Homemade Stanchion

Stanchions are upright posts that you can use to keep animals in place. Some are simply bars to tie a rope around, while others are more elaborate and used for milking. Making your own stanchion for your animals is easy and cheap.

  1. Quick Pole Stanchion

    • This pole stanchion is quick, easy to make and sturdy. It̵7;s also very inexpensive. Find a gallon-sized plastic tub with a flat lid, like the kind used to store butter. Also find a normal-sized, empty soup can. Place the soup can in the center of the tub, open end down. Carefully secure it in place with tape. Fill your tub with quick-mix concrete and let it harden. The soup can gives the concrete breathing room so it can expand in the heat and condense in the cold, and also give you a place to place your pole.

      Put the lid on your tub and turn it over. Cut a circle in the center of your tub where your can is located. Place 2-inch PVC pipe in the can to serve as the post. Pour some concrete along the side of your PVC pipe to hold it in place. Let it dry and drill a hole through the top of your pipe for your rope. This stanchion can be easily moved (with a little heavy lifting), and you can make several of them.

    Wood Milking Stanchion

    • You will need a skill saw, jigsaw and an electric drill. Screw some boards together to make a floor for your stanchion. This will be where your cow or goat stands as you milk it. The size will vary depending on the size of your animal. It should be big enough for the animal to stand comfortably on top.

      Take a board as wide as the floor and cut a hole big enough to comfortably fit your animal's head. It should be taller and slightly wider than the head to allow the animal to get in and out easily. Underneath the hole, cut a slot for the animal̵7;s neck to sit comfortably. Make several different boards like this, but vary the height of the hole to accommodate animals of different heights.

      On one side of your floor board, screw two small pieces of wood widthwise and parallel to each other. The distance between the pieces of wood should be wide enough to fit your headboard. Screw this board vertically to your floor board. Make a small wooden box to set in front of the headboard to feed your animal. This will keep it occupied while you milk.