udderly EZ Milker.indd

The Udderly EZ Milker for Goats
Now available with improvements
just for dairy goat breeders
BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
T
he Udderly EZ Milker,
originally developed for
milking mares yet accepted
with open arms by the goat milking
community, made a splashy debut in
the July/August 2006 issue of Dairy
Goat Journal. Buck Wheeler, inventor
of the handy device, said the response
was phenomenal. It became apparent
to him, however, that there were some
features of the hand-held milker that
could be improved, making it even
better for goat and sheep milking. He
has modified the Udderly EZ Milker
to include a larger, stronger collection
bottle since these animals give more
milk than a mare. The bigger bottle
holds more and doesn’t have to be
It’s clean, it’s easy, it’s quiet, and it’s a
great hand saver. Bonnie McQuatters
has arthritis in her hands, but the
Udderly EZ Milker makes it possible
for her to continue milking her does at
Hobby Farms near Otis, Colorado.
removed and dumped so many times
during a milking. It also has thicker
sides so the vacuum pressure won’t
collapse it.
Another improvement Wheeler
made was to create some smaller flanges and inserts for sheep and goats with
very small teats—so the teat won’t be
pulled down too far into the flange,
sucking some of the udder down into
it. The size options make it easier to fit
on any animal.
Bonnie McQuatters, Otis, Colorado, said the improved milking device
is fantastic.
“We’ve raised goats since 1993,”
she said. “We started in southern
Colorado, just outside of Colorado
Springs, then moved here to Otis,
Colorado and bought 80 acres, and
moved all 160 of our goats. We
started this as a hobby but now we
have Boer goats, percentage Boer
goats crossed with dairy goats, and
some full blood dairy goats. We milk
the dairy goats and I make my own
goat milk soap; my family really likes
the soap made from goat milk. But I
have severe arthritis. This year I wasn’t
sure if I’d be able to milk.”
She and her husband call their little
place Hobby Farms. But it has evolved
to much more than just a hobby.
“Last year I cut back and only tried
to milk a couple of does, because it
was so hard for me. This year I am up
to more than 30 dairy goats, and the
rest of my goats are Boer and Boer
crosses. The milk from the crosses is
spectacular; it’s so creamy and tastes
good.”
Early this year, McQuatters said
her hands were so painful she wasn’t
sure she could keep milking.
“I tried milking Beatrice, one of
my Nubians,” she said. “She’s four
years old and has a large, cone shaped
udder. Her teats are very hard to get
hold of with your hands and try to
milk. If teats are too big, or too small,
it’s hard to milk them. I tried milking her for a couple of days and had a
very hard time because I have a lot of
disability in my hands and arms, with
arthritis and carpal tunnel,” she said.
“When I saw the article in Dairy
Goat Journal about this new EZ Milker, and read about Dorothy still milking goats at her age (87), I read the
whole article twice! I didn’t waste any
time; I ordered one,” Bonnie said.
“I used this milker on Beatrice,
with her large teats and large udder.
The first time I used it, the teat sucked
down into the milker and it stopped
working. But I found that if I put the
teat in only about an inch or so, and
then push upward on the pump, it
works great; you push the unit more
up into the udder, to keep the teat
from sliding down in so far. Some
dairy goats have really long teats, but
if you can keep the teat from sliding
down in, it works marvelously; the
milk just pours down into the collection bottle. If you use the smaller size
flange (there are two sizes), and insert
the teat just enough to catch the suction, and push the milker up against
the udder more, it keeps the suction
going and works very well. Within
seconds, the bottle is full,” she said.
“Otherwise, the teat may suck all the
way down into the tube, and it won’t
work very well.”
McQuatters said the EZ Milker
was also helpful in dealing with some
teat problems in her Boer doe herd.
“Some of the Boer goats have small
teats. Some have double teats on each
side,” she said. This is a common trait
in a meat goat because sometimes
they have triplets or quads. Two of the
quads might be larger and two might
be small. The small ones can’t get up to
the udder to fight for a place and get
onto a teat. Luckily the mothers will
sometimes have three or four teats to
sustain triplets or quads, but you can’t
milk them very well; the teats are
Another Problem Solved
Caseous lymphadenitis is a chronic, recurring
goat disease. A slowly enlarging, localized,
and non-painful abscess may develop either
at the point of entry into the skin or in the
regional lymph node (superficial or external
form), from which it may spread via the blood
or lymphatic system and cause abscessation
of internal lymph nodes or organs (visceral or
internal form).
