Butcher’s Block Milking Stand

The Milking Shed was still just a plan in my head.  I knew where it was going and how it would work, but I thought it was a couple of months away. With Midge’s injury meaning we have to massage her udder and milk her out until the kids are allowed back on, the milking stand jumped back to to the top of the to-do list. I have had a Butcher’s table for over 40 years. It had been cut down twice, once when it went into my bedroom as a work table when I was 7 and again when I cut it down to coffee table size and painted it red when I was a teenager. It has been sitting on the deck for the last year as a stand for the BBQ.  It is strong and stable and I thought it looked about the right size.  We checked the measurement of the Fiasco Farm Milking Stand and it was exactly the same size, approx 900 x 600 mm (36″ x 24″ ).  Again we were going to re-purpose something we had to make something we need.   Brad screwed on a couple of spacers, then added a Marri frame with Jarrah boards to hold the Marri head gate.   Finally we glued and screwed an old yoga mat to the top for a recycled non-slip surface.   When we are milking for human consumption, it will be in a separate shed with a concrete floor, but for now, the stand is in the goat pen, as the priority is that Midge feels comfortable with it before I lock her in and try to tend her wounds and milk her sore teat single-handed.  Rose hopped up as soon as we put it in and Crumpler tried to eat it.