Goat milking stand made from junk
UPDATE: there’s a newer post with a picture of the device being used, for anyone who wondered exactly how that worked.
In keeping with the already established aesthetic of our livestock equipment and housing, I built a milking/hoof care stand and stanchion out of old pallets and scrap wood.
Here’s the overview:

With the stanchion open:

Though it looks like a medieval torture device, the blue bucket full of treats keeps goats happy and distracted during milking, hoof trimming, etc.:

Goat’s-eye view:

Teri pointed out that it would be disasterous for a goat’s body to slip off the side while her head was in the stanchion, so I added side rails. One can be flipped out of the way to release the goat (goats don’t like to go in reverse)
Locked closed:

Open:

Old lawnmower wheels make this weighty contraption sort of portable:

It may look slapped together, but typical of my engineering, it’s sturdy enough for a small elephant. I studied various sets of plans, made a few sketches, and adapted what I had in my imagination to the supply of old pallets and scrap we had lying around.
Here’s proof that I didn’t major in drafting (or penmanship, which has continued its downhill progress through almost 30 years of computer use):

Tags: construction, goats
March 20th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
looks good…baby goats?
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
any day now…
May 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
Awesome example of simplicity and creativity..
April 21st, 2010 at 10:12 am
Great idea!! We looked and looked and see this is the best and most simple design so far. We are giving it a try and get started milking several goats up here in the mountains outside San Diego, CA. Thank you for your creativity and love of the goat.
Barbara and Solomon Quimba.
June 7th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
[...] are some possible plans for our own goat stand, handy ones take note!! Here. And here (this one has a nice locking mechanism). The official variety retails for 300.00! At some [...]