Hay

[Genipher]

No sand. It will absorb pee and stink to Kingdom come. I would put a sealer on the concrete or it will become a stink bomb. Paint and seal all wood, inside and out. Can you get pine shavings or straw? They are absorbent and make soft bedding. Start a compost pile with it for the garden that you will plant. (can't waste that valuable stuff)

Use half for stacking hay and keeping feed. Keep feed in metal trash cans with lid to keep rats and mice out.
You can stack a lot of hay in there, I think you will be happy with it. Put a GOOD DOOR on it with a GOOD LATCH that those devious goats cannot get open!

Definitely build a separate chicken coop with a run, dirt floor. Do deep litter, clean out a few times a year. I just keep throwing more stuff in there, leaves, pine shavings, wood chips. fall is a great time to collect leaves, people rake their leaves and politely leave them on the curb for you to pick up. Clean it out, sprinkle lime on the bottom, toss in more litter. Pile up that rich chicken litter/poop for that garden...…. LOL

You mentioned dogs be aware that most goat attacks are from dogs...….

So we could get by painting and sealing the outside of the shed instead of putting up siding? Sounds like it would be less expensive to paint/seal, which would be nice! This would be a great job for my boys! I'll add that to my list of "things to do". The outside painting/sealing would have to wait until the rainy season ends but the inside could be done now. I think we have some leftover paint that the previous owners of the house left behind. It would be patchwork looking but I don't much care if it looks pretty, just want it functional...

Ah, I wondered about sand as bedding. I've read some people use it but I was thinking the pee would make a big mess. Remind me, can I do deep litter with goats, using wood shavings?

The dogs. In the past we had chickens free ranging the yard and I trained our older dog, Jezebel (she's the one in my avatar picture), to "leave them!". We had rabbits and we trained her to leave them alone, too. Even when one of the Netherland Dwarf buns got loose in the yard (thanks kids!) and we couldn't catch her for almost a week, the dog left her alone. She is soooo submissive. Though she HAS killed gophers before....
Now, though, we have a puppy. A BIG puppy (lab/pit mix...he's as tall as our older dog and much broader!). I've wondered how he would respond to goats. Both dogs are going to need to be trained to leave the goats alone, when we get them. I don't have the money for it yet, but one of my dreams is to create a dog run on the top tier for them. Then they'd be removed from my future goats and chickens and their poo would be in a more contained area. So many things I want/need to do...if only I had a million dollars! lol.

I was thinking there could be a goat-sized door/opening so the goats could go in and out as they please, sorta like a 3-sided barn but...is that not a good idea? I suppose when we have future does bred they'd need a more secure place to keep the kids and we'd need to be able to shut them up at night?

I'm glad to hear there's plenty of space for the hay. I had no idea how much could actually be crammed in there...everything is so new to me. I've been researching for years, off and on. I have notebooks galore on all sorts of goaty subjects but my mind is still racing with all that needs to be done.

 

[Baymule]

The shed will need an outer covering of some sort. It is OSB and will not stand up to weather, even painted. But you can get by for now. Check the reject or returned paint at Lowes. You can pick up some good deals.

 

[Hipshot]

Well my two cents round here we say goats need the roughest bale, you can put through the baler . Our farmers CO-OP has double compressed alfalfa for $19.99 a bale .It's little bitty thing .Weighs out good though around 75 pounds. Unlike normal compressed bales it holds it's moisture better. Even baled hay loses moisture and gets lighter with age. The tighter the bale and better it is stored (in total darkness)the longer it keeps it moisture and nutrients . And yes hay has moisture content . I don't use baled alfalfa from any cutting . It's just two shaky . You have to feed it in a manger over a solid trough . If not you lose the most valuable part of it which is the leaf. I have tried feeding alfalfa compressed range cubes but the goats just push them out of the way . I feed round rolls until they are gone even if they have been here for three years . What's in the middle of the roll will last that . We won't talk about the feed bill though . I feed them good . You have a really nice shed .Where I you I wouldn't let goats free run in it .The slab will cause wood chips or straw or shavings to hold moisture . Really any kind of bedding is going need to be kept dry . If not it will cause rot in your walls . I would build a side shed with one side open to the south if possible. Just saying . And goat pictures when you get them.

