My New Milk Stand

     Two days ago, I finally got started on a project that has been put off quite long enough- a goat milk stand, or stanchion.  It took only a couple hours after the wood was cut, and probably would have gone a little faster if I knew more about carpentry.  But it is fully functional, and looks decent (yay!) and so I'm very happy with it.

     First, I looked at some pictures of milk stands to get an idea of what I wanted.  This is the one I liked best:  http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwsvNpTdD6f9BniPwDSSl7Kea5kMqbm18suyrpL3TKTwQ1pF462D1QwC9ryQGJOIFzKXksxTzWARNY4Kmu1wr7l1aOPBuC34CaWGsqfKJ2frWjDhstiI2dseZ7piYsIZTucKM2n6rontU/s1600/Goat+Milking+Stand+Best1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.henrymilker.com/2010/12/how-to-build-goat-milking-stand.html&h=523&w=552&sz=430&tbnid=cRG-rVR6iFQSkM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=95&zoom=1&usg=__hm8T4mxWGZhc2qlg4q-s5uv6KAw=&docid=btF7oph24bptvM&sa=X&ei=8WNdUd7JMse7iwKzzYGoAw&ved=0CF0Q9QEwAw&dur=587

My original plan.  The measurements on the finished stand were slightly different.

Then I drew a basic plan of what I wanted, and started measuring (always at least twice) and marking the boards I needed for it.

  Materials used: 

  2 pressure treated 24" 2x4's, 2 pressure treated 48" 2x4s, (for the bottom of the stanchion), 3 non-pressure treated 24" 2x4's, 2 48" 2x4's, 3 24" 1x4's, 2 36" 2x4's (for the stanchion), 2 57" 2x4's, and one 46" x 27", 1/2" thick plywood.

A square is strongly recommended.  If you don't use one, the lines you draw, and later cut, on your boards will likely be crooked, and your project may turn out like many of mine, which looked quite lopsided, and were not very strong.

Bad picture of me....  I was quite intent on what I was doing.  :)

     I labelled each piece to save time later on, and cut down on the number of mistakes.

     Daddy cut the wood for me.
 

     Then I sorted through our container of miscellaneous screws and picked out the ones that would work for this project.  I used 1 1/2" and 3" Phillips head screws.

I sorted all the wood by length so it would be easy to grab the piece I needed next.

     Next, I laid out the two ends of the milk stand on the ground, carefully aligning the edges and corners so that it would not be crooked.  The bottom boards of the squares were the 24" pressure treated 2x4's, the sides on the back were the 20" 2x4's, and the sides on the front were the 57" 2x4's.  The tops were the non-pressure treated 24" 2x4's.

     Once I had them perfect, I screwed them together.  I put only one screw in each corner at first, so that if it got bumped and was crooked I could re-align them.  Then, after checking it all again, I put another screw in each corner.

(Please excuse the poor quality picture here, and the shadow.  I took this photo with the camera on my tablet, so it's not the best.)

Then I called in the rest of my expert carpentry crew.  :)

      Actually, I did need their help.  They held the ends steady while I screwed on the bottom boards, which were the 48" pressure treated 2x4's.

(Photo credit:  Emaline)

      I squared up the ends the best I could (one of the boards was warped, so it wasn't perfect), and then screwed them together.

     After the bottom boards were on, I put on the top frame (the 48" 2x4's).

     Front view...

     Then I started working on the actual stanchion, or head catch.  First I put on the bar (24" 2x4) which holds the feed container, and helps stabilize the swinging board.

     I used the square again, but a level would probably have worked better, if I had been building it on a level working surface.

     Next I attached the stanchion bars (or whatever they are called...)  They are the 36" 2x4's.  One was originally stationary, and the other is attached only by one screw, and can be moved back and forth so that I can open it wider for the goat's head to go through, then close it so she can't pull it back out.

     And then I finished building it without taking any more step-by-step pictures, because I was so focused on my work that I completely forgot.  :)  Anyway, the ones below should be sufficient.

The finished product.

     Originally one board had been stationary, and one moved, but I had to change it so that both could be opened, as Nelly's horns wouldn't fit through when only one board could be moved.

 
This is the latch.  I drilled a hole all the way through the front top board, the swinging stanchion board, and the back top board, then tied a 4" nail to a piece of elastic for a latch.  When the board is pushed into the closed position, the holes will all be lined up and the nail can be pushed through to hold it in place, and pulled out to open it again when you release the goat.  The black line on the stanchion board was my father's idea- it helps you line up the holes by marking the exact position of the one in the board.

     This is the front assembly for the stanchion, and feed holder.  The 2x4 in the front holds the feed container, and also helps stabilize the swinging boards, which is the purpose of the 1x4 in the back as well.

  The feed holding board had to be held away from the front of the stanchion a bit so that the container could be hooked on.  I simply used a couple scraps, trimmed off one of the boards when we cut them, to hold it out a little way when I screwed it on.

(I don't know why this picture turned out so yellow... I guess I got the lighting just wrong.)

     Top assembly of the stanchion.  The track for the swinging head catch (stanchion) boards is made of 1x4's.

    

  Feed container waiting for Mabel, and LilyAnn latching the stanchion.

Finally, no more milking or hoof- trimming on the ground!  The only thing I still need to do is sand and varnish the platform so that it can be cleaned easily, but that is not a big deal, and I'm just happy to have a milk stand again, and better yet, a free one, as I used recycled wood and screws.  The finished dimensions are :  28" wide on the platform, 24" wide for the front stanchion assembly, 20" high (platform) and the stanchion is 36" tall.  Total height:  57", total width:  28", total length:  48".

    All the wood used except the pressure treated 2x4's and the plywood was recycled from the boy's loft at our old house, which we took down when we moved here.  It's amazing what you can do with a simple plan, a drill, lots of screws and some old wood!