Converting a Surge Milker

I searched and searched for some good information on converting an old surge cow milker into a goat milking machine. I have not been able to find much info so I'm going to share what I learned on my own. First we adverstised on a free local site that we were looking for old cow milking equipment. You can also find them for a decent price on eBay or other such auction sites. Lucky for us we were contacted right away by someone who lives less than 8 miles away. We went to see what they had. They had several old surge buckets and a pipeline with a vacuum pump. None of this equipment had been used in many many years, like at least 20 years. So we took the best looking surge bucket with pulsator for $50. We weren't interested in the barn set up with the pipeline but the guy said he had a portable vacuum pump that borrowed to a neighbor but that it wasn't being used anymore and he could get it back. So he did and it was a sad looking rusted out old thing from the 1940s. It appeared to work so we took it home for $100. But let me say this is not what I pictured when I was told "portable".


Now we had to get new hoses and inflations. I don't know if it was the best deal but I got a conversion kit from Hamby Dairy online for $150. It doesn't seem like I got much for my $150 but this stuff is expensive. I got two clear shells, inflations, milk hoses, air hoses, shut off valves, and the claws. I searched the internet endlessly trying to figure out what a claw was and what its purpose was. I never found anything but from using it the best I can figure out is that it has something to do with pushing the milk through the hose and preventing it from going back into the inflation. I also am glad I went with the clear inflations and hoses. It really helps to be able to see how much milk is going through. Although the goats tell me when they are almost done, it must get uncomfortable because they start kicking it off. I also had to buy a vacuum gauge just to make sure there wasn't too much suction.

Now we had everything we needed and had to figure out how it works. Mike cleaned everything all up and even painted the vacuum pump. It looks like brand new now. He also built me a very nice milk stand, saving us a ton of money on an actual stanchion. When we hooked everything up we had suction but the pulsator was not working. After some failed attempts to "fix" it on our own, we finally took it to someone who knew what they were doing. Its a local dairy supply for cows but they knew how to get us going. They were very helpful with information and didn't charge us a penny. Now my milk machine runs like a dream!


From the information I gathered the suction needs to be between 10-12 for goats and the pulsator at about 90 beats per minute. All in all we spent $300 and got an old but fully operational milking system. Everything seems to be going smoothly now and it saves my hands a lot of work. I took some pictures to share of the operation. I'm by no means an expert but if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them.

Spring Is Here....maybe?

Spring seems to be late to arrive this year, just when we think its come we get a cold spell. The chickens have moved back to their summer shed and although they haven't been outside yet they at least have windows and a screen door for sunlight and fresh air. We had them in the heated barn all winter with no windows or outside access. We used an automatic light timer and I loved it so much we bought one for their summer shed as well. We just program it to turn the lights on at 5am and turn them off at 7pm. Right now it is still light out at 7pm but the chickens can go to bed with the sun this way. We now have 51 laying hens and 2 roosters. The roosters get a long fine and have never seemed to have a problem with each other. When we accidentally got a rooster with our last batch of pullets, we were afraid one of them would end up the stew pot but since they're getting along we'll just let Glenn and O'Reilly share the girls. Of the 51 layers we're getting 30-40 eggs per day. I think I may have to look into joining the farmers market this summer to get rid of all my eggs unless I find some new customers soon. So far we've just been donating our extra eggs.

Last fall we lost our Boer Billy Bud right in the middle of breeding season so Sunny finished up breeding our the rest of our Boer herd. We're getting a lot of interesting kids this year as a Toggenburg/Boer cross. We're still looking for a new replacement for Bud. Sunny is as naughty as ever. We had to put a special latch on the outside of the barn door because he always flips the handle open. The other day Mike forgot to latch it and Sunny let the entire barn out for an excursion around the yard.

Hunny & Bunny had their purebred babies. Bunny had a male (yet to be named) and a female (Gertie) and Hunny had a male (Junior- b/c he's as naughty as his father). Gertie is such a sweetheart, I'd like to keep her but wouldn't want to breed her to Sunny again so we'll probably have to sell her.

I finally had success making goat cheese that tastes good. I just made regular soft goat cheese but this is the first time it has not had the slightest bit of goaty flavor. I'm so excited because I wasn't sure it was possible to make goat milk products without the off flavor. I stirred in some spices for a great all purpose dip and I even used it as a mayo substitute in egg salad. It is so rewarding to consume food you produced and created yourself, you know what is in it and the ingredient list is simple to pronounce. I spent the money on a pastuerizer and other equipment and I think it makes all the difference to have the necessary high quality tools. I also tried making yogurt for the first time and it tasted good but was a bit runny, I think the temp wasn't exactly right. I also made sourdough starter and will be trying my hand at sour dough bread from scratch soon.

I have everything ordered for my garden this year. We are expanding as much as we can in the limited sunny space that we have. Much of our yard is pretty shady. With all the canning I plan to do again we are going to need the extra space. I just hope we have a good summer for everything to grow. I'm trying grapes and blueberries this year. I don't know that I'll get much of a harvest for a couple years but hopefully I'll them off to a good start this year.

I'm hoping to keep this blog updated more throughout the summer. I welcome any comments and would like to know what your interested in reading more about.