Treat the Problem
with
PHLʼs Autogenous CL
Autogenous CL works by boosting immunity
to the specific organism you have on your
ranch. Over the counter products use common
isolates in a hit and miss approach while PHL will give you a vaccine that is
tailor made to combat the specific strain(s) which have infected your animals.
Autogenous CL is a killed bacterin toxoid. It is administered in 2 doses, with
the size of the dose dependant on the size of the animal. Most adults require a 2
cc dose, so 1 bottle contains about 125 doses. An easy to use kit is sent to you
and after a specimen is taken, simply drop it in the pre-addressed mailer and we
take care of the rest.
Call or email for more information!
Our experienced knowledgable staff is ready to help!
PHL Associates, Inc.
Makers of Quality Vaccines and Biologicals for Animals Since 1960
877.566.7722 [email protected]
www.phlassociates.com
Please visit us online before calling.
Customer Service: 2523 J Street Suite 203 Sacramento, CA 95816-4848
Laboratory: 24711 Country Road 100A Davis, CA 95616-9410
All major credit cards accepted • 10 bottle minumum order
you can dump the frozen cubes out of
the trays and pop them into a Ziploc
bag,” she said. “Then when you need
some colostrum, you can take out just
the amount you want. This works
well, especially if you have some tiny
babies that don’t need as much colostrum as a larger baby. You don’t need
to thaw the whole bottle or bag of colostrum, just the amount you need for
each baby goat.”
Bonnie McQuatters, Colorado, raises both Boer and dairy goats. The Boer
breed is known for double teats and fishtail teats which can be impossible to
milk by hand, but McQuatters has found the answer in the Udderly EZ Milker
as it makes those difficult milking situations much easier to deal with.
too small because they are double
on each side,” McQuatters said.
“With this EZ Milker I can get the
colostrum and give it to the smaller
kids that can’t get to the udder. Mr.
Wheeler sent me an insert (that goes
into the milker, to fit on very small
teats). I am right now weaning some of
my kids, and I experimented with this
milker to see how well this works on
the small teats,” she said. “It worked
great! I milked one of the goats that
has a ‘fishtail’ on one side (two orifices
in one teat) and two separate teats on
the other side. For raising meat goats
this type of teat usually isn’t a problem,
but if you ever have to milk them, it’s
nearly impossible,” she said.
“People who raise meat goats encounter this once in awhile and if you
need to milk out some colsotrum for
the babies, this milker really helps,”
McQuatters said. “Even if the teats
are completely double (which is common in Boer goats), they are hard to
milk by hand because they’re almost
impossible to milk separately. The
usual thing is to hold them both in
your hand.”
“However, when you squeeze
them, one will squirt into the container and the other will squirt all
over you,” she said. “The EZ Milker
is a good way to get the milk out of
the extra teat if you have a hard time
milking it by hand. These small teats
can be very difficult because you may
only be able to use two fingers to try
to pinch and squeeze. The Udderly
EZ Milker makes this task quicker,
easier and cleaner, since no dirt or debris gets into the bottle.”
McQuatters said that, for her, a
big convenience of using the Udderly
EZ Milker was that she could milk
out in the pen where the goat has given birth, without having to drag her
to a milk stand somewhere. It is a lot
less stress on the animals to be able to
milk where they are, rather than moving them, and it is now possible for
me to get colostrum for the new babies immediately.
No matter the size of teats on
the goat she may be dealing with,
McQuatters said the improvements
Wheeler made to the EZ Milker made
sense and worked great for her.
“He provided me with a silicone
insert which goes in the pump, to accommodate the smaller teats of these
goats. I really like it, even for goats
with large teats,” McQuatters said.
“For anyone who has arthritis, carpal
tunnel or any other problems with
their hands, or with squeezing or trying to milk, this milker is a godsend.”
McQuatters offered a handy tip
for other goat breeders who need to
milk and/or save goat colostrum. She
said the best way to keep it for future
use was to pour it into ice cube trays
and then freeze it.
“When the colostrum is frozen,
Another perspective...
Margaret Arnold raises and shows
dairy goats in Kentucky, and takes the
Udderly EZ Milker with her to shows
because it’s the handiest way to milk
in situations that are out of the normal routine.
