Goat Shelter Question

[city girl]

We are newbies to the goat world-- got two Nubian doe kids last April, and have loving them.

But... they are also driving us a little crazy...

Right now we have them in our stable at night, and in the daytime we bring them out to a grassy meadow area that has an old stone wall and lots of shade for them. After some trial and error, we fenced it with feedlot panels, and that has worked to keep them in.

But they still come into the stable at night and are causing ENDLESS mayhem in there, because they are loose to roam in the same area where there is horse tack, and a bale or two of hay. (There would be more hay, but they mess it up, so we just bring down a bale or two at a time.) They climb up on the saddles, pull the bridles down, hide the girths... you can imagine. So, we want to get them out of there!

I'd like to have them out in their pasture 24/7, but am nervous about sheltering them. Do they need to be locked up at night?

What are goat predators? Do you all lock yours up at night? Would love to hear your nightime goat set ups....

 

[redtailgal]

z

 

[20kidsonhill]

We have calf huts up in our field for shelter, but we haven't had any problems with preditors. We also have a barn, but we only use it when the goats are kidding, othewise they are up in the field, winter and summer.

You can see one of the calf huts in the back of this photo, this is his shelter all year round, we had a record snow fall that winter.

 

[city girl]

Cute goat! I've been all over these boards in the last couple days and am thinking I should really have a real penned up situation. I don't have a mastiff outside (kinda wish I did ).
I think what I really need is a goat tractor, that could be moved as we move the pens....

 

[jodief100]

We use electric net to move them around. It is not cheap but it works well and can be moved easily.

 

[elevan]

I'd like to have them out in their pasture 24/7, but am nervous about sheltering them. Do they need to be locked up at night?

What are goat predators? Do you all lock yours up at night? Would love to hear your nightime goat set ups....

Locking them in a night depends entirely on your situation. Where are you located? What type of goat do you have? Do you have a guardian for them? ...


My goats are not locked in at night. They have a llama livestock guardian. At dusk they make their way into the barn and he sleeps in the entrance way. At dawn they all go out together.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

I keep mine in the barn in the evenings as well. But we do have preditors around. I think there are pretty much preditors anywhere it would be a matter of choice. But goats can handle a three sided hut no problem. Seen it done many times. You might wanna think about making another stahl in the barn for them if you have anymore room in there?? That would work.