What is a goat milking stand, you might ask. Well, I believe it be a necessity for anyone wanting to milk their dairy goats. It is a simple platform for the goats to stand on and eat while you milk them. This also makes a great goat hoof trimming stand.
Some goat stands (including this one) have a head catch to help restrain the more wily goats. Another benefit to a goat milking stand is that the goat is elevated up off of the ground. This can make milking more sanitary and definitely much easier on your back.
(UPDATE- I wrote this post back in 2018 when we first got goats. This design is still great and functional. We have since moved to another state and have built another stand using this same design and it works great for our current goat herd.)
Key Takeaways:
• Build a functional goat milking stand in an afternoon.
• Learn the exact dimensions and assembly steps to create a stand that safely restrains your goat while keeping it at a comfortable working height.
• Get an estimated cost based on current material prices.
Let’s get started
Back when we got Gertie, our very first family milk cow, We built an elevated milk stanchion and it was great! Building a goat milking stand is similar but on a much smaller scale.
Obviously, goats are a wee bit smaller than cows. I’m happy to say that we were able to use scrap materials so our goat milking stand was completely free for us. The cost to build this one if you had to buy the materials would be around $50.00 (2023). Even having to buy materials the cost is minimal.
Once we knew when our goats would be coming home, we got right to work on getting the stand built. Building the stand was very quick and simple. Little did we know that we would go from just having our 2 does to milk to having 6 does for several months.
Our milk stand was broken in fast! We goat sat/borrowed some of our breeder’s does that were in milk for several months. She also loaned us her prized buck for breeding our girls.
Having a buck on hand for breeding was nice but I don’t think that I’d like to own one. Boy goats do some strange things….. Anyway, this is not about boy goats and their gross antics. On to the building of the milk stand!
Getting Started on Your Goat Milking Stand
We started out by deciding what size we wanted to make our stand by looking up some other goat milking stand dimensions online and settled on the size and style we thought would work best for our goat size and homestead.
When choosing the size of your stand, you will want to take into consideration the size of your goat breed. If you have a full size breed like us, we have Nubians, you’ll need to build the stand larger than if you have a miniature breed like Nigerian Dwarfs.
Like most homesteaders, we are very good at collecting scrap wood and things. We had just what we needed to get the milk stand built.
We used a circular saw to make all of the necessary cuts for each component of the stand. Remember, measure twice and cut once (hopefully).
Once we cut all of the required pieces, we began to assemble the goat milking stand.
The material list for the goat milking stand plans:
Frame and floor/deck:
4- 22″ tall 2×4’s for the legs. (The leg length can be customized. It really just depends of your sitting height and the height of your goats.)
8- 10″ (long point to long point) 2×4’s cut on 45° angles for the braces
2- 48″ 2×4’s for the long sides and 2- 24″ 2×4’s for the short sides
12- 27″ long 2×4 for platform.
(For the floor/deck of the stand, we used random width 2 by whatever width we had on hand boards cut to 27″.)
This is a total of 9- 8′ 2×4 all cut to the measurements listed above.
Head gate/catch:
2- 36″ 2×4’s for the stationary upright side boards
2- 24″ 2×4’s to frame the top of the head gate/catch
For the head lock, we used 2- 40″ 2×2’s slid between the top boards of the head gate frame. One was made stationary by fastening it at the top and the bottom.
The other is only fastened at the bottom so that it can be slid over to hold the head in. They are spaced 5″ apart at the bottom.
Tools Needed:
Circular saw
Screws or nails
Drill/Impact Driver or Hammer
Measuring tape
Pencil for marking measurements
Total cost estimate of materials (tools not included): Under $50.00
If you are like us, you keep a lot of scrap materials and won’t have to buy much but if you do, this is the closest estimate for today’s costs in the summer 2026.
Goat milking stand step by step instructions with pictures
We started with framing up the legs and platform sides. Nothing fancy here. As you can see, just quick and simple. 4 leg posts, then nail the short board ends to the poasts then nail the long sides on.
After that, we braced them with 2×4’s cut on 45 degree angles. This made the stand remarkably stronger.
We then placed and secured the floor/deck boards for the platform of the stand.
The last thing we built was the head lock and feed trough. We made one of the head lock boards moveable so that it could open and close. We were able to achieve this by securing it using only one nail at the bottom. This way the top could swing open for the goat to get her head through.
Once her head was in we would slide it back closed. To keep it in place we simply drilled a hole through the top of the head catch and would slide a bolt into the hole to secure it.
The feed trough was just built to fit the goat milking stand. We used scrap 1×6 boards to do so. You can also buy a plastic feed trough and attach it with screws.
The finished dimensions of the milking stand are:
Floor height- 23 1/2″
Length of platform- 48″
Width- 27″
I really enjoy the time spent with my goats as well as all of the fresh, yummy milk they provide for our family.
Technically, no you don’t but it makes the milking process a lot easier and much more sanitary.
This one would cost around $50.00 in 2023 materials pricing. We were able you use scraps so ours was free!
While you could build one without a head gate, I would not suggest it. Goats are much more cooperative when they can’t get away.
This depends on your skill level. The average person with the right tools should be able to complete this project in 2-3 hours.
Yes, this is handy for anything you need to do with a goat while keeping them contained. It is great for trimming goat hooves, working, giving copper boluses, etc…
Hi Derek and Jenna
just like to say a big thank you for the goat milking stand plans, I’ve just finished ours, and it works a treat, the new goat is very happy on it.
kind regards
Mark from the UK
How much grain do you use during the milking process?
Well, I was searching for info on goats because we will get our first doe and a billy around February 3rd! I don’t want to make costly mistakes.
Your site has provided a good start in my goat instructions!
Thanks!
This is great! Do you have any images of the headpiece/closure part of the building process?
Great plans, only thing I didn’t see in the materials list was the braces for the gate. Not hard to figure out though with a framing square. I mainly need a size idea to start but the materials list and pics were a definite plus. Thanks again
Just a note that there is a slight error in the measurements. Either the sides should be around 20″, or the floor board should be around 28″ so they fit together properly as in the photo. Otherwise as I discovered this afternoon when trying to follow the pictures and measurements as given your floor boards will fall through your floor as they are exactly the same size as the side boards so there is no base on which to screw them.
Do you have a list of hardware that you used? Also, what did you use to latch the top to hold the goats’ head?
thanks but I would like to see pictures of the head holder