Udderly EZ™ Milker

Joyce H from Maine

Long review...I hope it is allowed.

I recently purchased this unit to use with my Nigerian Dwarf goats. I called to ask about the best size for my smaller goats, speaking to their smaller body and teat size.

The accompanying DVD and instructions get low marks. The DVD is more about selling the unit, not instructional. The portion of the DVD that could have been the most instructional was awkward at best. The woman was using the Udderly EZ for every day milking, not just collecting colostrum. There was so much background noise (bird??) that she was hard to hear and whoever took the video did a poor job of showing the best views. Often, the woman in the video was blocking the view. But...no problem...I figured out how the unit went together and also how to use it. Farm folks are like that.

While this unit did in fact work, it did not milk out completely. I guessed that the issue was that I was new at it and needed to give it several days use and with several goats. Still...not so good. I always had to finish the job by hand. And because the unit does one teat at a time, the goats were on the stand a long time...not favorable. Buying two units was just cost prohibitive. These are expensive for a lot of plastic!! Just way over priced.

My second problem with the design is that the unit takes up a lot of room under a dwarf size goat. Add the bottle to the bottom and no room! I tried tilting the unit but going too far would make the seal give way. The only bottle that worked was the smallest 8 oz. bottle. But...even my smallest goats have about 32 oz. of milk (my best milker, double that, but she's a bit bigger and I won't factor her in). This meant that to use the best sized bottle, I had to keep taking the unit off to pour out what had been collected. So...great idea indeed, but the design is simply not suited for smaller goats. Maybe someone else would have better luck, but I say, if you have smaller goats, don't try this.

A portion of the Udderly-EZ promotional include that this is ideal for those milking many goats (but not so many to upgrade to a professional compressor model) and getting tired hands. I have a small goat dairy and thought it would be ideal. I don't believe the promotional to be true.

To make matters worse, when I went to return the unit (and the 2 quart bottles - NEVER EVEN USED), I was never told that they charge a $15 fee for each return and they don't pay return shipping. Was that in print somewhere? So I paid a high price for an item that did not work for my circumstance and then had to pay $30 fee ($15 for the unit and $15 for the 2 extra bottles) and about $10+/- shipping.

I have spent hundreds of dollars for farm equipment from Premier 1 company (mostly in fencing) and have been very pleased, so it saddens me to give such a low rating on this product and the accompanying service.

April S from Washington

This review is made after one use, so I can't speak to durability. However, I was shocked at how well this pump worked once I got it going. Most of my ewes tolerate hand milking quite well, but this particular ewe is difficult to milk, hates it, dances around, kicks, gets debris in the bottle that I'm using, etc. It takes forever to milk her by hand, and she hates me for a while when it's over. Once I got this pump working, the 8 ounce bottle filled in almost no time. I didn't time it, but it seemed like less than a minute. And the ewe didn't fuss at all. I'm really happy with this product so far.

There are a few things however. First, I couldn't get my computer to read the instructional DVD, and the written directions specifically said to watch it before using the pump. I looked for it on the Premier site, and it wasn't there. It should be there!! I had previously seen YouTube videos of people using it, so I just hoped everything would work well in my hands.

Second, the bottle connector between the bottle and the pump is flimsy. The written instructions warn that it could be easily broken, and I will be very careful with it, but it shouldn't be that fragile. Nothing used on a farm should be that fragile. But because it is flimsy, and it is sold separately for less than $10, I would recommend that everyone just buy an extra one when you order your kit. You may never need it, but if you break it the milker is sidelined until you get the replacement piece shipped to you.

Third, the teat wipes that came with the kit were dry, and essentially useless, even though the ziplock bag was well sealed. I have used nicin teat wipes before (nicin is a food grade disinfectant that is not harmful if a tiny bit gets into the milk), and they should be slightly moist. I didn't think to buy some when I bought this product. You can buy them separately (I don't see them at Premier, but you can get them at most livestock places as they're commonly used when milking dairy cows), or you can use a veggie wash to clean the udder before milking. That's not disinfecting, but it is cleansing and non-toxic.

Fourth, when I initially tried to use this unit, I couldn't get it to work. The udder was obviously distended with milk, I could easily strip milk out of the teat in a good stream, and the suction on the pump was excellent. The vacuum cylinder had a good enough seal to keep the unit attached to the teat if I let go of it. But despite pumping the unit 3-4 pumps, multiple times, to the point that I was concerned that I would possibly injure the udder with too much vacuum, I could not get any milk to flow from either side. I re-read the instructions and realized that I had not moistened the teat to "help secure (the) vacuum." It really didn't seem necessary, as the vacuum was adequate to keep the unit attached without falling off, but that was the only thing in the written instructions that I hadn't done. So I dipped a finger in a clean bottle of water, ran my moist finger around the area above the teat where the vacuum seals, and the pump started working immediately. Apparently that detail is important, even if the vacuum seems adequate without the moisture.

I'm hoping to collect and freeze milk and colostrum from each of my ewes, just in case a lamb has problems in the future. I hate using milk or colostrum replacer.

James C from Maryland

So far so good. The pump works well on hard to handle ewes. I got more milk/colostrum than I ever got by milking by hand. The device is all plastic but seems to be holding up well for me. I like the ease of handling the pump and assembly. One of my ewe's teats was too large to fit in the plastic sleeve provided with the pump; but it seems to do okay without it (no leaking into the pump). I agree with a prior review -- the price of the pump is about the value of 1 saved lamb; so, it's a good investment. I wish some of the parts were metal for durability, instead of plastic. But overall this is a great product.

Lisa from Missouri

I LOVE my EZ Milker, so ordered a replacement bottle for it. I don't recommend using the bottles as feeding bottles, only for collection. They don't hold up to being frozen or warmed up.

Lerace L from Virginia

Wonderful till the dog ate the tube part that tasted like milk. My fault for setting it on the counter rather than in the sink.
I now have the new part but lambing for me is over this year. I will be buying another and parts next year.