 

[greybeard]

Hauling hay is a special kind of treat, got a truck?

I assume you are being @ least a little facetious.
Depends I guess, how many thousands of bales ya hauled in your youth, for pennies/bale..by pennies I mean around a nickel/bale.
Hot, dusty, dirty, very dead stinky skunks and rabbits and still live snakes hanging out the bales, loaded on to a ragged old high bed 50s something flatbed truck with the only lights working were headlights and put up in some of the shakiest falling down barns and long abandoned houses you ever saw.
Not quite as bad tho, as the day i ended up unloading most of a full rail boxcar full of feed at a Baytown feedstore that the father of one of our highschool cheerleaders owned and in those days, most feed came in 100 lb towsacks. (dam hormones...I never spoke to that girl again)

 

[Georgia Girl]

Most average "sq. bales" here weigh in the neighborhood of 40-65 lbs. It depends on the type o,f hay and how tight the bales are packed. They are 2 string. We get 5-6.00 a "sq bale". So if these are about 2-3x the weight, the price sounds reasonable.
It sounds like you might be getting into the "3 wire" bales, or the bigger 3 string ones, which are heavier and a bit bigger. I agree with @Baymule , call the supplier and get a dimension. I am not familiar with prices in your side of the country. Orchard grass/ alfalfa is a decent mix. 2nd cutting should be okay, alfalfa can be stemmy. Don't get first cutting, it has alot more stem then. If you call the supplier, they might have some other types hay available. Also ask if they have a hay analysis? Protein, TDN that sort of thing. We don't do it but when you get into "big time" hay selling, buyers want it. Don't blame them, when you are paying good money, you want good hay.

In our area,even though we have alot of hay farmers, they tend to not want to sell in small quanities, they don't want the bother in meeting you at the barn or loading a small quanity, i gather they feel it is a waste of their time. I only have 4 goats and can only store about 12 bales at a time and I struggle to find hay in that small amount

 

[farmerjan]

No offense to you as a small time "farmer". Yes it is time consuming to only go to the barn to load 10 bales at a time. We don't like to do it either. Partly because the person coming to get it is often not on time and we have other/better things we need to be doing. Plus, it takes time out of our day that really is a waste for that small a quantity. We are making about $.50 per bale, to go load it. That's say $5.00 for a special trip; really not worth it, especially if the farmer works another job or had alot of animals to feed, or alot of hay to load. We try very hard to get people co-ordinated to coming when we are going to be there to load someone else, or load our own trailer to make a delivery, or are feeding... but that also interupts what we are doing. If at all possible, try to get with this farmer and get some out of the field when they are baling, so they are "already there" and not making a special trip.
Is there any way you could get another "storage space" so that you could get say 40-50 at a time?. A friend has one of those "garage in a box" storage "buildings" that they use. I realize $300 ( or whatever the current price is - need to catch them on sale) is not chump change.... but once spent, and put up, it will really help you save time and money in the long run. You could also use it to store your lawn mower, or some other stuff in part. They also have the distinction of being "not permanent" so are not taxed like a building... and can be moved / taken down / reused somewhere else.
Another advantage is if you could have enough storage for a years worth, you would not have to deal with hay shortages and the increased prices and lack of availability. Ask anyone who is living in and dealing with hay shortages and terribly increased prices due to demand. That alone would pay for the storage.

