New Stanchion - heaps of pics!

[Tamara]

Hey guys!

So about a week ago I was going crazy with Tallulah knocking the milk bucket over... because I had her just tied up, she could move her feet around and she is the absolute fussiest eater ever So she would walk all over trying to pick up each little piece of food.

We got our builder to make this for me, since I'm not exactly a great builder myself XD It's solid as a rock and could hold an elephant! Feel free to ask if you'd like any measurements or a certain view photographed if you're interested in building your own.
Here's a bunch of photos - sorry that they are a little grainy, I milked late and it was already getting dark by the time I'd finished and took them.


Tallulah hanging around, the old milking area is in the background (blue dish) She was very hesitant the first day, but after a very tempting bucket of grain in front of her face, I eventually got her to step in. Since then she's got more and more confident and now walks straight in.


My milking gang, only missing Phaser the hen because it was too late at this point and she had already gone to bed. Usually she will walk around pecking up any grains that fall out. Tallulah eats from a perfectly sized old recycling bin.


The whole stanchion is designed to be able to be dragged around by a tractor or truck. It has a small ramp so she can get up easily. It's a perfect height for me to sit on the edge and milk her comfortably.




The head gate slides and fixes in place with a bolt that is simply slid through a hole drilled through it.




The back has a swinging bar with a notch in it and hooks onto the side beam. This keeps the whole thing completely stable and strong.



This handy dandy built-in shelf allows the feed bin to sit at the perfect height for Tallulah to eat from.
One day I will probably get little walls built around the edge to keep the feed bin in place, as currently Tallulah can push it around so I'm tying it in place with baling twine.

Hope you guys like my new stanchion Feel free to ask questions!

[karenp]

I'm impressed that your builder took the time to bevel the edges on the platform. I like the design and think my DH could do something like this. Do you think the wood will get slippery? How's the weather there, do you have too much trouble with getting cold/wet/too hot?

[kimmie]

Very very nice!

[peppermintwindfarm]

That's almost exactly like the one I have plans for- I LOVE it, now just have to find someone to help me build it. I plan on putting a rubber mat on mine.

[Debbie Lincoln]

Impressive and neat. Do you milk in bare feet? :-) I noticed in your video! I would lose toes!!!! Lol

[elnini]

That looks great ! Give your builder a pat on the back too :-)

[Tamara]

Thanks so much guys!

karenp, our builder is an excellent guy and did a fantastic job on this (except for that one little hole above the bolt hole which appears to be a mistake). He builds things that'll last us 100 years, and is picky about the details (hence the bevelled edges)

Oh yes, I should have mentioned it cost us about $400 in total - materials and labour included. We already had a lot of materials. It took the builder 4 hours to make.

Because it's not under cover and I'm still sharing with the calf, I don't milk when it rains. However it might get slippery if you milked during or just after a lot of rain. So far I have not milked directly after it's rained so the wood has never been very slippery. Tallulah rarely moves around once she's in it so you'd probably only need to be worried about slipping when she is backing out.

As peppermintwindfarm mentioned, you could put a rubber stall mat on to avoid slipping.

Because there's no cover, it does get cold, windy and hot - however this design works perfectly for moving around and you could put it in a barn or under cover. You could also put up a simple shelter over it, like a gazebo, to keep it shaded or drier.

Debbie Lincoln, I DO milk in bare feet most of the time XD I try to remember to wear shoes because I know one day I'll be stepped on, but sometimes I just walk out the door and don't think about it until I'm up in the paddock Now that I've got the stanchion there's way less chance of her stepping on me though. She barely lifts a foot once she's in. I love that I can change sides if she's being stubborn and won't move one of her legs back.

[havenlighthouse]

wow, great design!

[joeynd]

it's great to have a cow you can milk from BOTH sides Some "highly prefer" a certain side and they will certainly let you know! lol
btw, really really nice stanchion!

[dmbenson]

Just 2 quick questions - first, are there 3 rails under the floor or just two? and how wide is it - I'm going to be building one here in the next month or two (before Bisco calves) and this looks perfect!

[danijoe]

I would also like to know how wide the platform is. Ours seems to wide and our gal can move to far from me, so I end up on the platform squatting with my head practically under her. My husband is afraid of making it to narrow, fearing they might step off the side. I like to have them raised up on a platform and not milk them standing on the ground due to some of our Dexters being shorter legged. Thanks. -Dani

[pattysh]

Nice stantion!

[kristi]

That's a great stantion set up. We have one built almost just like that (no head gate) in the pasture but it gets rained on and is slippery. To combat that I took narrow strips of wood, ie. 1"x1" the length of the floor and screwed it down on the sides. We had a problem with their legs wanting to slip to the side and over, which can cause them injury and really mess up your milking.

