Milking Machine Cleanup

Sandra asked me about cleanup on the milking machine. One thing I didn't want to do is replace all the time I was saving on milking with time spent on cleanup. Yards of hoses filled with milk? No thank you.

That's why I decided on the Hoegger Supply Bucket Pail system. This is what I have to clean each day:

A stainless pail.

The pail lid with inflations.

The milk does not run through the hoses on the inflations, only through the inflations themselves.

This is what the pail looks like assembled. There are two vacuum lines that attach to the pail and run to the vacuum pump. Only air goes through these lines, so they don't need daily washing.

The little pail sits on the milking stand under your doe and the inflations reach up to her teats. I am finding this challenging on my mini-mancha, Trixie,  since she is so short, but am having no trouble on my standard sized does.  I think with a little more practice, I'll have it working for Trixie too.

The instructions say that the entire pail, lid, and inflations are dishwasher safe. There is a little piece to attach to get water from getting in the vacuum line part of the inflation if you decide to toss it in on the top shelf. I'm finding that washing it takes no longer than washing up my pail, jars, and little hand pump from hand milking. I think I'll keep washing it in the sink instead of taking up the room in the dishwasher.

The pail holds 6 quarts, so once my girls are all up and running, I may have to empty it a couple of times between does.