# Who Locks up their goats at night



## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I realize that everyone has different situations... re: where they live.. etc.
But I was wondering if all of your goats sleep in the barn at night. Mine tend to prefer a covered area out in their pen. We live in a fairly safe neighborhood, ie; hardly ever any wandering dogs... . But then I am in the city, and I know things are very different where all of you live.... So... I was just wondering???


----------



## Randi (Apr 22, 2011)

The does' cave is huge--about 12x24 (we converted the stripping room in our old tobacco barn) There are a number of things to climb on and they even have a big papasan chair. I close the door at night to keep them safe and warm, especially since we don't have a large guard dog.


----------



## Breezy-Trail (Sep 16, 2011)

I put them in the barn at night. They feel safer there. They are waiting for me to put them in around 6 (calling for me) but I usually put them in at 6:30.
Also in my field all they have is a 9Lx5W platform with sawhorses under it to provide a shady spot and something to play on.


----------



## Burns Branch Boers (Apr 11, 2011)

Mine come into a paddock that has access to 2 barn stalls. I find that they like to sleep, all together, in a corner of the paddock. They like the corner that is not covered and furthest from the stalls. In bad weather I have seen them sleep in the stalls or if it is raining under the overhang. 

I close the gate to the paddock at night and our LGD patrols the outside perimeter of the paddock.


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Mine stay out, but are in really secure fencing where they can't get out and predators can't get in. I also have 2 guard llamas for coyotes. My goats usually get in groups and lay out in the open through the night. They kind of just do as they please. :laugh:


----------



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Mine are in pretty secure fencing too. When we build a barn I'll probably keep them locked up, since we do sometimes have wandering dogs.


----------



## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

I live in the wilds of northern B.C where there are bears and wolves wandering freely. Soooooo, needless to say I lock my goats in the barn at night and know that they are safe from harm. They are also in a secure fenced area during the day except when I take them for walks in the woods. The barn is close enough to the house that I can see them and hear if there is anything wrong.


----------



## potentialfarm (Apr 11, 2011)

We live 1/2 mile into the woods & have a lot of coyotes, but have 2 male dogs (mark their territory constantly), of which 1 prefers to sleep outside. He has fought off coyote that were within 100 feet of the goat pens. Because of (I believe) the dogs constantly "scenting up" the property, I am able to leave the goat barns open. However, once the temps drop below a certain point, I close them in their barn every night for warmth. 
I wouldn't leave them open during the warmer months, except for my wonderful chow/german shepard mutt that, while he does not love goats, would never hurt them, and he hates non-human intruders in his territory.

I was posting when peggy did, and that's a great point ~ my goats are close enough to the house so I can see them, and hear anything that's going on. If they weren't, I'd have them locked up tight.


----------



## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

mine are locked in the barn and each of the 3 pens have runs on them that go outside each pen is a little over 1000 square feet.


----------



## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

Well I do both. My girls which are in the new barn and pasture are locked up at night. The boys are in a nice but smaller area and can go in and out of their house as they please. The girls are let out at morning milking znd put away at evening milking.


----------



## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

We put ours in at night, rain or shine. My mother-in-law would worry about them if we didn't "tuck them in" each night. ;-)


----------



## SkyesRanch (Nov 11, 2010)

I lock mine up. They are too expensive of animals to just 'leave them to the predators'.


----------



## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Our goats have nearly 4 acres to roam freely on and still prefer to not go out of our site. They come up close to the house at night. If there is a skunk issue, we lock them in a small chain link pen area. In the spring, with very young kids, they are always kept up close to the house in pens and newborns are locked in little covered huts with their mommas at night.


----------



## Mandara Farm (Sep 12, 2010)

We live in the outskirts of Boulder, in the county, where there are lots of coyotes. In fact, just last week a mountain lion was treed on the CU main campus in Boulder. Animal control shot it with a tranq and released it back into the wild, but yeah, we're not too far from lions and coyotes and bears, oh my! So, needless to say, my girls are in the barn every night.


----------



## Ebony Queen (Oct 8, 2011)

We are down in the valley near a lake where we have seen bears, cougars, and coyotes. We have an open pen with a 4 1/2 foot fence, and a very secure sleepig pen within their outdoor pen so even if anything manages to clear the gate, they can't find any vantage point. Chicken wire and wooden boards all the way to the roof.


----------



## Willow (Jun 12, 2011)

Ours sleep in their 8X 10 "barn" but with access to their pen [40'X70'] which is within our 70'X140' chain linked backyard patroled by our St. Bernard/lab mix - beyond the chainlink is our fenced in 1 acre pasture. Goats are pretty secure. We sometimes hear the coyotes howling and the dogs barking..


