Efficient Homestead: Goat Stand Tiedown Stystem

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been working on getting my milking routine more efficient. I’ve decided to just do a series of posts to show the changes instead of trying to cram it all in one post. The unique system I want to share today is something I came up with a few years ago. I see pictures of cows, and even some goats who will just stand still while they are milked. In all the years I’ve been doing this, I haven’t had a single goat that will do that! We put their head in a stanchion, give them treats, sing lullabies, etc., but no matter how well behaved they may be most of the time, it only takes one stamp of the foot to put their poopy, dirty hooves in the milk bucket! It usually happens close to the end of the milking session too so it ruins even more of the milk! Because of this, I’ve just decided that it’s worth it to always tie their feet back.

For my first solution, I just used some extra webbing I had laying around and I tied their feet back. It was wide, soft webbing and I liked that because it was more comfortable for the goats. However, even though it held their feet back, they could still lift their feet up. As they would get restless and start stamping, sometimes the very tip of their hoof would catch the edge of the milk bucket and flip it right over giving me a not so luxurious milk bath. Also, occasionally when a goat sees a disembodied spirit (or whatever makes them randomly freak out) they will jump up with just their back legs and literally make the whole milk stand jump which usually spills the milk. It wasn’t a problem all the time, but the few occasions that it did happen were super frustrating! It was also pretty time consuming to tie their feet back and while I got good at tying the right knot with webbing, it was difficult for other people if I was ever away. One of the perks of making your homestead more efficient is that it makes it easier for you to take a vacation!
I went to work coming up with a system that would hold their feet down, would be reasonably comfortable for the goat, and easy to use with no knots. First, I knew I wanted to use webbing. It’s better than rope for comfort and because of my job at Unshoes, I had extra webbing sitting around that had been discontinued. I also had access to an industrial bar tacking sewing machine that made it easy to sew webbing. I also figured that if I put a couple of eye bolts in the stand just behind where I want their feet to be, I could run the webbing through those and anchor it back then it would hold their feet back AND down. So I started with those parameters in mind and it made sense to make a loop system to loop around their feet instead of tying on. In the end, this is what I came up with:

There are two lengths of soft 5/8” webbing with a loop on each end. Then I installed two screw-in eyebolts right where I wanted their feet. The last element of the system was a short tie down. I made sure to use a cambuckle tie down like this and NOT a ratcheting tie down to make it fast and easy, without putting too much pressure on the goat. Once the goat is on the stand, I grab the webbing lengths with loops and I take it around the goat’s let, thread one end through the loop on the other end. They are identical so there is no time or energy wasted on trying to figure out which end is which. I pull it tight and repeat with the other leg. Then I thread each one through the eyebolts on the floor of the stand and put the hook of the tie down through the oppose loops on the webbing lengths. The opposite end of the tie down stays secured to an anchor point somewhere sturdy. I can then quickly and easily pull on the tail of the tie down and secure the goat’s feet. They can’t jump, they can’t step, they can only squirm! It sounds a little bit complicated as I type it out, but it is WAY better than trying to tie knots! It has saved me plenty of time and spoiled milk.
If you have some magical unicorn goat that doesn’t stamp her feet, then the most efficient system by far is to just let her be! Since I have yet to find that goat for my family, I’ll keep using this tie down system.

However, stay tuned for an entertaining story of what happens when the system works, but the operator fails!