Training Cleats

My new system to keep Snowflake from kicking doesn’t quite work yet. You can see here that she’s kicked it loose. Her hoof should be held directly above the marine clip, not off to the side.

Snowflake and I have come to an understanding when it comes to milking. I milk quickly while she snacks on goat chow and there is harmony. I am happy to get milk and she’s happy to get a treat. This is not to say that Snowflake is well behaved on the milk stand. If she finishes eating before the milker finishes milking, the milker had better watch out. This becomes a problem when people are trying to learn how to milk so that they can milk Snowflake while I’m away. These newbie milkers will be conscientiously trying to get efficient squirts out of her, but invariably, the milk flows in tiny trickles. Since the milk is flowing slowly (the newbies just need practice) Snowflake finishes her grain while the milker is still struggling away trying to get their hands to work right. Annoyed to be suffering the indignity of being milk without goat chow to eat, she kicks up a storm and dances making the job for the newbie milker even more challenging.

I sometimes need to train others to milk her so that I can go on vacation or get a break now and again, so I’ve been trying to come up with a system that prevents her from kicking when new people are learning to milk. I am getting very close to an effective solution to the problem. This system uses cable clamps (available at ACE hardware stores) which fit on the goat’s foot by circling the foot in the area between the hoof and dew claw. A rope is attached to the clamp, runs through a hole in the milk stand, and is cleated to the stand with a marine cleat. As you can see from this picture though, the cleat didn’t hold when Snowflake kicked. This is why her hoof is not lined up above the cleat. I think the problem is the rope I am using. It is clothes line which is very squishy and soft. Next stop, a marine store where I can buy the right sort of rope. Stay posted to see if this solves the problem.