Milking with arthritis

What solutions are there for milking goats and sheep with arthritis?

That is to say, the human, aka, me, has arthritis in my hands.  

I'm wondering if there's a simple tool for milking one or two goats/sheep?  I would love to make fresh goat cheese each week.  

I find milking my goats helps alleviate the pain some. Now... I milk share so I only do it every other day. I have quite a bit of degeneration of the knuckles and finger joints but find the specialized squeezing and fluid motion helps keep pain to a minimum. The lack of daily repition really helps. Also, I only get 1/2-1gal each time so not like I'm milking a cow, at 3-5gal/day... Been there, done that and it hurt! Teat structure is a consideration as well... Small or short teats can cause some discomfort...  For me, home grown milk is to yummy and has so many other benefits to not keep going....

I wish it was that way for me.  I was milking an ewe today and I had to stop for the pain.  Haven't been able to do much since.

I wouldn't be able to do this motion daily.  Thinking about some sort of equipment that could help.  

There is a device I've seen that is a simple vacuum system, using a trigger squeeze thingy, pressure gauge, some plastic tubing, a plastic wide mouth jar lid....  Oh yea, and regular plastic syringe parts as teat cups.... I think a few squeezes of the trigger gets enough suction to milk most small dairy animals. Ive never used one but a friend does and loves it... It's cheap and works but not for extensive use as it does not have a pulser and will ruin an udder with regular use. Otherwise there are several milking machines available for goats/sheep that are safe, and easy to clean and use...  I don't have experience with either.... Just reading and word of mouth. The simple system my friend uses cost around $120... Good luck!! The yogurt, cream, butter, cheese.... I press on!! Working on having year 'round milk now. I do keep the muscles of my hands and arms very fit also, as that is often most people's problem with hand milking....

Maybe these will help:

I really like the idea of a mason jar system.  I'm going to look into something like this.  

I wonder if I would still need to filter the milk before storage.  

Looking at the price of a milking machine and looking at the 'interesting' element of getting parts to make my own.

I could see there being a market for a kit to make a hand powered milker at home (hose, syringes/cups, hand-powered pump, and fittings to put it on the lid).  I can't seem to find one for sale anywhere.  

Sounds like a project for some permies members though here is what you can get on ebay.  I did a search for "Goat Hand Milk Machine"  and these are just some of what I found:

$75.00

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Goat-Sheep-Milker-Hand-Vacuum-Milking-Machine-1-2-Gallon-Bottle-35ml-syringe

or these parts:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Goat-Sheep-Milking-Machine-Parts-Cup-Silicone-Milker-Claw-Hose-Liners-Unit

https://www.ebay.com/itm/goat-milker-parts-replacement-lid-hoses-and-60cc-syringes

Those look neat.  But with the current exchange rate, when I calculated shipping and duty, it got very scary.  I found one on Amazon for a lot less... alas, it's plastic, but it's a start.  

Still, my goat isn't going into heat anymore, so it will be about a year before I can get milk from her.  Time enough to see if I can find a better system.  Maybe if a permie made one and wanted to do an exchange for something I can make?  

I am sorry I forgot you are in Canada.  I always look for the items with free shipping and many of them offer free shipping to other countries.

Maybe by the time you are ready to buy there will be someone selling from Canada.  

I also thought with some shopping a person might be able to buy the parts and put the machine together  themselves and save some money.

Hi, new 'Permie' posting for the first time.

How about something padded that will reduce how tight you have to squeeze your hand but still give you the control that hand-milking gives you?

The Udderly EZ Hand Milker is inexpensive and was a lifesaver for me, milking my cow with painfully arthritic hands.    Because it does not have a pulsator, I got a lot of grief from  the Family Milk Cow group who were totally opposed to it, but I then contacted a dairy veterinary scientist at UW Madison who reassured me it would not hurt my cow's udder.   It is not nearly as fast as a bucket milker, but it is quiet and relaxing to use.  My cow never minded it at all. I was milking up to 4  gallons a day-- a goat would be much faster.  I have heard that Udderly EZ now makes a powered version, that can even be solar powered, but I don't know anything about it.

https://udderlyez.com/cow_milkers.php


Here is my blog post about first using the Udderly EZ milker, with some photos: https://squashblossomfarm.blogspot.com/2010/06/udder-relief.html

Although it gave my hands considerable relief, it does require a bit of hand use and I still battle hand pain (mostly from weeding and other farm work) so I ultimately purchased a used bucket milker.            

Our resident inventor tried out a cow milker that used gravity or siphoning instead of a pump. It didn't pulse, though he didn't believe that would be a problem. I don't know why but our students, who have the responsibility for milking, didn't continue using it.

It simply consisted of milking nipple holders (or whatever they're called) attached to a pipe, and they had to have the cow standing on a higher level, and the bucket or outlet at a lower level.

I have arthritis and used to suffer doing almost anything until a friend told me that drinking water into which a small amount of magnesium chloride has been dissolved would help.  I didn't believe it but thought I'd try it anyway.  Believe me, it WORKS!  Dissolve about a teaspoon of it into 2 quarts of water.  Drink about half a cup first thing every morning and then another half cup before dinner every evening.  Almost all of your pain will go away!  And then you can continue milking with your own hands, which I'm sure your animals would far prefer to some contraption hooked up to them.  Good Luck!