Goat barn and pen info

Hello I am looking at getting two goats. For my two daughters to take care of. Looking for some ideas on a goat shed or small barn and some fencing options. Have some ideas looking for some more. Pictures would be nice. Thank you for any info

I use what is commonly called hog wire fence for my goats. As for a house I built a small shed with a wood floor and a couple stalls in side. We do also close the goat in at night so as to keep them safe from thing like coyotes

Knowing what kind of goats would help- Cameroon dwarfs/pygmy can usually be kept in by a 6 foot fence while Boer goats need 8 foot- and "Usually" doesn"t mean "always" kept in. A large dog house sized 4x6 foot, 4 foot high, slant roof with most of east side open will handle couple knee high dwarfs, 6 foot high x8 needed for waist high Saanen and chest high Boers. Dwarfs can give some milk and fit in large barbecues - depends what you want them for after girls name them. The dairy goats breeds give more milk and wethers make cabrito tacos and the getting popular Boers are more meat type,roasts and chops at end of season life. How big are your daughters? A 125 pound Boer is about a match for 150 pound guy and if mad will knock down and stomp 90 pound female- who can usually handle a 50 pound dwarf. A 90 pound Nubian milk goat will need a 40x40 foot pen and 1/4 bale of hay plus a armfull of weeds from garden patch and be happy- give a quart/gallon of milk morning and night, be halter broke and tethered to fence post in ditch to act as ditch weedeater every other day, come when called after first couple weeks when you shake halter chain. A pair of goats is good idea- they can keep each other company and won"t get as flighty- pairs of any herd critter means less imprint/confusion with humans. A couple acres brushy hill slope pasture will be good for them- goats are browsers more than grazers although the milking breeds have been bred to use more grass in diet. Your location will determine how well insulated, weather proof you need to make shelter- Wisconsin a open barn door with a wind break all winter and dozen sheep , 2 horses for company meant everybody warm enough even in snow storm. A large dog house with a mongrel for company meant neighboring single 4H goat survived winter- but he did climb snow bank over fence to visit other herd a lot. Check local herds, determine if you want a milker or a 1 year meat project, have daughters wrestle a full grown version to ground of what"s available to determine what they can handle. You could also check Fawteen for Shetland sheep or Jacobs sheep info. RN

Fence does not need to be 6 or 8 ft. I raise saanen and Nubian dairy goats any good red brand field fence will work fine. If you have a problem with them being hard on the fence a strand of hot wire around the middle will solve it. Full sized dairy goat can way up to 200lbs. They need a minimum of 15 square feet per goat in a barn stall. Any loafing shed or quanson hut will work for shelter. Also they need a broad leaf hay like alfalfa or clover. They don't need grain unless you are milking them or they have kids nursing. I have kept 5 goats in a pen 50 x 100ft. They recommend 10-12 goats per acre of pasture. A Nubian can give a gallon of milk a day if she is from good stock. I have saanen's that give a gallon and a half a day. Nigerian dwarf and pygmy goats are harder on fences than full size breeds. We are opening a goat dairy in the near future so if you have any questions email me at
[email protected]

Oh a good reliable place to look for goat info is
Dairygoatinfo.com

And we shoot for our kids to be 90lbs by oct so they can bred and added to our milking herd. They grow quick on milk and will start to nibble on hay and grain at 3-4 weeks of age.

Fencing is very important with goats.

If you try to skimp and go with inexpensive weldwire stuff from home depot, you'll be real happy with it for about 6 months.

But the goats will rub against it - and rub and rub - a little every day - a little weld pops here, then there - next thing you know you're going to be wranlging goats every other day pulling your hair out trying to figure out how they're escaping.

Height of the fence depends on the breed.

Goats like to stay dry. They really hate mud. And they love to climb, especially the younger ones. Keep that in mind when deciding where the pen goes.

Before you go putting a solid fence up - now would be a good time to bring in some big climbing rocks if it's possible.

They'll need some shade and lots of clean water, especially in the summer.

Remember too that if you put them in an area with trees, there's a good chance many of those trees will die from the goats girdling them.

For housing, your biggest concern there quite honestly is to make it easy to clean out. They're relatively clean animals, but you'll want to clear out bedding once the ammonia builds up (preferably before that). If it's easy to shovel/rake out, it's more likely to get done more often.

They'll stay warm all on their own (at least here in new england) Much more important that they have good ventilation than lots of warmth. Just keep the wind out, and keep it DRY.

Two goats don't really need any more space than what you'd give a dog of the same size (each) they shouldn't need separate stalls.

Making it tall enough to walk into is a big plus.

We have a light in ours, helps a lot when putting them in at night (coyotes will kill a goat)

With two it probably isn't needed, but if you plan on getting any more - an "airlock" style double gate entrance to the pen is a big plus, especially with children going in and out.

While you're building - consider making a covered hay feeder too. Just a hay rack with a roof. They nibble on hay over the course of a day. And they're not big fans of eating hay off the ground. A roofed in hay rack with a platform for fallen hay keeps them and the hay dry and keeps the hay available to minimize waste on the ground. Could make it part of the shed, but do it outside - you want them coming out into the fresh air and not messing up the shed all day long.

Here are some pictures of my goat sheds that I took this morning. Hopefully they may be of some help to you.
Goat Shed Pics