# Goat shelter/barn ideas.



## jaytori220 (Mar 24, 2009)

This spring Ill be getting the goats a new barn/shelter. Right now they have a beat up rusted out metal shed. Its a good sized one but I wanna go bigger and I was thinking of going with this http://www.carportempire.com/vehicle-carport-6.php and enclosing it around the bottom on the sides. Its 18X21. We already have 2 of these. One for a workshop and one as a carport for what dont fit in the shop. They also make these with an attached shed that can be used as a feed room also. We are very hot and humid down here in Florida and I want something not totally enclosed that will get good air exchange. onder:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I've seen something like that used for animals with cattle panels set up inside for pens. I think if your climate is warm enough year round it would work out nice. If not you may need to enclose at least 3 sides.


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## Mully (Jun 23, 2009)

Also look at a company called shelter logic they have some good products that can be used for several years, I have 2 in the woods for the llamas and they have been there 4 years and are still sound.


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## CrazyAcre (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi,
we just installed one of these for my doe's, so they would be closer to the house for kidding, milking etc.
Here are some pictures of what we did, I don't have any pictures of the inside yet. I do wish it was bigger now, for hay storage and a totally seperate milking/grain room, its all open inside at the moment and not sure it I want to do an enclosed milking/grain room, I'm thinking of just adding on in the spring,
it is the 18x21 model, I do like it much better than my old barn though.








I'm having problems posting new pictures will try again tomorrow and some pictures of the inside.

We did take the metal sides off and used the same wood as on the ends, and plan to add more windows as money allows... 
I won't get black metal though as it is quite hot in there and I usually have a fan or 2 going, I am hoping that it will help keep it warm in the winter though as we get really cold up here.

We did purchased it used, and got all the other materials either used on the property left over from other projects etc. The only thing we got new was the wood siding ,and it was at a discount warehouse..
Now if I could only find another one for my horses (


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Very neat idea considering you don't have the 4 seasons your way <I'm in KY so we get everything here>.

We built a mini barn out of..........PALLETS. It's 16ft long and 12ft wide. We have a divider wall inside so it's made into two stalls - door on each end. These are kidding stalls when needed. I had a temporary shelter set up next to it, but now we are making a better run in shelter to see them through winter, and then we'll redo it in the spring with a good roof.

Here's our mini barn:

Well....I can't get the pics to load, Flickr has changed their format and I can't get the pics to show up 

Here's a link instead to a thread about it, you can scroll down for pics:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=14832

This has really been great through the summer as it's been very very hot and humid here - it's airy. I just use pallets in the doorway when need be, which right now is only when I feed my nursing does and the kids since they eat seperate. Eventually I'll get pics of the run in shelter which is between the barn and the fence - made out of pallets, and scrap wood, and about half completed.

We wanted a good roof frame so we did spend $$ on the 2x4's, but otherwise the only other expense was getting the roofing <Ondura roofing at Lowes, I believe was about $18.00 a sheet - 4ftx6ft>, and nails. Pallets are FREE.

So you could easily use things like pallets around the carport, or even use pallets for the shelter. It's amazing what you can do with them!
You can treat them for the weather so in the future they don't rot or look bad.

We're going to get some OSB for the outside of ours here soon to start getting ready for winter. We're getting OSB and going to treat it/paint it.


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## CrossCreekTX (Aug 10, 2009)

I built these for my poultry, but the does have taken over one of them. They share with some chickens. I'm planning to build another one, about twice as long and with 4 ft walls instead of 2 ft. I'll put slats on the walls instead of 1/2 hardware cloth. The goats have pushed the hardware cloth out by rubbing on it constantly.

These are 8ft deep by 12 ft long. The roof uses 4 sheets of plywood, uncut. the gables each use one sheet. If you cut an equilateral triangle off one sheet and turn it, it will cover the entire back gable. It really uses very little lumber for the usable space. I built them in 05 and put about 250$ into each one with pressure treated wood on the lower part and regular wood for the roof part. I used shingles on the roof but later started replacing the shingles with metal roofing over the plywood. The wind comes thru here really strong, fairly often and shingles won't stay on.


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## raygoat (Dec 6, 2010)

Wood frames are better than metal frames because they are cheaper. Corrugated metal roof is also great. It is easier to install. It only needs a few nails for few frames.

My minneapolis roofing


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## Busy Bee (Sep 17, 2010)

Hi I live in Northern Illinois and last year bought an industrial strength tarp carport with sides. This all is held together by bungie cords. We have built pens in it using oak pallets, this way it keeps the wind and weather out. I have only used shelters for my Nigerians before and still plan on using them, but we built the stall to help with kidding. The way we have this designed is so if we use it in the summer all we need to do is raise the sides and there is plenty of air flow. I am very happy with the strength of it all, and the cost was minimal $4 per oak pallet with the additional cost of hardware. I sure whatever you come up with will work out great.


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## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

I found that if you call around to metal roofing places, they will often sell the "short" (8-12') bits of roofing to you at scrap metal price so they dont have to haul it away. I got a bunch of galvanized metal roofing for .50 per linear foot and a bunch of 3-4 ft pieces for basically free. I used them shingle style to make a longer piece where needed. Sometimes the pieces have dents in them or spots where they are starting to discolor. Basically they can't use them for projects and they are just taking up space. We built an entire shelter out of downed pine trees for posts and sheet metal for our buck and his buddies.

ETA: We also put up vinyl strips over the door for the winter to keep the wind/draft down since here in NC it gets kinda breezy. It is by no means air tight but I see that as a good thing rather than a bad thing. Oh and I found that putting straw bedding on the ground (in addition to keeping them warmer) keep our LGD from digging holes in the house as well


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## Myakkagoater (Apr 10, 2010)

If you own the farm that you are living on it would be better to build an actual wood structure. Those carports are great and I have often looked at them. However, a small pole building will look much nicer for many years then a carport. Wood structures can also be added onto very easily. For $2000 a nice pole barn can be built. Especially if you can do some of the work. The way the economy is right now there are a lot of carpenters out there that would love the work. 

Go into some of the local lumber yards and see if they have plans and pricing on some small pole buildings. You may be surprised.

Tom


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Myakkagoater said:


> If you own the farm that you are living on it would be better to build an actual wood structure. Those carports are great and I have often looked at them. However, a small pole building will look much nicer for many years then a carport. Wood structures can also be added onto very easily. For $2000 a nice pole barn can be built. Especially if you can do some of the work. The way the economy is right now there are a lot of carpenters out there that would love the work.
> 
> Go into some of the local lumber yards and see if they have plans and pricing on some small pole buildings. You may be surprised.
> 
> Tom


I agree, we had thought about one of the carport ideas when we started out.

Instead, we've spent about $350 and have a solid 16'x12' mini barn and we are adding on an addition!

If $$ is an issue, here's an idea....
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=14545&p=181493#p181493

I updated it on page 2 with a few pics and info on what we are doing.

We built ours out of pallets, and it's VERY sturdy, the only supplies we bought was some of the 2x4's for the roof frame, and doorway frame, the Ondura roofing, and then the plywood. Nails too! We got all the pallets for FREE from local feed stores, and we've had friends give us spare 2x4's of different lengths, etc.


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