[Sharondp]

Hi Guys.

We are going to have a 2 acre paddock, with a gentle slope, that we intend to keep a few goats (for milking), half a dozen sheep and maybe a donkey. There are so many books and sites with advice about housing, but thought I would ask here and get some advice.

We have large strip of flat land at the bottom of the paddock that we intend to fence off and use for housing/turnout. Given that we intend to milk the goats (only about 4 or 5) what housing would you recommend?. For the sheep (we would like to lamb in the future) again what housing? And what about housing for a donkey?

Would you recommend a field shelter in the paddock as well? What type of floor is best for the turnout area? Concrete?, sand, woodchip?

Any suggestions and ideas of where to buy reasonably priced wooden buildings online that would deliver to the Forest of Dean would be most welcome!

[little blue]

Im sure there will be a local building/shed company to you.  Dont get caught up in specialised designed 'housing' as an ordinary shed is usually much cheaper and we have adapted all ours for the type of animal we have in them.
Flooring for goats is better to be earth - our wooden one is starting to warp where the water spills and they wee when its too wet to go outside!
You'll need somewhere separate for milking, so think about whether you want one big, divided shed or more than one smaller ones.
The goats will need separate pens at least when they're kidding, but need to see each other.  Having said that, we used a gate, which they've nearly destroyed!

[ballingall]

I would recommend a field shelter for the goats, they can catch pneumonia quite easily if they have no access to shelter. Also I would probably recommend a relatively hard standing for a turnout yard, concrete would be good, or hardcore, or even if you can get your hands on cheap paving slabs- I think any of those options would be better than sand or woodchip.

Shed wise, you could just get one big shed and use hurdles to divide, then you could have room to lamb inside if need be. But it depends on what is also cost effective for you- 2 or 3 wooden sheds might be better.

Just adding to what little blue has said, wooden floors will give out eventually. I don't know that I recommend earth floors though, it does allow good drainage (if you have good drainage on your land/ soil type). But they do have faults, vermin for one thing, as rats have no barrier at all to let them get in. I have a friend who isn't allowed to have a concrete floor in her goat shed (I forget why- its a legislation as she is on the edge of the Northumberland National Forest), but she is so fed up with the rats that she has now laid down paving slabs on top of the earth floor. Also if you don't have good drainage, then it wouldn't be good either. I'd hate to have earth floor here, as we are a really damp area with a heavy clay soil.


Beth

[Roxy]

Our goats have open fronted shelters.  As we are in green belt, we have to be careful with concrete yards etc. so we have no frontage to he shelters .....does get muddy though.  Earth floor inside, again due to the planning rules.  Goats definitely need shelter from the wet weather, and so do donkeys.

Re the donkey:  they are herd animals, and its usual to keep them in pairs.  I know the donkey rescues will not rehome them unless you have two for this reason.

Two acres sounds a good size, but be careful you don't have too many animals on, especially in the wet weather ....it soon gets muddy, and churned up.  Sheep especially eat right down , and the grass soon goes when they get going eating it, so I would probably split your field in half, so that one part could be resting, if thats possible.  It will help conserve your grass a bit.

I have two goats, a llama, a pet sheep and a small pony on just under two acres, and I find that it gets very bare towards the end of the summer, and needs resting.

[hexhammeasure]

without seeing the field my first thought was that you may have problems with water and wet patches if you build a shelter at the BOTTOM of a slope water will always run/drain towards it. Remember that animals will spend a lot of time around the shelter for , well, sheltering. This could lead to serious poaching problems

 

[Sharondp]

Thanks for all your repiles.

Does anyone know of a company that sell wooden buildings online that would do the job? 

Hubby is okay making a simple storm shelter, but not sheds or mobile stables etc...If any buildings came flatpacked again we would be fine!

Talking of mobile stables, am i right in thinking that in most cases planing permission is not required? If I did concrete a small area of the paddock to make a turn out area, would I need planning permssion for this as rule? I do hate the thought of concreting any of our lovely paddock though!

