# Photos of the inside of your goat barns please!



## lupinfarm

I'm starting the planning process for the chicken coop to be turned into the new goat barn (with the small 6x6 house as a summer run-in for them in the field). 

My building is a 90 year old,  about 13x17ft workshop-turn-chicken coop with a storage loft. It fronts onto my driveway just across from their pasture. Right next to the front door is a large "bunker" that is about 4.5ft deep with a wood cover. It takes on water in the spring and we don't use it for anything. We're planning on filling it half way with gravel and building a deck over it as a "sleeping deck" with stairs up to it ... somewhere for the goats to hang out. I'm confident our girls will use it, they like to sleep just inside their pop door during the day lol. I need to include at least 1 kidding stall, I've had suggestions to make it 4x6ft. I will have moveable panels for a second temporary kidding stall which will be stored in a lean-to storage area off the side of the barn. 

My pen off the back would be hopefully (still need to measure) about 13x20ft, maybe more and made out of the same buck fence I used in the horse pasture, just drastically smaller with 4 lines of hotwire and some plastic chainlink just under the rails to keep the ladies from escaping. The goat barn will also get a lean-to run-in off the back in their dry-lot. 

The purpose of this post? I want to see photos of the inside of your goat barns!


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## lupinfarm

No one willing to show off? I can hardly believe it!


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## freemotion

It is raining here and my barn is messy!   Bump this back up in a few days.....if the mud here EVER dries out....or when it finally freezes solid!


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## FarmerChick

I have 3 horse stalls, all 12 x 12 that are always open for the goats to go in and out and then a very big covered area for them to hang out for shade and rain relief.

then I have a 40 x 60 shed that is for kidding....stalls are 4 x 6 and 4 x 8 for does wtih trips and quads.  need some room to maneuver so they don't get squished.

I don't stall goats.  They have run in capabilities with open stalls and barns.   

Only in kidding pens for maybe 2-3 days....maybe longer depending on if a problem.   Healthy kids and moms don't even go into the kidding pens.  Only runty types that need a few days to adjust.

So I leave open the barn with the kidding pens and leave those doors open also so goats can seek shelter in that barn also if they feel like it.

Other than that I am on the "do as you please" type system..LOL


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## lupinfarm

hahaha... I know how you feel, it's mud central here and I'm trying to build a run-in shed!


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## lupinfarm

FarmerChick said:
			
		

> I have 3 horse stalls, all 12 x 12 that are always open for the goats to go in and out and then a very big covered area for them to hang out for shade and rain relief.
> 
> then I have a 40 x 60 shed that is for kidding....stalls are 4 x 6 and 4 x 8 for does wtih trips and quads.  need some room to maneuver so they don't get squished.
> 
> I don't stall goats.  They have run in capabilities with open stalls and barns.
> 
> Only in kidding pens for maybe 2-3 days....maybe longer depending on if a problem.   Healthy kids and moms don't even go into the kidding pens.  Only runty types that need a few days to adjust.
> 
> So I leave open the barn with the kidding pens and leave those doors open also so goats can seek shelter in that barn also if they feel like it.
> 
> Other than that I am on the "do as you please" type system..LOL


LOL well my "barn" is quite a bit smaller! I'm planning/thinking of having one fixed 4x6ft kidding stall and panels I can set up for temporary stalls. My building will have a small dry yard off the back and a lean-to on the back of it. I


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## freemotion

My barn is more of a shed.  I built a 14x24 building with the thought of breeding my mare, who I built the barn for, and having two horses.  So along one side is a storage area about 3x24, and the rest was divided into two 11x12 stalls (each with a large exterior door for run-in capability) with a removable wall to make one large foaling stall.  The wall was simply a series of 2x10's that slid into a slot on each wall that was made by mounting a couple of 2x4's 2+" apart.  

The mare couldn't maintain a pregnancy, grew old and died happy a little over a year ago.  I reconfigured the barn for goats.  I moved the wall over to make one largish stall with an exterior door that is about 5x12, and I recently made a matching stall on the other end that is about 4x12.  The remaining middle area is where everyone lives together peacefully (I wish!)

I have a "box" (4x4x8) that the buck lives in that can be moved by dh and I with some grunting and wincing.  It has housed various flocks of chickens and broodies and turkeys.  The box comfortably sleeps two goats on a conjugal visit.


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## PattiXmas

My "barn" is a 12' x 12' gambrel roof shed from Menards.  Our chicken coop (houses only 2 hens and 1 rooster currently) is built on to the side of the barn.  

We are "city" farmers, so we are just beginners, but I don't think we did too bad.

