Udderly Easy

This is a long-overdue account of the new milking aid we purchased in January. An article in a farm journal made us aware of this wonderful little tool. It was origianlly designed to help gather colostrum from mares who wouldn't nurse their foals - or for foals who couldn't nurse. But in typical farmer fashion, we try to see more than one use for every implement. I don't think it was ever intended for dairy cows, but it is absolutlely great for milking dairy goats.
Since I have arthritis in my thumbs, hand-milking was not so easy some mornings. With this device, all I need to do is squeeze the handle a few times to start and maintain the suction, and the milk flows quickly into an attached quart bottle. What's even nicer is that the milk stays very clean - no goat hair or bits of hay or insects dropping into the fresh milk as it often did with an open pail. I just unscrew the full bottle from the device, cap it, and take it in to the house for pastuerizing and chilling. The device is called Udderly E-Z. According to the literature, it is actually gentler on the doe than hand milking. None of my does complained a bit while I used it. And it certainly was gentler on ME! Here is a photo of the morning's milk - can you tell which bottle has the colostrum?