Author Topic: Which way should I face the shelters (Read 4304 times)

Declan · « **on:** July 05, 2011, 07:13:44 pm »

Just a quick one- I am planning my new shelters for the coming winter for my goats. With the prevailing wind coming in from the south west- which way should I face the shelter- bearing in mind the doors will be left open during the day when Im not about.

West/south facing- gets the sun but the bad weather will blow in would it not?
North facing- no drying /too cold/no sun?
East facing- gets morning sun but thats it/more sheltered.

Any advice please- or am I being too fussy?

Declan

HappyHippy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 05, 2011, 07:27:19 pm »

Goats might be slightly different to pigs (and if you have hedges and trees to act as shelter/wind breaks it's maybe not such a huge deal) but I'd always go for south facing

HTH
Karen

faith0504 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 05, 2011, 08:28:03 pm »

i have no goats, but if it helps my horses stable/field shelter is south facing

jaykay · « **Reply #3 on:** July 05, 2011, 10:18:12 pm »

Face it south but put a fence/wall 2-3 feet in front, the height of the doors, it will keep the worst of the weather from blowing in. Sort of like the idea on some old public loos

Rosemary · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2011, 08:36:37 am »

Ours faces east, so has its back to the prevailing wind. We've just built a board fence in front of ours as jaykay suggests but made it into a holding area. It's proved very useful. There's a picture of it in the March 2011 diary entries on the main site, without the boards but you get the idea.

We can shut stock in the shelter plus the outside bit or we can wing both gates inwards and enclose them in the shelter only.

tobytoby · « **Reply #5 on:** July 06, 2011, 10:10:37 am »

Jay Kay - Don't mentuion public loos or George Michael might pay a visit, and it won't be to see which way the wind is blowing??

princesspiggy · « **Reply #6 on:** July 06, 2011, 09:38:34 pm »

we get a real bad south wind here cos of the hill we are on, so i know what u mean. i think about the effect of the wind on the doors aswell as u dont want them ripped off.

ballingall · « **Reply #7 on:** July 06, 2011, 10:17:53 pm »

Have to say I agree- the doors should be out of the prevailing wind. Our small door on the goat shed always gets blown shut if it is windy. And not only is that wear and tear on the door, but its bloody annoying when you are trying to go back in carrying something and the door has blown shut for the third time!

Beth

Anke · « **Reply #8 on:** July 06, 2011, 10:26:44 pm »

Our doors face NE, also the (double glazed) windows as rain/wind usually comes from SW, but we have found that snow (and especially if it is drifting) comes from the NE - meaning we had to make sure there is a shovel outside the shed in winter so we can open up in the morning...

I think whichever way you face it, there will (soon) be a day when you think now why did I not put it the other way round...

However windows to the south may make it quite hot in summer, mine was still quite cool recently when it got fairly warm up here.