (Things I didn't think about when quickly writing this post!)

Update: 9 pm -- Poem just gave birth to twins: a doeling that will be retained named Trinity and a wether for a 4H family that they are naming Mario. Trinity is a light buckskin (Poem has a light buckskin doeling every year, e.g., see Virelai) and Mario is a tri-color buckskin with roaned cape. He is a big boy too!