Cow Milking Machine 12L, Plug-in Powered, Speed Adjustable Pulsating Vacuum Pump, Food Grade 304 Stainless Steel Milk Bucket, Auto-Stop Check Valve, Electric Cow Milker (Classic Model)

Do not buy this if you're expecting a $1000-$5000 at-home goat milking machine. This machine is very useful for an on-farm milk-out job for sure. The varying suction power is great for Nigerian Dwarfs and even large Boer goats that need to be milked out. Some of the reviews I read before buying this, seem like human error, not machine capability or quality. First off let me just say from a background of working in a professional multi-million dollar dairy parlor setup, this isn't a machine I'd recommend if you plan to drink the milk. Many flaws in the design and the materials used to prevent foreign bacteria from getting into the milk. But to each their own. The hoses aren't made for a high powdered wash and line blowout. As far as putting a high-concentrated formula of acid wash and descale milk stone through the little rubber hoses, sadly they just aren't made for that. The suction teat cups are also flawed for human consumption with the cheap rubber at the seal tops and the plastic design. Way too easy for bacteria to grow and attach themselves. Also, the container pale isn't designed for extreme temps/pressure and the pump will never give you enough suction to get a true clean, compared to a dairy parlor system. If you buy this to use for human consumption, please be careful and clean as well as you can.Now for what I see as human error in the reviews. The teat cups are one size apparently, and no, they will not just attach with the amount of suction the pump provides. So just a useful tip. Grab both teat cups, one in each hand, and put them both at the same time on the teats with full suction. Slowly wiggle them back and forth while pushing the teat further into the teat cups. If a doe is very full, has odd-shaped teats, or is a bit small, you will need to easily push her teat and surrounding skin down into the cup. If the teat cup can't get a sealed suction on both teats, then yes, the teat cup will continue to fall off repeatedly. You half to work the teats into the suction until the suction of the teat cups is fully sealed, in which case the milk will start to flow. You'll know you got a good suction when the inside liner begins to inflate and deflate.As far as the pump blowing up or going out prematurely, once it's been proven to work, I think I've seen the flaw that is causing the issue. The hose providing the suction from the pump to the milk container, which is how it gets its vacuum, is seriously flawed. As you milk and condensation and pressure build up in the container, the inside check valve is open. As the milk container fills, the tube slowly fills with condensation, which slowly turns into water droplets. This water then starts to travel back to the pump following gravity. The vacuum pump isn't designed to take any water or condensation. So a tip for that is to keep the milk container down very low and always keep your pump at least 18" above the milk bucket. Also, don't allow the milk container to fill so much that it plugs up the check valve. I have noticed it causes the pump to work harder, and again, this machine isn't made to work hard.Another pump flaw I have seen is the very cheap way it's put together. If the pump is plugged into a poor outlet or a circuit too heavy for the load, it will cause issues and premature failure. Also if you take the pump apart the electronic components are assembled with what looks to be a very cheap manmade glue, rather than an electronic glue made from gelatin (animal-based). I suspect if you drop and bang up your pump, a wire will be knocked loose. So if you're outside your return window, just take the pump apart and you may just have a loose wire that fell away from the glue. They sell electronic glue in most places even Amazon, so you should be able to fix it yourself.Another pump flaw to be aware of is the front exhaust heat breather. Make sure while you're elavating you're pump above the milk bucket, that you're also not obstructing the front breather tube. If you block this exhaust breather it WILL blow the pump real quick. So say it with me goat friends, "elevate pump and keep unobstructed on all 4 sides."Now for another suction issue people seem to be having. Doesn't seem as if the teat cups aren't being fully sealed to the udder skin, but rather they're not assembling the pale bucket inner seal correctly. Like I said this system isn't a million-dollar dairy parlor. This little milk machine runs off a tiny pump, and if there is a leak of suction anywhere it will NOT work. On the inside of the pale lid, there is a white rubber ring seal about 3/4" wide. This seal is designed to be 100% flush against the inside top lip of the pale lid. Don't just shove the seal in thinking, "Oh that looks good!" LOL... No, it doesn't work like that. I have found it works best when the rubber and lid are completely dry. Slowing take the inner rubber seal and press it flat widthwise to fit flat across the top. Yes, it may continue to roll over itself, but you must work the seal flat against the top until it is securely holding itself in place. You should have no issues when snapping the pale clasps on the sides if the seal is correct. You should feel the lid suction down as you clasp it. If it feels like you have a piece of rubber or gum making it a bit difficult to clasp down and you have to put muscle into it, then take the lid back off, because your lid seal is most likely rolled out of place and is crooked. Again, it won't work if you do it wrong. Any suction leaks, no milking.Hope these tips can help someone. In all honesty, you get what you pay for. I only bought this because after 13 years of trucking and farming, my hands, arms, and back kill me most days. And as far as my carpal tunnel, 6 minutes into hand milking one of my goats and my hands are numb with pin pricks all through them. Takes me forever to hand milk one doe, and honestly, it's not fair for the poor goats to half to stand that long, because I have to keep shaking my hands and arms to get the blood flowing to relieve the numbness. Personally, I don't drink the milk I get from the machine, I use it for animal use. Dogs, chickens, baby goats, soaps, etc. If you're getting into milking goats for human consumption, I'd recommend getting a small cart professional machine. A machine that can handle heavy acid wash, descale for milk stones, and hot water. Also, a machine with safe surfaces that can be fully sanitized.All and all I give this machine FIVE stars. It does what it says, and it works for tiny and giant goats. It milks out my goats quickly and they don't mind it. Plus it saves my overworked self. On average with a Nigerian that gives decently close to a half gallon milk, it takes about 7 minutes. I usually massage the udder as the machine is going and my goats get their feed, so they normally don't mind letting down the milk. But BEWARE, again this is not a professional dairy parlor-style machine. There are no milk censors to tell the machine to stop or to stop one side and allow the other side to continue like a dairy parlor machine would. If you don't sit and watch the milk flow closely, the suction teat cups will continue to sneak up the teats. If the doe doesn't kick the teat cups off and possibly crack the plastic because it's hurting her and you weren't watching. Then the suction teat cups will continue to sneak further and further up the goat's teat and could damage her mammary glands, cause injury such as adema, or even worse strip her udder out and cause blood. If the machine pump is working correctly at full open capacity, it can strip an udder completely out and cause trauma. So just be mindful and just as you would with hand milking, know when enough is enough. If you need to strip out one side more than the other due to lopsided udder, then leave the teat cups both on to prevent suction loss, and just snap closed the side that is milked out. Just push the suction valve closed with your fingers, and it will cut off suction to that individual teat and allow the other side to go until it's evened up. When both sides are done, just reach over and turn the pump off. Make sure to close both suction valves below the teat milk cups. By doing this you keep the milk in the line in a vacuum and it will allow you to remove the teat cups without causing teat/udder trauma, compared to if you were to leave the vacuum open and yank the teat cups off. All the suction that the teat cups have made against the teats/udder will be forced to continue to pull until it gets air in the line. But again to each their own. No sense in causing trauma or injury when all you have to do is pinch the suction closed with your fingers before removal. It's simple and takes less than a second.Best of luck and have fun with your new milk machine goat peeps!!!