 

[Hipshot]

In our area,even though we have alot of hay farmers, they tend to not want to sell in small quanities, they don't want the bother in meeting you at the barn or loading a small quanity, i gather they feel it is a waste of their time. I only have 4 goats and can only store about 12 bales at a time and I struggle to find hay in that small amount

That's a shame, I guess southern hospitality is about gone Try buying latter in the season. Figure what you will use through the winter. Buy it all at once and try working a deal with the seller to store your hay , Use the line you would rather give them the extra money than a middle man.Or one of those 16 foot bumper hitch trailers sells pretty cheap, if you have a way to pull it and traps pretty easy . They will hold at least fifty bales if loaded right .There are lots of storage options .Truck van bodies shipping containers, a carport or portable storage buildings .Something as simple as pallets on the ground and tarps. And reality is that it's better to pay a little more and let them sore it . Wiser to spend money on structure or something more permanent. Tarps even good ones don't last and the wind plays havoc on them .

 

[Georgia Girl]

No offense to you as a small time "farmer". Yes it is time consuming to only go to the barn to load 10 bales at a time. We don't like to do it either. Partly because the person coming to get it is often not on time and we have other/better things we need to be doing. Plus, it takes time out of our day that really is a waste for that small a quantity. We are making about $.50 per bale, to go load it. That's say $5.00 for a special trip; really not worth it, especially if the farmer works another job or had alot of animals to feed, or alot of hay to load. We try very hard to get people co-ordinated to coming when we are going to be there to load someone else, or load our own trailer to make a delivery, or are feeding... but that also interupts what we are doing. If at all possible, try to get with this farmer and get some out of the field when they are baling, so they are "already there" and not making a special trip.
Is there any way you could get another "storage space" so that you could get say 40-50 at a time?. A friend has one of those "garage in a box" storage "buildings" that they use. I realize $300 ( or whatever the current price is - need to catch them on sale) is not chump change.... but once spent, and put up, it will really help you save time and money in the long run. You could also use it to store your lawn mower, or some other stuff in part. They also have the distinction of being "not permanent" so are not taxed like a building... and can be moved / taken down / reused somewhere else.
Another advantage is if you could have enough storage for a years worth, you would not have to deal with hay shortages and the increased prices and lack of availability. Ask anyone who is living in and dealing with hay shortages and terribly increased prices due to demand. That alone would pay for the storage.

We are older people but always show how grateful we are, my husband always helps load and we only ask days in advance for a convenient time to the farmer, the hay we use cannot be bought from the field, the man we buy from lives next door to his storage barn. At present, we can only accomodate the 10-12 bales and at our age, we will never have a barn to store a years supply. Being from the older generation and having been raised on a farm, we were brought up to be grateful to anyone that purchased from us and it was never a hardship to our family to accomodate all and to this day , I still live my life in this manner. I do however realize that most of the farmers of today, want to sell in large quanities and see small consumers in a different light. thanks for your comments.

 

[greybeard]

Well, I guess it might depend on how old the hay guy is but neither I nor Farmer Jan are what one might call 'young spring chickens'.
(I'll be 69 in a very few months)

I have read & heard time and time again, just how little return there is on hay nowadays and also heard lots of people say they got out of haying altogether and sold their equipment simply because it was no longer worth their time, effort, cost to raise, and hassle to sell to small quantity consumers.
It's usually the hobby horse people around here that buy it 'as needed' but they are paying out the nose for it. $12-$15/ small sq bale grass hay they could have bought for $4/bale back in June or July.
I have always bought all my hay in the summer, even if it meant I had to tarp it in my back yard or in a fenced off area.
If I had not bought mine early, I would have none, as I don't know anyone within 60 miles (one way) that has had any for sale since late December.

You might offer to pay up front at the beginning of hay season for all the hay you are going to need during the year, and offer to pay a premium, since he is storing the hay for you.

 

[Baymule]

We use round bales for our sheep and horses. We pay $10 per bale more than the asking price because he stores it for us and brings it to us as needed. Worth it! Plus we have a great neighbor/friend relationship and help each other when we can. I have cordless power tools that he likes to borrow for those far back pasture repair jobs...…. LOL