Thanks for posting the great pics of the head gate. I'm going to be building another stantion inside the barn and wanted one (a head gate) and wasn't quite sure how to go about it. These pics fixed that. I like milking outside when it's not raining, but when it's raining it's pain. You might eventually build a shed over yours. If I didn't have the barn I would be building one over ours. Enjoy!

[Tamara]

Thanks heaps everyone for the compliments!

joeynd, it IS great to milk from both sides! I find she likes getting milked on her left side mostly, but sometimes she just will not position her feet properly and I'll milk from the right side.

dmbenson, sorry - I'm not quite sure what you mean by '3 rails under the floor or just two'? Do you mean the supports right underneath the stanchion? If so I'm not sure how many and I would have to get someone to help me tip it over to check.
As for the width, I'll take a tape measure out this evening and measure the width for you

danijoe, this is wide enough that Tallulah can step side to side. However once she is in she rarely moves, unless she can push the feed bucket around, which I am going to fix by adding a ledge around the side of the table so it can't be pushed off.
However, when I milk I actually sit on the edge of the stanchion floor itself. I am positioned with my head right under the side rail and Tallulah usually stands to one side of the floor, so in my case it doesn't matter. But if you didn't want to sit like this you would have to make it narrower so she would be within reach.

If you did this you would probably want to make it like kristi, with edges along the floor so they can't step off. Tallulah has stepped a foot of a couple of times while getting comfortable and she just steps back on, but if you wanted to be really safe and had a narrow one, I would recommend the little walls.

If you make a narrow one, just make sure the side rails fit around your cows at their fattest! I measured Tallulah across her stomach, neck, from the tip of her nose to her tail, and her height, and our builder made it from those measurements and some photos I got from other KFCers, adding a little on to each measurement to make sure she fit comfortably.

One day we plan on making a barn, hence why this design had to be made for shifting around However ideally a little shed or just a roof built outside would be great for the summer months when it's too hot to milk inside.

I'll post again tonight once I've got the measurement for the width!

[dunderi]

looks really great!! look forward to testing it when i get out there to preg test her for you :-)

[brassj41]

Just my two cents, but it looks like:
- Floor: 30" wide (based on 7.5" board widths for the bucket shelf)
- Two 4x4 rails underneath. (pictures show two rows of screws per side, but none in the middle.) Also, I wouldn't be concerned to much about a center rail as the gap looks to be around 24". If you are concerned, go measure the under joists of a stock trailer to see how far apart those are. I don't have one handy or I'd go measure it myself.

A couple of options I would consider:
1. Have the floor boards flush with the outside of the uprights. This would add 3.5" to each side to help prevent a hoof from slipping off. I also like the strips running lengthwise that Kristi mentions.
2. To help center a narrow cow, you could screw another 2x4 on each of the hand rails. If you screwed it on like a sidewise "T" then it would push the cow towards the center by 3.5". If you screw it on like a "L" then your push about is 1 3/4" per side.

For those that are interested in just a head stall, I just screwed mine onto one end of a heavy feed trough for the weight. It's nowhere near as pretty, but does the job of holding the cow and letting me work with her after her grain is gone.

[Tamara]

Oops, sorry I am late with my reply guys ^^;

Width: dmbenson and danijoe, I measured the floor and it is 80cm or 31 1/2 inches across - so yes, basically 30" wide like brassj41 said, only a little different due to Australian sizes.

Support rails: there are just 2, one along each side. We tipped the whole thing up today to stain it and there is definitely no centre support. I think it is heaps sturdy enough as-is, since there is not much of a span across and because the floor boards go sideways it has plenty of support on just the 2 rails. We call them 'sleepers' here in Aus. Hardwood sleepers are very common for building around here.

brassj41 has some very good points to keep in mind!

[Tamara]

Jun 10, 2013 4:39:56 GMT -5 dunderi said:

looks really great!! look forward to testing it when i get out there to preg test her for you :-)

Yes! It will be super handy for that! By the way, no rush or anything, just wondering if you have any idea when you might be able to get out?

[bleeglaser]

Awesome stanchion! We will be building one soon. My cows udder is huge and low though so I either need the stanchion higher or dig myself a hole.

[simplynaturalfarm]

I would probably add another rail on each of the sides - cows can duck under things they shouldn't and having a lowered side also keeps them from wiggling this and that way. The rails at the back are nice for tying feet back if you need to.
A nice stanchion and I'm sure you love it!