----------



## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

I live in a very small town that is surrounded by the wild. I hear coyotes all the time. They usually hang out by the ranchers down the road as he has cows that calve in the spring and fall. I have heard them up on the hill across the street too. Since I cannot leave my LGD out all nite...neighbors would complain if she barked...I lock my crew in at night. Not that a wild animal couldn't get in their pen, but I feel safer with them penned up.


----------



## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

Mine stay out in their pens all the time. Have a new barn so in winter the ones that are kidding or with small kids will probably be locked in at night. We have 2 house/outside dogs that protect outside the pens and also added 2 LGD pups that are in pens adjoined to the goats.


----------



## RMADairyGoats (Jun 20, 2011)

We lock ours up at night as our area is coyote country. They are everywere!!! If it were up to me I would get a LGD and leave them out in their small pen at night but my mom does not want them out.


----------



## WalnutGroveFarm (Sep 27, 2008)

I do not lock mine up at all, I did some at one time. But then my next door neighbors barn burned down with 22 does in that was weeks away from delivering their babies. She had them locked up and they couldnt get out. So I vowed to never do that because I would feel horrible if my barn caught on fire and they all died cause of me.


----------



## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

I am with walnutgrove, I worry to much of a fire if they are locked up. I feel pretty comfortable leaving our LGD on duty. The goats are all generally inside the barn at night anways. The only goat by himself is our buck, but is towards the center of the property and our pyrenees barks whenever he spots anything on the property (or the neighbors  ).


----------



## Dreamchaser (Oct 30, 2008)

I don't have a barn. But if I did, I still might not lock them up. It seems they do more damage to themselves in close quarters. It's just my luck.


----------



## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

The coyotes and dogs come up and check out our yard every night so needless to say my goats need to be put up. I don't have a barn yet but I lock mine up in a stock trailer at night to keep them safe. Coyotes still come up to the trailer but at least they can't get them. Or if its really hot I put my two dobie-rott cross girls in the pen with the goats for the night.


----------



## WarPony (Jan 31, 2010)

i selected locked in the barn, but it's not entirely accurate. I have different groups of goats and they are handled differently. My milk does sleep inside at night, are staked out during the day because i don't have my big doe pen up yet (they will sleep in the barn anyway, even after I have the front lot fenced because of coyotes and other stuff and because I won't have a guardian animal). My bucks/wethers are in a pen with a shelter that is pretty safe from predators (not entirely, but reasonably so) and they sleep where ever they want to sleep. No barn time for them unless they are visiting a lady friend.


----------



## rocky_ridge_goats (Aug 7, 2010)

I keep my goat locked in the barn at night. There's been quite a few coyote sightings recently in my area, and I don't like to take any risks. Plus, if my goat gets bored, he can undo just about any latch but the one on the barn because he can't get to it.


----------



## Iceblink (Dec 6, 2008)

My girls love being in the barn, I have to chase them out of it during the day. Needless to say, they go inside every night at dusk and I shut them in. I do have a dutch door so I keep the top part open at night for ventilation when it's hot. Since they have access to my whole back yard up to the back door, I like to have 'helper-free' time to do other chores in the morning before I let them out. 

I live in the city, so predators aren't really a problem, and we also have double fencing on all sides, so they would be safe if they weren't locked up.


----------



## jaycee (Aug 3, 2011)

I lock my girls in their paddock at night which is 70' X 50' but they always choose to go up into their 16' X 12' stall in the barn which opens south to sleep at night. They come in the barn when I feed around 6:30 pm and they generally don't leave it until they get fed breakfast at around 5:30 am. On the weekends though when I sleep late of course they will be out in the paddock banging their tin cups and yelling telling me I'm late. 

I have a lot of coyotes in the area but I also have 4 large rescue dogs, labs and boxer and Australian shepherd mixes. I have a hole in the pasture fence a couple feet off the ground that my dogs are trained to jump through and they mingle in and out of the goats just fine. The pasture surrounds the paddock so the goatees are protected by two chain-link and board fences and roaming dogs outside the paddock at night. I felt pretty safe because they discourage predators, but yesterday I had something terrible happen... 

They didn't bother the goats and I still don't think they would, but I certainly trust them a little less now. I had one Campbell duck that kept flying over the 5 foot fence around the duck pen. Everyday when I came home for a week she was out. Yesterday I came home and counted ducks and she was gone, then I noticed one of my dogs in the pasture eating her All that was left was two wings and the heart *sigh*. So now I'm just praying it was the same duck actually getting out and not a different one each day because I've read that once they've killed a bird its hard to stop them


----------

