# kidding area preps - thinking ahead



## sawfish99 (Nov 8, 2011)

Last week, 3 of our does were bred in a 3 day window (with the 4th doe getting bred in about a week or two).  That means roughly March 31st will be very busy at our farm.  I am thinking ahead to the kidding season and working on plans for how we will handle the population explosion.  Since we live in CT, it is a roll of the dice for snow on the ground at the kidding time.

Our 4 does share a shelter that is a 10x10' soft side garage type shelter.  I built 2.5' walls inside and a solid wood floor with bedding (making about 9'x9' floor space).  The door can be lowered to about the height of the walls for wind/rain/snow shelter in the winter, leaving about a 4' opening for the door.  The attached picture shows the shelter before I finished all the walls, but they now protect the 3 interior sides.







Separately, we have a horse barn with actual 10x10' stalls that can be fully closed, however, if I used that for kidding the horses would be displaced.
Our milking barn and goat feed storage area will not be converted for kidding.  

So I am looking for recommendations on my options:
1. Leave the goats where they are and let them share the existing shelter for kidding. (preferred if it won't cause significant problems)
2. Put up an additional soft sided shelter similar to the current one and build another floor/wall setup.  Let the goats share the 2 shelters for kidding. (the second one would be a few hundred feet away to allow for subdividing the pen and still having additional shelter.
3. Build a couple of smaller, 4x6' shelters to add to the existing fenced in area (large dog house style without a door).  I already plan to work on this through the winter so we have shelter in additional areas as we add more fencing.  These will be built on pallets for moving with my tractor.
4. Displace the horses and sacrifice the horse barn, giving each goat a stall.

In general I tend more toward letting the goats handle the kidding and nature take it's course.  I am unlikely to interfere with the process, however, I'm not sure DW will agree in the heat of the moment.  From that perspective, the horse barn is the only option with lights/eletricity.  The existing shelter is close enough that an extension cord could be used to provide lighting.

Thoughts/opinions?


----------



## 20kidsonhill (Nov 8, 2011)

i am a little concerned about your wooden floors holding up. but I don't have any experience with this. We use dirt floors with thick straw bedding. 


I think the shelter you have would work fine. 
I would add a couple 4 foot walls extending out in the inside for divider walls, does that make sense?

Like this. then if a doe needs to bond with a kid or is having problems you can make her a quick pen inside the shelter that you have. 









These are our portable kidding pens, I leave the front doors off or opened so they can be used for divider walls, and then right after a doe kids I close them up in it for a couple days. These are 4x6, but you could do 4x4, since you have smaller goats.  OUrs are 36 inches high. I have seen people also use pallets for walls in a kidding pen.  

I just prefer a solid wall over a metal panel/fence type wall.


----------



## sawfish99 (Nov 8, 2011)

Thanks for the pictures.  I'm assuming 4' is a good height to keep them from trying to jump the walls?

The existing walls and flooring are all made from recycled pallets with OSB on the side facing the goats.  It wouldn't be very complicated to add some divider walls.


----------



## Queen Mum (Nov 8, 2011)

Another option is to use Cattle panels cut to size and hold them together with snap rings.  They easily reconfigured; can be moved quickly, and can be covered with a tarp or blanket for privacy.  You can get them in 4 and 5 foot heights.   Since they come in 16 foot lengths they can be cut to just about any size.  If you have a dirt floor you can drive T posts into the ground to hold them in place and use straw or chips as flooring.  If you want a top, just stand them up on the side and use a piece of cattle panel over the top for a roof.   Put a tarp on top.   

You can also take a piece of Cattle panel and bend it down and hook a chain to each end and then make a Quonset hut with it.  Then use a tarp over the top.  They are easily moved.   I do this with cattle panels for temporary outside pens.   4 sides with a Quonset hut at one end and closed back.   Works great for a kidding pen. Cut the panels to about 10 feet long.  Use three for sides.  One for the Hut, then the extra pieces for the back of the hut and the extra space/gate at the Quonset hut end.   Put it in the field, Stake the corners and center of each side with T posts and you have a very sturdy enclosure fore a doe to kid and start her youngun's.     Throw a pallet in the hut with a ton of straw in it and you have a nice warm place for her to kid.  If you want the hut to be warmer, put a tarp on the hut, pack a lot of straw on top (6 inches at least) and the tie another tarp on top of that.    Want a bigger hut,  Hook two together.  You can use rebar ties and a rebar tie tool to make the connections tighter.   the rebar ties are easy to cut off with pliers.






I think the floors in your current hut will hold up just fine as long as they aren't particle board.


----------



## SheepGirl (Nov 8, 2011)

Queen Mum said:
			
		

> Another option is to use Cattle panels cut to size and hold them together with snap rings.  They easily reconfigured; can be moved quickly, and can be covered with a tarp or blanket for privacy.  You can get them in 4 and 5 foot heights.   Since they come in 16 foot lengths they can be cut to just about any size.  If you have a dirt floor you can drive T posts into the ground to hold them in place and use straw or chips as flooring.  If you want a top, just stand them up on the side and use a piece of cattle panel over the top for a roof.   Put a tarp on top.
> 
> You can also take a piece of Cattle panel and bend it down and hook a chain to each end and then make a Quonset hut with it.  Then use a tarp over the top.  They are easily moved.   I do this with cattle panels for temporary outside pens.   4 sides with a Quonset hut at one end and closed back.   Works great for a kidding pen. Cut the panels to about 10 feet long.  Use three for sides.  One for the Hut, then the extra pieces for the back of the hut and the extra space/gate at the Quonset hut end.   Put it in the field, Stake the corners and center of each side with T posts and you have a very sturdy enclosure fore a doe to kid and start her youngun's.     Throw a pallet in the hut with a ton of straw in it and you have a nice warm place for her to kid.  If you want the hut to be warmer, put a tarp on the hut, pack a lot of straw on top (6 inches at least) and the tie another tarp on top of that.    Want a bigger hut,  Hook two together.  You can use rebar ties and a rebar tie tool to make the connections tighter.   the rebar ties are easy to cut off with pliers.
> 
> ...


That's actually a very good idea for a cheap/temporary shelter.


----------

