I learned to milk this way on a goat walk through a Fort Collins neighborhood. Someone walking with us had done study work in Africa, and showed me how to stand behind the goat, facing her tail, and reach beneath her hind legs to milk.
I was mobile then, without a stanchion. The arrangement let me keep the bucket out of kicking range and stay close enough to work without turning milking into a wrestling match. It suited me beautifully.
I use a stanchion now too; it makes a more settled place for a goat to stand. But I still return to this method. The arrangements vary. The questions are intimate and practical: where does a person stand, how do you keep a goat steady, and how does a milker help her feel calm enough to let down her milk?
The answer is attention, routine, and the relationship you build one small task at a time.
Photo: Rachael Chapman.