What to build or do?

Shayanna · #1 08/10/12, 08:32 AM

We have pretty strange set up on our little farm. We have about an acre fenced in, and then we have a row of sheds a little bit of distance from this fenced in acre. Our six goats currently spend the nights in a large shed that we have that makes a pretty good barn. So we haul them all out in the morning to the pasture, and we haul them in at night. The shed is too old to be moved out into the pasture, but I was wondering if we could build something simple out in the pasture? What do goats require out of shelter? Do they need a little lean-to? Does it have to be a barn?

Alice In TX/MO · #2 08/10/12, 08:48 AM

Three sided little sheds are fine. Face the open side south.

I found a pic of the frame of the 4 x 4 x 8 shed. To the right, you can see a 4 x 4 x 4 shed that's been enclosed.

What to build or do? - Goats

Backfourty,MI. · #3 08/10/12, 10:12 AM

Make sure it's big enough for all 6 goats to lay down & stretch out if you plan on leaving them out their all night like I'm going by your other thread that you do.

Also make sure it's big enough if the wind blows from a different direction that it's deep enough or has half of the front covered to keep them out of the rain &/or snow depending on where your located.

farmerstac · #4 08/10/12, 10:17 AM

Alice I like your cat, especially fond of calicos. This picture reminds me of mine always has to be the center of attention regardless of what I'm doing.

Awnry Abe · #5 08/10/12, 10:36 AM

LOL. Yep. The cat does not look approving of either of these:

A) You are building that for the cat.
B) You are spending those resources on something other than the cat.

andabigmac · #6 08/10/12, 10:42 AM

You can also put a hoop house up. They work well too unless you have a dirty, rotten saanen whose hobby is destroying tarps. Otherwise they're great.

Flying H Ranch - Large Black Hogs, Pastured Pork, Artisan Pork, Heritage Pork, Rowe NM USA: Hog Hooch (Cattle Panel Hoop House)

You don't have to do the plywood ends. You can use tarps on the ends. The wood on the bottom stabilizes it but you can also wire it to T-posts.

Goat-Link.com - Quick Tarp Shelter

There are pictures on the second page.

andabigmac · #7 08/10/12, 10:46 AM

We put the tarps down to the ground in winter. And we usually double tarp it because the wind blows so hard here.

Alice In TX/MO · #8 08/10/12, 11:25 AM

Miss Kitty walking the top of the goat pen fence.
What to build or do? - Goats

Shayanna · #9 08/10/12, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andabigmac

You can also put a hoop house up. They work well too unless you have a dirty, rotten saanen whose hobby is destroying tarps. Otherwise they're great.

Thats funny, now that you mention it, our only goat that does eat/destroy anything it shouldn't is the saanen mix.
Thanks for all the great ideas guys!

Shayanna · #10 08/10/12, 11:54 AM

I like the idea of the hoop/tarp contraptions, but I live in michigan and have a few does that may be kidding in november/december.... Should those does continue to use the shed? or would a fully enclosed tarp thing do the trick?

CaliannG · #11 08/10/12, 01:59 PM

In Michigan, at the beginning of winter, you will want enclosed, safe, WARM areas for the does that are nearing kidding. Believe me that you do NOT want to go out in the morning, come home after work or a trip to town, to chilled, dead kids. Your first frost dates, even in the south of the state, is in October.

Do you have due-dates for your does? If so, you might want to consider housing them, at night or when you are not there, a week before they are due in a shed that has deep bedding and can be made free of drafts.

Your adult goats will be fine in a hoop house, or anywhere they can get away from snow or cold rain. Newborn kids, however, are susceptible to cold.

Shayanna · #12 08/10/12, 02:14 PM

Thanks Caliann. Now, I'm still pretty new to all of this. It seemed like they all went into heat when we first got them with our buck, and he had his special time with all of them, but how do we know for sure they are pregnant? Do we just keep waiting to see if they go in to heat again?

Alice In TX/MO · #13 08/10/12, 02:51 PM

After 30 days you can draw blood and send it in for pregnancy testing:

Goats Intro | BioTracking.com

CaliannG · #14 08/10/12, 02:53 PM

You can draw blood and get a pregnancy test at Home | BioTracking.com .

Cost is $6.50 per goat tested, plus the cost of shipping the blood samples to them. (You don't need to use ice-packs or next day shipping, but I try to make sure my package will arrive on a Monday, as they do the tests on Tuesday.) Packing instructions for shipping is on the site.

CaliannG · #15 08/10/12, 02:54 PM

GMTA, Alice.

We were posting at nearly the same time.

Emily L · #16 08/10/12, 06:10 PM

At my place in the goats fenced in area is a 4 stalls run in type of thing made out of pallets. So inexpensive to make. I made sure all the pallets i got had the boards all togther and i had 2 walls and a back out of pallets and a sheet of plywood on the top (you can even put a pallet on the top and cover it with a tarp) then they also have a barn that i bring them in at night. There quite spoiled. If you need a picture i can take a picture for you tommrow!

mekasmom · #17 08/10/12, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Miss Kitty walking the top of the goat pen fence.

She is so beautiful.

sam03 · #18 08/15/12, 02:44 PM

Find some free pallets and screw them together!

FrogTacos · #19 08/15/12, 08:16 PM

In winter, if you take some 55 gallon drums, cut a door in one end, a small circle in the other to put a heat lamp through - that barrel will stay nice and toasty, them babies find it fast and love it. Barrel stands on one end, I use a bungee or ratchet strap to secure it up so mommies cant tip them over. Ive had multiple barrels out, and see 5 babies try to cram into one of them. Silly critters.

I can take a picture of one of mine if you like.

The Tin Mom · #20 08/15/12, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam03

Find some free pallets and screw them together!

My Dh goes to a place that builds custom trailers (animal transport, etc) and customizes RVs. They have very long pallets that they are glad to let him have for free, just to get them gone. Yesterday, Dh found some really cool rubber mat scraps that they are trashing. These are used for the floors of the trailers and, again, they are glad to have the scraps gone. We were excited to find these, since they are non-skid and we can use them in the milking room.

Dh built a wonderful buck hut from pallets and sheet metal scraps. He plans to build our does a nice rotation shelter from the most recent acquisition of pallets. This one will be very large- but the pallets are already long and wide, so the hardest part will be setting the posts for it and holding the pallets up for him.

With our buck hut, he left the inside walls open and we have found that they fill with wasted hay. This really makes the hut nicely insulated.

HTH