Growing Organic : Housing for Goats

Housing for goats

Unlike some livestock, goats will seek shelter from rain and snow. It's important to provide good shelter from both precipitation, cold, and sun. Newborn kids need protection from cold and wind. Also if you are planning on milking you will want a barn or shelter for your milking equipment. So what makes a good goat barn?

That depends on the size of your operation. This post focuses on a small herd for a family homestead. I am fortunate to have a husband who is a builder so we designed our barn. Hopefully this gives you inspiration and plenty to think about when considering how to house your goats.

Our Barn!

Good fencing and gates are essential with goats.

Size is the first consideration. Plan on a barn to hold the maximum number of animals you want with 16 square feet per animal. Remember you may only start with two goats but your goats will have goats! It is always tempting to add to the herd size so plan on a big enough shelter for all your dreams or a shelter that can be added on to. I house bucks and does separately. I have a barn for does and kids and outside shelters for bucks.

What to include in the doe barn?

- I wanted a nice milking room with a sink and hot water and storage for vet supplies and supplements. I also use my milking room for starting seeds. It has a small heater to keep pipes from freezing and fans for the summer. My wonderful husband designed the floor with drains along one wall so you can hose it out.

The sink and cupboards came from an old kitchen. We found them at an antique store.

The floor of the milking room is cement with an epoxy finish. Milking stand in the back.

Easy access from pen to milking room is important. Once established goats learn the order they are milked and love getting on the stand for their grain ration. The milking room is used to give vaccines, supplements, and trim hooves.

With a sink and hot water clean up after milking is a easy. The kids love to run in and out of the milking room while I clean up.

- A clean dry place to store hay and grain is essential. I store grains in bins inside the milking room so I have easy access when milking and also if a pen doesn't get closed the goats can't bing and bloat on grain. Critter proof bins are important for grain. I use rubbermaid totes. The barn has a large front and rear sliding door that you can drive a truck through to unload easily hay. We don't have pasture so we feed alfalfa hay.

Love my Yanmar tractor! A Valentines gift!

- A kidding pen is essential. My kidding pen is one of the stalls with no access to the outside. I keep mom and kids in this pen for about two weeks. I want the kids strong enough so that they will not get injured by other goats or harmed by predators. I can also add heat lamps to this area for early spring kidding.

- The stall next to the kidding pen has does and older kids. They have access to the outside with a shade extending from the stall door. Outside they have room to play, shade from trees, and sunshine to soak up. Does that are not kidding that season are in the next stall. I find that putting young kids in with your "herd" can sometimes result in injury. So we have a 3 stall barn including a kidding pen and two stalls for my herd.

- Many goat keepers separate kids immediately from the moms and bottle feed them. This prevents CAE from passing from mom to baby through the milk. Bottle feeding makes for very friendly goats. This works great if you are dedicated to milking twice a day- morning and night. You must also have help milking when you leave town.

I only milk once a day. I lock babies in the kidding pen with the moms in the adjacent pen at night. I milk in the morning and leave the babies with mom during the day. This way I am not so tied down. I also don't like other people milking my does. If you choose to do this be sure you have a clean and closed herd.

The buck pens with a nice shelter.

The Buck Barn

Bucks are stinky and obnoxious. My buck pens are outside behind the barn. They are close enough to make watering, feeding, and caring for the bucks easy but far enough away to keep the doe barn pleasant. They have a nice shelter and strong fencing.

Fencing

Fencing and goats need to be well thought out. You want to keep goats in and predators out (if you have those in your area) Predators can be neighbor's dogs, coyotes, mountain lions etc. Inside the barn we use moveable panels with small cattle panels attached. What will keep an adult goat in may not keep a newborn in so keep that in mind. Outside I use chain link panels I think they are 6 feet tall. Goats need sturdy fencing. They like to rub on fencing. Apparently it feels sooo good! Bucks will ram their fencing especially if you have more than one buck and it's breeding season.

There are many options for fencing. Do your research and visit farm stores and talk with locals in your area to determine what will work best for you.

Very pregnant doe!

Loving the heat lamp!

Bedding

Inside the stalls or barn, we have dirt floors. In the stalls, I use straw or pine shavings as bedding. Our panels are removable so we can easily clean the barn out with the tractor. Before putting down fresh bedding, I sprinkle a little lime on the floor. Then put the bedding on top.

Outside the stalls of the barn in the breezeway, I put shedded bark to keep the dust down.

A shade extends over the stalls. In the summer I usually keep the goats out of the barn. They have shade and shelter from the rain and enjoy the cool breezes. I also move water buckets outside the barn during the summer. In the winter, we use heated buckets inside.