Daisy looking at Stella the State Fair rescue kitty -







The girls in their stalls.  Currently, we have straw stacked up in the middle where we plan on putting the kids once they arrive.






Better shot of the gates hubby made.  He is going to be replacing the cattle panels with wooden slats shortly.  We ran out of time and just put up the panels.






Daisy and her hay feeder.  This was actually one that had two sides but hubby just cut it in half and attached it to OSB board.  It works great but he wants the barn to be pretty so he plans  to re-do these as well.






Better view of the entire barn -






The chicken apartment for now - we think in the spring, we can put the silkie chicks here and move the bigger chickens to another area.  Again, we ran out of time -


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## lupinfarm

I was hoping you'd post PattiXmas! My building is 13x17, it's an existing ice house from the early 1900s.


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## PattiXmas

lupinfarm said:
			
		

> I was hoping you'd post PattiXmas! My building is 13x17, it's an existing ice house from the early 1900s.


Umm, would have posted sooner, but had to clean the barn first.  It was full of tools because we aren't quite finished.  I will say that pallets can be your friend because of the extremely cheap price (free) and real hard wood.


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## lupinfarm

Ha-ha, I hear ya. The building the goats will take over is actually not even finished being renovated. It's my current chicken coop, but it's not really ideal for chickens and would be suit goats (it'd be easier to clean if goats inhabited it). It has a cement floor that isn't in the best condition, actually the foundation isn't in the greatest condition but it's a 90 year old building! I'll give it a break  I'll be putting rubber stall mats down to cover the whole floor, I'll enlarge the chicken pop door to accomodate the goats (it will have a 30x30 drylot on the back of it). I have what I like to call a 'bunker' at the front of the building by the front door, I can't take it out and I can't fill it so I'm going to cover it... I'll be building a small deck over it for the goats to use/sleep on (if they stand up they will be able to see out the front window). 

On one side of the pop door will be a 4x6 (or thereabouts) kidding stall, and I'll have some panels made that I can bring in if I need a second kidding stall. 

We can't build anything bigger than 10x10 here with a permit, so I'm putting my chicken coop on a trailer/wheels so I can get around this rule  I need a much bigger building for my goats once I start breeding them so the move only made sense.

We are on a waiting list for a Pygmy buck and Nigerian Dwarf wether (to be wethered by the breeder) this spring, so we're getting ready!


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## FarmerChick

nice pics!!


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## ducks4you

PattiXmas, your setup is adorable!    My barn has horse stalls--you know, 12 x 8, 12 x 12 and 12 x 16.  Your Goat setup looks like miniatures, compared to mine.  That hay on top of the stalls is efficient, too, and I'm sure it insulates.


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## PattiXmas

We made a few modifications today in the barn.  Most of our friends (or my sister) have to use flash lights in their barns, especially in the stall area so we installed 2 florescent lights in their stalls.  It really makes the stalls nice and bright.  Next, we are installing 2 cabinets for the girls' medicines (if needed) and other miscellaneous supplies.  

Dark and scary -







Nice and bright -






We had our vet out today to look at Snowy's eye again.  She really loved the improvements.


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## lupinfarm

Oh my Patti, I am envious. Our "barn" was once hooked up to the pole line with it's own breaker panel, but sometime in the 80s the previous owners disconnected it. We are having it reconnected next year when our garage-cum-kennel/workshop gets hooked up. 

I have been looking at your lovely goat barn all day and thinking, why bother building a rolling chicken coop? My mum and I came up with a plan that may be cheaper, we can get away with a 10x12 chicken coop if its down the end of the garden out of sight behind the one treeline, and it will be a gambrel roof like yours! ours will be up on stilts and will have a covered/fenced chicken deck because apparently I have the only chickens who can effectively dig 2 feet down and get under their fence LOLOL with a leanto duck house off the side for my Buff orp ducks.


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## no nonsense

Very nice set up in those pictures, but two suggestions for anyone trying to copy it:

1. The gates and side walls of the stalls are very low. I'm surprised that the does haven't figured out how to jump out yet, but they will.

2. They would be happier if they were together, rather than seperate. Each would have much more room if you removed the two side walls, and walled off the area between the two gates, making one big stall. You could even fit three goats in the one big stall, and they'd all have more room to move around than the single goats currently do in their small stalls. Keep both gates in place, and retain one of the side walls to put up as a small temporary stall, should you ever need to seperate anyone. Fill in the area above the current walkway between both stalls, and you've also added 1/3 more hay storage.


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## lupinfarm

They seem happy enough, at least the can see each other.


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## lupinfarm

Alright guys, lets put pictures to words...

This is the building I have to work with, as you can clearly see it's not finished LOL it's about 90 years old and I originally renovated it for the chickens but really it's not suited to chickens. 

