They have been a lot of threads recently about goats, and housing/fencing, so I thought I would post up our arrangements of our own goatshed.
When we first moved here 4 years ago, we had to move the goats into a single and a half garage, and a wooden shed of roughly the same size. There were 6 very large outdoor dog runs, made out of corrugated iron and stock fencing, but they were too run down to put any goats in. We were also hampered by the fact that we had no money for 9 months after we moved in, because we didn't get funds from our old property until that time!
Just to prove, you can keep goats in a garage! We had 5 pens in that garage, plus our old metal feed bin!
One thing we are very aware of, is the fact that we might have to re-sell again in a few years time, due to personal reasons. For that reason, we try and make the stuff we have added suitable for anything.
So in October 3 years ago, we built our goat shed, having demolished the dog runs, and having moved the wooden shed into the field, it was in the way of where the new shed was going, but we still needed it until the new shed was built.
We chose a builder in our nearest village, though chance as it happened, I found their stand at the Royal Highland Show. We wanted a shed 20 foot across by 60 foot long, with big doors at the top to allow us to unload feeding, hay and straw easily, and also a smaller stable type door at the side, for easier access. We went for one big shed, on the basis it was a more flexible space. Also if we wanted to resell, it could be a shed for livestock, for horses with a couple of looseboxes fitted internally, for a workshop, or as a garage.
The start of building. Look at that mud!
The shed is made out of wood batons, about 4" by 2" on 3 sides. This only goes up to about 4.5ft, and the wood fits into steel slots. This is so, if a panel of wood gets rotten, or gets too chewed by the goats, it can then just be taken out and replaced. The top half of the building, and the front big doors are just covered in Green corrugating sheeting.
And as the shed was just finished.
We opted to use hurdles, again, so our penning for the goats could be as flexible as possible. It means we can make a bigger pen for lots of kids to all live together, or if we want we can pen all milkers separately. We ordered hurdles from Modulamb in Coventry, as they also did gated hurdles. My mother has arthritis in her ankles and climbing into pens over hurdles isn't easy, so we ordered a number of ordinary hurdles, but 4 ft high. Plus we ordered 8 gated hurdles, and 4 sheeted hurdles.
When the hurdles arrived, they were unloaded at the bottom of the driveway (might even have been before the driveway was concreted in actually!), so we had to move them. Well, the man from Modulamb had unloaded them all on his own. It took 3 people to carry the gated hurdles up to the goatshed they are so heavy. Even now if I am rearranging pens in the shed I can only drag the sheeted and gated hurdles.
Gated hurdles.
I have to say, even though they are so heavy, they are fantastic. It was so worthwhile getting them. They were quite expensive, but I am glad we spent the extra money. The sheeted hurdles have too proved worth their weight in gold. We use them at the end of a block of pens to cut out drafts for the goats, but also it stops them poking their heads through! So we have them beside when we keep their food, and the milking bench. We also use the sheeted hurdles to prevent the billy becoming too amorous as it means he a solid partition in between him and the goats.
Here are some pictures I took last week in the shed.
The billy goat- you can see he has a sheeted hurdle at the side there.
Room in the shed to store big bales of hay and straw- less room just now as we have extra goats!
A shot from our field, it shows our old wooden shed which is now a field shelter, with the goatshed in the background.
We don't have that much land here, not much over an acre really. However the field isn't grazed bare by the goats. We are in a damp area, and we don't put the goats out all the time. They are inside every day from about 6:30pm, and we don't put them out all, even in summer, if it is raining hard. The billy does however, go out in the evening and in good weather (when do we get that?!) he stays out in the field all night. Our fencing is standard 3.5 foot high stock fencing, with a single strand of wire along the top. We haven't ever had anyone escape from the field, which just goes to prove goats are not really escape artists! We do however have double fencing round the field, which means that our goats and the sheep in the next door field cannot touch noses. Makes us a little more protected from diseases, and also movement restrictions.
To be fair, our goats are pampered, they are more our pets and showing them is our hobby. Although that said, they do have to work hard, we don't like to keep a goat that isn't earning its keep. Therefore we expect our females to milk, and to milk well. I would expect at least 4 kilos/ litres a day from any of our goats at their peak yield, and generally would expect 6 or 7 kilos/litres from a second kidder.
We have an area in the shed where we keep their food, in barrels generally. This area also holds a milking bench, and the goats come out of their pen, up on the bench and stand to get milked. The bench is wooden and was made by my brother in law. We don't feed them whilst they are getting milked, we prefer them to stand naturally, and they will happily chew away at the cud.
I can't think of anything else to say now!
Beth
Topic: Our Goatshed- warning picture happy! (Read 15728 times)
