hw much space do YOUR goats have?

[lil' farmer]

A newbie asks: How much space do your dwarf or pygmy goats have?

We are thinking of getting a few of the dwarfs--but we live in town and our space is limited. We would have maybe 300 sq. feet for them to hang out in most of the time and then once a day I would let them cruise around in the yard when we are out there.

Thanks!

 

[julieq]

They don't need very much room, as long as you keep the pens clean. Our nine (soon to be ten) ND's are housed in our vintage dairy barn which I think is about 36 feet wide and about 60 feet long. We have a feed room, cement milking area and small hay storage space in the same barn, plus empty stall space for upcoming kids. They don't have outside runs.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i have dairy goats -no nigis or pygmys sorry. they have about 5 acres of pasture. makes for lots of forage and less hay to put out. but it was a pain to fence. at the time we had very bad goats and had to rig 6 foot high fence... yes, for all 5 acres. and there is a second pasture and barn that is about 2.5 acres. 6 foot fence there too.

 

[cmjust0]

Mine have about an acre each.

They need considerably less. Or perhaps I just need more goats.

 

[themrslove]

Mine have about an acre each.

They need considerably less. Or perhaps I just need more goats.

I am SURE that is it!

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

According to the research I did (and wrote about here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/09/15/nigerian-dwarf-goats/) two Nigerian Dwarfs need about 20 sq. ft. if they can also spend time outside.

Sounds like a couple of them would be possible with the room you've got. We are currently housing 3 in a 100 sq. ft. with occasional access to outside pasture - actually they've got a nice big pasture, but they won't go very far in the snow

 

[lil' farmer]

thanks to everyone so much. I'm happy to keep hearing from you.

 

[Ariel301]

I am keeping 5 adult full-size (120 pounds) dairy goats and 5 kids in a pen 30 feet by 20 feet. They are comfortable and have plenty of room, the older ones basically just eat and lay around and the babies have plenty of space left to play in. I do take them walking on a trail once a week at least, and the kids get let out in the yard to play every afternoon (mostly to give the moms a break from them rather than for lack of space)

 

[Our7Wonders]

My two big gals (140 pounds each if I measured right with the weigh tape) have an 8x8 shed with a 75'x20' run. I'm not currently set up to pasture - so we'll bring the pasture to them instead. We have another 150' x 100' area we hope to fence this summer to increase the area they have to wander in. I also hope to get them used to a halter so that I can take them for walks since they're limited in the smaller space.

 

[scrambledmess]

Our 2 pygmy wethers were in a 16x16. During the warmer months, they were let out often to roam. We just put a pygmy buck in with them. When the ground unfreezes, we will expand that area to 32x32 and build a bigger shelter for them.