Straight out of the box, only one of the claws was able to maintain suction. Couldn't find any reason for it, tubing was all placed correctly, no obvious air leaks. The other claw worked just fine so I know it was not the vacuum itself. When cleaning the machine prior to use as instructions indicated, I also noticed that upon releasing air pressure, the bottom of the milk pail leaked. The pail looks to me like it is plated, I'm honestly not even sure it's solid stainless steel. Very very disappointed, didn't even attempt trying to use on my goats, just put it right back in the box to return. This was after waiting two weeks for delivery because Amazon was super slow to ship it in the first place, and then the Amazon delivery person couldn't find my house (despite USPS, UPS and Fedex never having that problem), and then when I added clear instructions to make finding my house even easier, the Amazon shipper marked the package as "minorly damaged" and returned it instead of attempting a new delivery. After all that, to have a defective machine is just icing on the cake.

I have spent hours reading reviews on which machine to purchase and everyone had good and bad. This machine is good quality and is running really well. We are milking two cows twice a day roughly 8 gallons a day... it's going well. I'm really enjoying this machine, I'm keeping my fingers crossed it continues.

I bought this pump at the end of April and it arrived in about 2 weeks even though it was predicted to arrive in June or July. I bought the system with both the cow and goat cups with the 7L bucket. I have been using this system for over a week now, I love it! It milks out my goats better than my old pump did. I love that it has the hose clamps so I can turn off one side when it empties before the other side. We recently started to use it on our milk cow too and really love that it is light weight and easy to use, the overflow prevention valve is very nice since she produces so much more than my goats. We have even ordered the larger bucket because of this, which they kindly put back on Amazon so I could order it.The cons; the hose leading from the Y junction to the bucket needs to be larger around to accommodate the high flow rate I get from my girls which is why it takes longer to milk than my old system. I wish the cow cups was a 4 teat system instead of 2 as it would make milking the cow a little faster but this isn't a horrible thing. The pump is stronger than expected and I can't leave it running without bruising my animal so I have to monitor the pump and can't go do other chores while it's milking.Overall I will recommend this to others, it is a good pump for it's cost. Even with the cons of this milker it is perfect for the small family farm and the company was quick to answer my questions when they arose.

The machine worked well the first few days. After about a week the gasket fails to seal correctly. It is not a good design. The gasket is impossible to seat properly even with two people. It constantly smushes out in one side and will not stay in correct place to create suction. I am having to constantly having to reopen and attempt to reclamation the lid to create a seal. It is extremely frustrating especially for an item that’s almost $200. If they had a replacement gasket or o ring that would be amazing.