It fronts right onto my driveway next to the house. I'll be typaring the whole thing this winter, and then cover the smartside which I know won't hold up to the goats, with 1x8" pine board and batten siding. I'm changing out the windows, ... Should I try and get real house windows or just put in plexi on openable frames and give it a shutter like my soon-to-be-buck-house has?






The back of it...... I have an enormous area to use as my drylot, but it'll probably still be only 30x30ft. Would there be any implications to using sand as a base (.. maybe I shouldn't... sand colic), how about wood chips/mulch?






From the back before it was renovated, the thing was infested with bees and wasps and err... a family of squirrels....living in their nice squirrly condo above a family of snakes. Yeah..






I bet you must all think me mad, a bunker? whaaaa? This is the bunker I speak of! It's probably 4 feet deep and about 8x3ft wide/long






As you can tell it has some rather unsavory junk in it but it does have a lid and I was thinking about building a deck over it for the goats to play/sleep on.

The inside BEFORE it was renovated last summer..






The inside now (except now it has nestboxes on one side and a roost a the end. The partition will be removed, the nest boxes taken out, the pop door enlarged to accomodate the goats, etc etc. I'm putting down rubber matts as well on the floor for easier clean up. 






On the right side at the very back will be my permanent stall, although I might still make that one temporary in panels too... 

One more photo of the side... This is from the house before it was inhabited by chickens..










Whatcha guys think? My chickens will hopefully move to a 10x12 gambrel roof chicken house with attached lean-to duck house and decks instead of runs since they DIG.


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## PattiXmas

no nonsense said:
			
		

> Very nice set up in those pictures, but two suggestions for anyone trying to copy it:
> 
> 1. The gates and side walls of the stalls are very low. I'm surprised that the does haven't figured out how to jump out yet, but they will.
> 
> 2. They would be happier if they were together, rather than seperate. Each would have much more room if you removed the two side walls, and walled off the area between the two gates, making one big stall. You could even fit three goats in the one big stall, and they'd all have more room to move around than the single goats currently do in their small stalls. Keep both gates in place, and retain one of the side walls to put up as a small temporary stall, should you ever need to seperate anyone. Fill in the area above the current walkway between both stalls, and you've also added 1/3 more hay storage.


We had to separate them because Snowy eats ALL the food and Daisy gets left with nothing.  Snowy also knocks the buckets off and spills food.  Since both girls were bred in October, we want to make sure Daisy gets equal opportunity food time

We've been lucky they haven't been jumping over, they will come and stand up to get attention, but we used these panels all summer and never had a jumper (even when we had the boers).


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## no nonsense

By "food", I assume you mean grain? Try keyhole feeders, one for each. Once they freshen, it shouldn't be a problem, as they should each get their grain while on the milk stand. For that matter, no reason why you couldn't start feeding them one at a time now on the stand. You'll be doing it soon enough anyway. If by food you mean hay, it just means that your hay racks are not large enough.
I'm big on efficiency, space and time. It might not matter much for only two goats, but add up the extra time needed to service two seperate stalls every day, and you'll be left with hours each month. The same amount of time could be spent caring for more goats, spending it enjoying the ones you do have, taking care of other animals, or, with winter coming, getting back inside quicker.


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## PattiXmas

I think the other reason we did separate stalls is because one goat is my daughter's (Snowy) and we are making it her responsibility.  We don't have a milk stand yet, hubby has to work on that.  

We feed hay, as well as a dairy feed that our feed store mixes up.  It is not a "sweet feed", but a mixture.  We were told that this was acceptable feed.

We are also big on efficiency, and while we only have two goats now it's not that hard.  I know that as our "herd" increases, I am sure hubby will come up with more short cuts.


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## FarmerChick

rare if I stall goats but if I put any 2 together, one always loses big time.

I have kidding pens for when needed, only 1 to a pen always.....and they have open stalls for everyday with run in sheds etc.   As long as one can get away from another, it is fine.  You stall up 2 or 3 together alot of times you got a dominance problem and we all know the horns and whamming can get brutal.


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## ksalvagno

We are almost finished with the goat boys area. There are still a few finishing touches we need to put on their shelter. I also want to have a small little "stall" area inside the shelter so I can separate the one boy when they eat.

From the outside. This is the overhang area of our older barn.







This is from under the overhang looking across to the shelter area.





These are images from inside the shelter. The shelter is 8x12.  Right now we are using corral panels to make a little area to put a goat if they need to be by themselves plus to be able to hang their feeders and hay bags. That part is still a work in progress and won't get done until spring. So for now, the panels stay.


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