Using only a foot-powered brake drum bleeder and a 1/2-gal. glass jar, Jim Criger, Springfield, Mo., put together a milking machine that he uses to milk goats.

To make a jar system that would hold the milk and attach to the pump, he drilled 3 holes in the jar's metal lid to accommodate 3 thread-on hose barbs. Rubber seals on the top and bottom of the lid form an airtight seal around the hose barbs. A 2-ft. length of thin plastic tubing leads from 2 of the hose barbs to a pair of 35 ml plastic syringes that serve as teat cups. Another length of tubing leads from the third hose barb to the brake bleeder. 

Pushing up and down on the brake bleeder pedal creates a vacuum that holds the teat cups on and pulls the milk into the jar. Once the goat has been milked, the jar's lid is removed and the milk poured into a stainless steel pail. 

Criger says his homemade milker can milk 4 goats in half an hour.