Note: This post was edited in early March, 2022 to reflect some updates we’ve made to our milking stand. This way, we are presenting the best possible plans for building your own milking stand.
Good afternoon and welcome to another update from the Silly Couple! Today, we wanted to go over the creation of our very own Nigerian Dwarf milking stand made from pallets. Before we get into it, we want to be completely transparent. Due to materials we already had on hand, this is not 100% constructed using pallets. And, we don’t think it’s practical to make it without any hardware (like, some sort of latch to keep it closed while milking). Of course, you’d also want some more substantial nails than the ones you get from pulling apart a pallet.
With that in mind, this milking stand can be made about 99% from pallets. So, if you have yourself some Nigerian Dwarf goats, let’s look at the tools and materials you’d need.
Pallet Milking Stand Checklist
Since we had other materials already available, we did vary from this slightly, but rest assured these listed materials will get you through it.
- 3 Pallets – Ours are 43×39″, but any standard pallet size should work.
- 3 1/4″ Nails – We ordered these Grip-Rite nails from Home Depot when building the new chicken coop.
- 1 Pencil – To mark your wood.
- A Latch – You need something to properly latch the arms of the milking stand.
- A Circular Saw – We trust our Ryobi to get the job done.
- A hammer – To drive those nails.
- A reciprocating saw (recommended) – We’ll talk about this later.
- A drill (optional) – Makes nailing easier with pilot holes.
- A crowbar – To remove pallet boards from your pallets.
Making the Base of Your Milking Stand
If you’re all about doing things in a practical order, we recommend starting your project by removing all the pallet boards from 2 of your pallets. You’ll want to be careful not to destroy all your pallet boards, but the right application of a crowbar and hammer should do the trick. Many of these pallet boards will not be used, but the 2x4s will be necessary to complete the milking stand. And, you will need some of the pallet boards (how many could depend on the size of your pallet).
With the third, unstripped pallet, go ahead and place it flat on the floor with the bottom part exposed. If you’re using 43×39″ pallets, flip it to the side with just 3 pallet boards and remove those using your crowbar and hammer. There should be three 2x4s running perpendicular to your pallet boards. Proceed to flip the pallet to the other side. Go ahead and use the circular saw to cut directly along the middle 2×4. The distance between the two 2x4s is perfect for the milking stand width and makes for a simple start to the project. Once done, you’ll essentially have a narrow pallet (which should be about 22.5″ wide).
Stripping Away Your Pallet Boards
The next step to making a proper base is to ensure there are no gaps in the pallet board. To best accomplish this, you’ll want to strip away all but one of your shortened pallet boards. Make sure to leave the one that is most up to the edge of the 2x4s.
Once these others are stripped away, use the existing nails to nail the shortened pallet boards back into the base. Be careful to keep the 2x4s straight when doing this. After a couple are put back in place, it should get easier. And, if you want to really make things easy, leave one of these cut pallet boards off for now.
Cutting Your Pallet Boards
With some of the full-sized pallet boards, use the remaining short pallet board as a template. Take that handy dandy pencil of your sand mark the un-cut boards so they’ll match the length of your short boards. We ended up using 9 pallet boards in total for the base of our stand. So, you’ll likely need to cut 4-5 of these boards. This isn’t a safety lesson on using a circular saw, but make sure to exercise safe practices on that front.
From there, you should again be able to reuse the pallet board nails to nail the short pallet boards onto your new Nigerian dwarf milking stand base. It might not look like much yet, but these two 2x4s and 9 pallet boards are getting you started on the right track.
Adding Legs to Your Milking Stand
Since you disassembled two full pallets, you should have a total of seven 2x4s left over at this point. You’ll want to take two of those for this next step. Now, before instructing you on the leg length, we want to add the disclaimer that this is the height that we found works for us. If you feel you might need something taller, feel free to do so. But, I wouldn’t go much shorter or taller.
Regardless, we used 17.5″ as the length of our legs. And, since your 2x4s are more than 35″ long, that means you can measure out and cut two legs per 2×4. Go ahead and do that so you have a total of 4 legs (it wouldn’t quite work if you only do 2-3 legs).
Once you have your evenly cut 17.5″ legs, flip the base of your milking stand so you have free access to the 2x4s underneath. As you might imagine, you’ll line up the 2x4s in each of the 4 corners of this base. Put the legs all the way against the pallet boards and nail them into the base 2x4s. Once done, you should be able to flip this over and have a 4-legged pallet base without any gaps.
Making This a Nigerian Dwarf Milking Stand
Looking at your platform, you might wonder how this is going to become a Nigerian Dwarf milking stand. Rest assured, we’re almost there! For this next step, you’re going to need two more of your 2x4s. In this stage, there is no need to make any cuts. These 2x4s are to be used on the front of your milking stand, so go ahead and orient the base however you need for efficient nailing.
Make sure to take the 2″ side of the 2×4 and place it against the base. These are going to be used as the foundation for your arms and help facilitate the actual feeding of your doe in milk. Be careful to line this up well with the 2x4s on your base and proceed to use 2-3 nails on each 2×4 to ensure a solid connection. If in doubt, you can refer to this image as a guide on placing them.
Adding Cross-Bars to Your Stand
You should still have three remaining 2x4s at this point. And, for this step, you’ll need two of them! This is because you’ll need to be placing some cross-bars on your stand to help bring it together. In case you end up having a slightly different width stand, make sure to measure and cut both of these 2x4s. In my case, they match the width of the stand at 22.5″.
Regardless, once these two beams are cut, you’ll want to place the first on the outside of the stand and the second on the inside. This part is important. The first 2×4 beam, which goes on the outside, should be 8 inches from the base of the stand. Specifically, measure 8 inches from the top of the base to the bottom of this 2×4. Go ahead and nail it in place.
Next, take the second 2×4 beam, which is going inside the milking stand. You’ll want to again measure from the top of the base to the bottom of this 2×4. Nail it in at 25.5″ height. And at this point, you’re nearing the final step, which is where you might deviate if appropriate.
Put the Head Locking Pieces in Place
For our Nigerian dwarf milking stand, we were fortunate enough to already have some leftover 1×4 pieces of wood lying around. And, if you can purchase some inexpensively or have some on hand, we’d recommend ditching the pallets and using those. But, if you do have to use pallets, you can use a couple left-over pallet boards at this point.
First things first, go ahead and measure the distance between the bottom cross-bar and the top cross-bar. You’ll want to cut the 1x4s or pallet boards so that they secure to the bottom cross-bar and, when closed, end up behind the top bar. And, when placing them in there, you’ll want to have the bottom of your boards on the inside of that bottom cross-bar while the top is behind your top cross-bar.
Again, this is an important distinction as it will help ensure an uncooperative doe doesn’t end up either hurting herself or damaging your stand (or both). Before nailing them in, however, you’ll want to use that reciprocating saw to cut about out of the inside. Essentially, you want to have a circle clearing for your goats rather than just putting 2 straight pieces of wood up against their necks.
If you do decide not to cut with the reciprocating saw, make sure you space your wood a bit further apart so you don’t end up putting undo pressure on the doe’s neck. Remember, this Nigerian dwarf milking stand is not meant to torture your awesome livestock. It’s meant to facilitate feeding while allowing you easy access to milk.
Finally, add whatever latch you have to the back of these locking bars so you can properly lock them closed when the goat is eating and you are milking.
There you have it folks! If you get fancy, you can even paint it like we did. Regardless, you should find this Nigerian dwarf milking stand made from pallets does the job nicely. Let us know if you any questions in the comments below. Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.