I need goat home pictures!

[PotterWatch]

Anyone want to share pictures of their goat space? We are trying to figure out how best to build a structure for our two goats who will be arriving all to soon for my planning abilities. The space we have available for the actual structure is about 5x30. We are hoping to build something to fit across one end of the space, so maybe 5x8? They will be shut up in the 5x30 space at night, but will have the rest of our property to roam during the day. It will need to accomodate two mini-manchas the majority of the time, but of course we will have some kids for a few months at a time until they find new homes or are sent to the butcher. Thanks for any help!

 

[sdshoars]

i will take pictures of my goat house tonight.

 

[Chirpy]

Right now my ND's (Nigerian Dwarfs) are in my chicken run (about 633 sq. feet of space). I'm building a much, much larger space for them to share with my Alpines. My Alpines are in an inside/outside barn stall/run right now. Eventually they will have a 10x8 enclosed shed with a goat door that is half the size of a people door (height wise).

Here is my ND space with the 'toy's that we have for them. They sleep in one of the igloo dog houses and stay very warm and cozy in there.

My ND's also 'free range' with the chickens every day.

Congrats on your new goats!

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I used a Calf Hutch. It's total cost with the hay feeder was $320 and it is 5.5 ft X 7.5 ft and has built in feeders and vents in the roof and back end. http://www.polydome.com/square_calf_nursery.html It weighs about 130 lbs, so it can be moved if needed. I built them a yard within our one pasture that is all their own. They now have the run of the 1 acre pasture which their pen and the barn are in. They run with my horses, ducks, geese, guineas and chickens. I had some friends bring a rock for them to play on. To see them, you can go to.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=4065-Goats

 

[I*Eat*Chickens*Yum]

Quote:
Wow, that run you have for them is wayyyyy cool. Can you tell me what kind of winters you have where you are ? I live in Maine and the winters can be quite brutal. We can easily get a few days of below zero weather at a time in the middle of winter. Last winter we got dumped on with several feet of snow over the course of the winter. At one time I had snow piles in my yard over 15 feet high.

So I was wondering what I would need to house them if I get ND's. I love them so much and have always wanted to have some.

Thanks !

 

[Chirpy]

I*Eat*Chickens*Yum asked:

Can you tell me what kind of winters you have where you are ?

We have several weeks of below zero weather with the wind chill possibly in the negative 20's during that time. We can (every couple of years) have snow with drifts up to 8 feet.

I have been told by several ND breeders that the little dogloos are fine for two ND's through our winters as long as there is good, dry bedding in there. I got my 2 girls last spring so I haven't been through a winter with them yet. However, I'm on the plains and we get some tremendously frigid winds here with the deep snow drifts so I'm not trusting the dogloo to keep them warm enough thus we are building a 10x8 shed that will house them and our Alpines. It will have a full size people door but cut in half so that I can keep the bottom half open with the top half closed to minimize wind. I will also be able to totally close it up if I really need to for some reason.

If I only had the dogloo for them I'd find some heavy duty plastic or tarp to attach over their door so that it made an entrance they would have to go through, that would help keep some of the wind/snow out. And, I'd put straw bales around the whole thing to help insulate it.​

 

[PotterWatch]

I was looking at a calf hutch when we made a trip to the feed store recently. If I got that, I would still need a separate kidding area though right? Will the kids need to be kept apart from the other doe after they are born and if so, how long before they can all hang out together?

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

PotterWatch - I don't breed mine. However, the lady that I got my current goats from did not keep the moms and babies seperate from the other goats.

She had a stall that they could put a mom in if she where having trouble. You would need to consider that. If I did have a kids and a mom needed help, I would temporarily house here in one of my horse stalls.