City Goat Housing?

[montana girl]

Hello, we currently live in the city limits of a smallish town in Montana. We have chickens and rabbits and are allowed to have 2 mini goats. We have decided upon the Nigerian Dwarf.
My question, or interest, is in housing. What do other people who keep goats in the city have for housing set ups.
Would LOVE to see some photos and get some ideas.

Thanks!

 

[glenolam]

Welcome!

I'm in the country, so can't help much with city stuff, but any type of lean-to or 3 sided run in would be good. Of course, it also depends on what you're getting as far as gender and what your plans are. When we first got our goats I didn't have a goat barn so we used a 10x10 dog kennel and put tarp on the sides and over the top. They had access to their yard, but this served as their shelter until we built their permanent house.

If you plan to breed, obviously you'll need another pen or shelter to separate them during kidding (I only have 1 barn for 5 goats with no separate stalls. I was able to shut out the other goats and built them another very simple "thing" to get out of the weather). If you plan to milk you might want to do that in a separate place, too. Someone on this forum does it in their garage...

If you are just getting wethers then you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it's big enough, they can't destruct it too much, and it keeps them cool/warm/dry.

Good luck - keep us posted!

 

[tiffanyh]

I live in an agricultural town but in the center of town on a small lot. We have many mini goats. I started with 2 and used an extra large dog house, surprisingly, I then went to to splurge on the shed for them and they still squeeze into the small dog house! Actually not so surprising knowing goats!

I think one thing to consider is that some do make quite a bit of ruckus. If your allowed to have them, no biggie but I always want to keep my neighbors happy!

Here are some pictures of my older set up, but you can see that we have the goats up on a hill behind our house in a paddock area, about 100X30. I started with two goat though in a much smaller area and they were always content.

 

[Griffin's Ark]

We use a 100 gallon water tank that was made by Miller Mfg. The tank was 70% cheaper than a comparable Dog Igloo and twice as sturdy. Our first Dog Igloo goat experiment was a disaster! The Dog Igloo didn't last! The water tank has 6 months in the pasture and is still going strong. It started as a kid house for full size dairy goats, but has since moved to the Nigerian pasture and is used quite extensively by them.

It is not a great picture, but you can see that all I did was cut a hole in the tank like a dog house door turned it upside down and "WaLa" One quick and inexpensive goat house!
Chris

 

[Chirpy]

Hi Chris! That is a great idea... and the goats use the whole thing; inside and out!

 

[savingdogs]

We are in the country but our set up would work in the city as well. We also have chickens and ducks and dogs and cats so all together, we DO need to live in the country, but here is what we have going on for our goats.

The previous owner had erected a dog kennel by making a large lean-to next to a shed, probably located there because there is a water spicket and since our dogs are indoor dogs this area was unused. The area is not huge but would be perhaps 1/2 to 3/4 of the typical sized city back yard. We made a door for the lean to to be closed off at night, but we worry about predators here and you might not in the city, and it gets pretty dang cold here and you might not be at our altitude, so a door might be optional for you. We layed down an initial layer of straw over the dirt, but the bedding takes care of itself if you feed them their hay inside their enclosure....they are messy eaters and a layer of fresh hay is spread out over everything daily. Try to erect some sort of hanging feeder and feed small amounts at a time to help prevent waste. They like to pick over their hay and leave just the coarse twiggy part. But this part makes great mulch if you garden. Gardening and goats goes well together. Also, our goats and chickens get along fine but you must have seperate quarters for feeding because goats cannot have poultry food. Goats can go right up chicken coop ramps and through little doors. Ours are nigerian/nubians.

Our goats are noisy when they see us coming so I'd devise a way to approach without being seen or only approach after you think your neighbors are awake. As soon as our goats see us, they make a huge racket! They can also be destructive eaters and escape artists so you have to be sure you have a nice fence for them. Ours have destroyed small fruit trees in a matter of a few minutes by unlatching a gate themselves, so I'd hate to think of them running loose in a neighborhood. Mine also ate the flower heads off an entire row of peonies, right before they were set to bloom when we were inattentive about where they were "free ranging". I would imagine this trait could make you pretty unpopular with your neighbors. They will also eat some poisonous plants that people like to grow like rhododendrons, azaleas and pieris.

There is an odor associated with goats, but honestly, I don't find it offensive. If I were you I'd talk it over with the immediate neighbors, especially those downwind of whereever you are planting your goat house and pen, and make sure you avoid picnic areas and such on the other side of the fence. Goat pellets are hard to pick up in a large area, they are very small. We just let them sit and amend the soil. But there is an odor. But to me, the odor of fresh alfalfa, their dung and their own earthy smell is a cool part of having goats. I can't explain it, but I find their stink pleasant. Some neighbors might not however.

Overall, we enjoy our goats much more than we ever thought we would even though my car will never again be free of little bits of floating alfalfa!

 

[Griffin's Ark]

Hi Chris! That is a great idea... and the goats use the whole thing; inside and out!

Hi Cindy - when you are trying to survive on what you make or grow you have to sometimes find solutions that aren't obvious.
Chris

 

[cmjust0]

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/425_small_goat_house.jpg

Can I just say that, at first, I totally missed the fact that there are multiple goats in this picture?!? The reds blend in to the logs in the background, so my first impression was that I was looking at a little white goat body with an enormous head!

If I'm being honest....I'll admit, I was thinking "THAT'S THE UGLIEST GOAT I'VE EVER SEEN. "

 

[montana girl]

I am laughing SO hard right now. Actually have tears rolling down my face. Thank you! I needed a good laugh this morning as it is one of those mornings where everything is going wrong! LOL I too thought, what in the WORLD is wrong with that goat! It looked scary!! Only after your comment about it being multiple goats did I realize that it was not a monster

Thank you all so much for your comments and photos. I am learning a lot. I am a little bit concerned about the odor. The pen that we will be keeping our goats in is somewhat close to our neighbors. I am wondering if I should try and reconsider this and figure out some other spot.

As far as space for the pen is concerned, what do you think? I want my goat babies to be comfortable and happy. What size of pen do they need? Also, does anyone feed hay all winter long? How much hay will I need to pre-purchase to keep them fed and happy.

Thanks so much!
Darlene

 

[chandasue]

Last winter my 2 ND does went through 10 bails over the course of 5 months, but they wasted most of it looking for the best parts. As far as smell, my girls really don't smell at all and I now have 4 out there without much change to the odor. Keeping the pen clean is important to their health, not just as a favor to the neighbors. My neighbors say they hardly notice them, only hear them when we're out there and they want to be let out. But there's about an acre separating them and the goats. I have them in a shed that is 10x20 divided so I have hay storage and milking space, and they're fenced run is about 30'x30', but I have 3 acres total that they have access to come out and browse supervised. We just didn't want to fence in that much. They hardly even put a dent in the grass and weeds growing in the run and I'm thinking about mowing it it's getting so tall! They disappear when they lay down.