“You can milk a doe anywhere
with this—out in the field or in a stall
at a show—because you don’t need a
milking stand,” Arnold said.
Arnold feeds and milks the goats
out every night at a show, and said the
Udderly EZ Milker had made her life
so much easier.
“It is hard for me to load and unload a big milking machine and all
the stuff that goes with it.” she said.
“Then, if a goat is a little nervous, I
have to drag them back and forth to a
milk stand. With the hand held milker, I can just tie my doe in the stall to
milk her, and since this pump does the
job so quickly, the goat doesn’t have to
be tied very long and is much more
tolerant about being milked.”
Arnold liked the fact that the EZ
Milker is so easy to wash, compared to
a big milking machine unit.
“The big milker is so heavy and
time consuming to wash. This is a lot
handier; you just rinse the bottles with
warm water and the rest stays pretty
clean,” she said. “When I’m milking,
I don’t let the milk come up to the
top of the bottle, so it won’t get into
the pump. You don’t want to tip the
bottle too much as you are milking or
the milk will tend to reach the top of
the bottle and get into the pump. If
you let it get in there, then you have
to take it apart and rinse it out fairly
Update and More Tips From Dorothy
L
Margaret Arnold, Tennessee enjoys
the ease and reduced stress of milking
her dairy goats with the Udderly EZ
Milker, whether she is at home her
milk room, on the road in a show
barn, or out in the field.
quickly, to get the milk out of the
pump. It won’t ruin the pump if you
just flush it out quickly with warm
water,” she said.
Arnold said the quart bottle size
will usually take care of one side of an
average goat’s udder.
“If you have two bottles and don’t
want to have to pour it out in the
middle of milking, those two bottles
will pretty well handle one doe. If the
bottle does get full, you can pour it
into something else, or into a nipple
bottle if you are feeding kids.
One advantage to milking with
this pump over milking by hand
is that the milk doesn’t foam up as
much, Arnold said.
“Foam gets in the way if you are
trying to fill another bottle to feed
kids; I like the fact that this doesn’t
make foam,” she said.
For people with dairy goats who
don’t have a lot of experience hand
milking, Arnold said she feels this EZ
Milker is ideal.
“Trying to milk by hand, if they
don’t know how, the beginner could
unintentionally give their goat mastitis,” she said. “If you don’t know how
to milk, this pump is perfect. It’s easier on the goat and keeps everything
clean.”
ongtime Toggenburg goat
breeder
Dorothy
Shaw,
featured in the July/Aug 06 issue
of Dairy Goat Journal, had a few
more tips to pass along to fellow
dairy goat enthusiasts, as told to
writer Heather Smith Thomas.
She said she likes to squirt a couple squirts from each teat by hand
before putting on the EZ Milker,
just to clear the teat and make sure
no debris or bacteria get into the
milk. She squirts this first milk into
a couple of tuna tins for her dogs, as
their treat.
“Then I use the EZ Milker,” she
said. “I also do the last stripping
by hand, sometimes as many as 20
strokes.” Shaw said she doesn’t think
it’s good for the teat to have a lot of
suction on it at the very end, when
the milk is all gone, and therefore
prefers to strip out by hand.
“But in the middle, I use the EZ
Milker. Sometimes, if my hands are
feeling really pain free, I will milk
with one hand and pump with the
other, which makes the milking go
really fast,” Shaw said. “I keep hand
milking a little, just to keep up the
ability to use my hands,” she said.
Shaw also said the angle at which
the EZ Milker is held is important.
“You don’t want to lose suction by
having it very far off vertical,” she
said. “If you get air in there, it won’t
work properly.”
Another thing Shaw does is to
alternate teats during each milking
session.
“I let it milk a little on one teat,
until that teat becomes engorged
with blood from the suction pressure of the vacuum. Then I change
teats. I don’t think you have to do
this, but I like to do it just to be really easy on the teats and give each
one a break,” she said.
If the doe isn’t letting her milk
down very well, Shaw gives the ud-
der a nudge with the milker, much
in the same way a baby goat does
with its head, to encourage milk
let-down.