[doganjo]

What about the DIY stores?  B & Q, Homebase etc?  Or a local country joiner - they often make sheds.
As to a concrete base - can't see it needing permission, but I'd do it and if anyone 'clipes' say you didn't know.  They are unlikely to ask you to dig it up. more likely is a 'letter of comfort' or planning/building warrant if it's required.  We once put a toilet in upstairs, but I didn't need a letter of comfort till I was selling the property.  It was about £200 I think.  Planning consent would have been roughly the same plus an architect's fee into the bargain.

[ballingall]

What about this company? http://www.saltirestables.co.uk/index.shtml They are maybe a bit far north. I haven't used them personally, but I have a friend who has, and I have spoken to their rep at the Royal Highland show. I'n not sure how expensive they are though- but they could easily build you a barn type shed. My friend did have a problem in extremely high gale force winds, but the company were absolutely fantastic- she cannot rate them highly enough after that. Even their wooden garages, a big one would give you a good workable space and they aren't as expensive.

Beth

[Moregin]

From my own experience I would suggest a local joiner/shed builder.  The ones from the 'highstreet' places are cheap and nasty normally and if you get a boisterous animal in one it wont stand up to much abuse.  Also the price can be negotiated as the design can be altered to suit your needs.  I have used my local guy to build a 20'x12' garage with shelving, it came in on a truck, they erected and roofed it but even better they painted it in their workshop prior to bringing it.  All for £1150 - a great price compared to all the others I found on the t'internet.  He has made a chicken coop and a shed to my designs for me too.  The quality of wood used is far superior to the likes of B&Q,Screwfix etc so it will last longer.  My grandad always said 'Buy cheap - Buy twice'

[Rosemary]

We got a local contractor to build out sheep shelter - it's fab. There might be some pictures on the website - in fact I'm sure there are. It has telegraph poles at the corners and is solid as a rock. We've put gravel down and topped it with horsemats (because we had them anyway) and this seems to work quite well.

[doganjo]

Can anyone tell me what I can do with my really 'gross' chicken pen.  It gets regularly flooded with the weather we've had and I now squelch through green and brown gloopy mud to get to the coop. The chicken shed is nice and dry inside with loads of straw for them(and a vinyl floor so easily cleaned), but the duck shed has no floor so I have a pallet in it with planks on top of that but it's disgusting underneath as I can't clean it.  So it needs lifting onto a solid base.  I need to get a few holes bored through the little wall up the middle of the run, down below ground level so the water can drain away, but can't do that myself.  Not much money available to fix it but if there are any diy folk out there who can help I could find some, as I feel my birds are suffering now - and it stinks too.  I have metal panels and another shed so the ducks could be moved if I can get that set up first, and I think I can then get bark to put down in the chicken run, but it needs draining first.  I wish I was fit enough to do it all myself but I have now to admit that I'm not.  I need a man (or two or three  ) before the SSPCA come knocking at my door.  ;

[daniellestocks]

Donkeys have rubbish hooves and do not like it wet! Just a pointer to bear in mind
Danielle 

[chickenfeed]

 :)way too far away from you i am affraid but its a job that should not wait as the rats and bad weather are coming in the last thing you need is the smell of poultry to attract rats. i do hope you find the help you need and soon. as for bark if you have a never ending buget to spend its fine but as i found it soon dissapears we were using a couple of the latge bales a week. we now use sharp sand and straw they love scratching in it and the sand doubles up as grit.

[doganjo]

I have put down 2 tons of sharp sand in an area 36 feet by 18 feet.  Should I have put down more than that - it's just squelching mud now.  Central Scotland is known to be very wet but I didn't think it would be this bad!

[Snoopy]

Annie - Could you put some upside down plastic crates on the floor, then vinyl flooring over the top, then some bedding, but put a few holes in the vinyl to let water out and under, then get someone to dig a little trench away - just for now, until a more permanent solution is available.  We have loads of blue trays that were used to deliver mushrooms and vegetables in, they are strong, and would be sturdy upside down.

How big is the house - could you post us or pm us a photo, and I will get Joe on a solution for you - he is great at diy.

Julie and Joe