“Another thing I do to stimulate milk flow, is to hold the milker
with one hand and massage above
it with my other hand. I don’t even
have to look at the bottle to know if
the milk is flowing; I can feel slight
vibrations in my trigger finger, from
the milk pulsing down through the
pump,” she said. “It’s a very fine vibration, but I know what’s happening without looking,” she said.
To wash the milker, Shaw rinses it in cold water, then uses hot,
soapy water (dish detergent), then
rinses again very well.
“I don’t want to put boiling
water in it (which would ruin it).
I boil some water and let it cool
down a bit. That way I know the
water is sterile, and I rinse it with
that. I don’t do this every time—a
rinse with hot tap water is adequate
most of the time—but every now
and then just to make sure it’s really cleaned up. Any time I boil a
teakettle I like to leave some extra
in it. Then it’s handy whenever you
need sterile water,” she said.
“I use a bottle brush on the
bottles and the milking tube once
in awhile. I do very little with the
actual pumping mechanism because it doesn’t get dirty. You want
to make sure there isn’t any milk on
it; milk or water in it can ruin the
pump,” she said.
“I really love this milker. The
big milking machines for goats are
too expensive if you only have a few
goats, and very time consuming to
wash. A smart wife tells her husband, ‘Wash your own.’ I think the
man who invented this Udderly EZ
Milker is a genius; it’s such a handy,
easy-to-use, easy-to-clean piece of
equipment!”
To clean the pump in case milk or
colostrum has been drawn into the inside
of the pump: first remove the extractor
and clip from the pump. Then place
the pump in warm water and pump the
handle to draw water into the pump
and pump it several times. Then remove
from water, and pump the handle several
times again to expel all water from the
pump, then shake it out and let it dry.
This should only be done to get milk
in the pump out, otherwise the pump
should never be washed. Photos by Heather
Prevention is the most important
facet of a Mastitis Management program. An ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure. In addition to all
the nutrition, environmental hygiene,
milking machine maintenance, and
other practices, effective udder prep is
paramount for udder health.
MILK CHECK TEAT
WIPES
Promotes
Milk Letdown
Smith Thomas
Udderly EZ Milker
Questions and Answers
Fast and easy. Simply pull a
pre-soaked towel out of the top
of the bucket, wipe the entire teat
area, and the cow, goat or sheep is
prepped for milking.
Contains skin conditioning agents.
Teats are clean, soft, conditioned, and dry.
Wipes contain .5% chlorhexidine gluconate and 9.0% isopropyl alcohol for
premilking teat preparation.
Wipes are thick, durable and gentle.
bucket of 600 $26.95 + 7.50 s/h
case of 2400 refills $96.95 + 7.50 s/h
Order Now!!
1-800-306-8937
Order online!
24 hours a day at
www.hambydairysupply.com
or write to
Hamby Dairy Supply
2402 SW WATER STREET
MAYSVILLE MO 64469-9102
BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
WITH BUCK WHEELER
T
he Udderly EZ Milker unit
consists of a flanged tube that fits
over the teat, a suction pump, and a
collection bottle that snaps onto the
unit. It is a relatively simple device,
but there are a few common questions
that bear answers and further explain
how the whole system works.
Q. Do you need to wash the udder?
A. The udder and teats should be
clean. A packet of special wipes comes
with the pump. Make sure the teat
is clean before you milk. Having it
slightly moist will also ensure a secure
seating of the flange against the teat; a
dry teat may let air through and break
the suction.
Q. How does the pump work?
A. Insert the teat into the flanged
tube and make sure it’s seated properly, then give a few pulls on the trigger
to create suction, and milk will stream
into the collection bottle below it. If
the stream diminishes, give another
pull on the trigger, as often as needed to fill the bottle. It only takes one
hand to operate the pump. Hold it
nearly vertical; if it’s tipped too much,
milk may get to the top of the collection bottle and back into the workings
of the pump.
Q. How do I wash it?
A. The pump itself should not be
washed (except for a quick rinse—and
then dried—if you happen to get milk
in it by accident). The flange and collection bottle are easy to wash; they
snap off and can be rinsed in hot water (or soap and water if you rinse well
afterward). Don’t use boiling water,
and never boil the containers, as the
heat will damage the plastic. A bottlebrush can be used on them periodically if you wish, but the entire system
should stay very clean if you rinse the
parts between uses.
For more information go to Buck
Wheeler’s web site (www.udderlyezllc.
com). New information and testimonials continue to be added as they become available.