# Trailers...What do you have?



## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

Out of curiosity what kind of trailer do you own/use to transport your goats? Size? 
Brand? 
Do you like it/what issues have you had? 
Where did you find it? 

I'm currently in the market/trying to figure out what the next car/truck and trailer combo should be. 

Thank you!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

I have 2 trailers...an old 2 horse that needs a little more work and is the perfect size for goats (has some flooring issues that need fixed before it can be actually used for goats). And I have my gooseneck horse trailer that gets used most of the time....5' by 16' I believe. I have also been known to transport goats in dog crates....even in the back of my van. I hauled a full grown kiko buck 2 1/2 hours that way! Boy did my van smell for a couple weeks! LOL If you find a good trailer for a decent price, don't hesitate to buy it. Around here, they are obviously made of gold because you can't find even a fixer-upper for less than $500 for a 2 horse....and the price just goes up and up for anything bigger....

The gooseneck is a homemade one and the 2 horse is an OLD one.


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

I've had two trailers and now just have one.

My first was a 2 horse 1994 Cotner with a dressing room. I _hated_ that trailer. It cost 5K and over the course of the 3 years we owned it we had to dump 3k into it. It was fine to haul with, but it seemed like one thing after another repair wise. We even had a door fly off of it on the highway. Now _that _was fun to deal with.

After a few years with it and having bought more horses we got my current gooseneck 3 horse with a dressing room. I love it! The gooseneck is so much easier to hook up and it rides like a dream. I also like that with the slant load I don't have to always back horses out. We put a mattress in the neck and stay in the trailer when we go camping. I put the goats in there too, when they travel and everybody seems to like it.

I got both trailers from a dealership. If your looking at used trailers make sure you really go through everything with a fine tooth comb and get it inspected. Even if it looks nice still get it checked if it's older or even kind of old. I know plenty of people that have burned on used trailers and I of course I had my own money dumping venture with my old one. I think there are plenty of great used trailers out there, but there are also plenty of lemons..


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## Jason (Dec 10, 2013)

We use a "Goat Tote" for our goats. It's 4' x 6' and fits in the back of the truck. There is a cover that came with it that will cover three sides and it works great for our needs of just running a goat or two here and there. the only draw back is trying to lift a 200lb Boer doe up to my tailgate to get them in it, so I put my fitting stand in front of the tailgate, and have them step up to the truck. Still not perfect, but for $400, it beats a horse trailer. Not to mention backing is a breeze...lol


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## Emzi00 (May 3, 2013)

I'll tell you about my ******* trailer.... :laugh:
My dad has a trailer that he made out of the box of a pickup, that he uses to haul wood and his manly stuff like that.  So, I cleaned that up a bit and put a topper from the 70s-ish on it and... bam! ******* trailer! :lol:
It works well though. My dad even joked around about painting it pink, and then letting my uncle borrow it. :lol:


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

We just have a wooden trailer. It's 8x4 and we fit basically 20-25 bales of hay on it at a time, for goat transport, we have to tie them to the rails if they are too big for our big dog crate. If not, the crate gets nestled in between bales of hay to block the wind and keep it from moving at all.
It works for us as we have only a few goats and do not show them or anything. It's also very easy to hitch up and easy to back up.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I usually don't use the trailer unless i'm hauling big loads. I use a truck with a canopy or a truck with dog crates in the back. This is easiest if I just need to move several goats or less.

If i'm hauling a lot of goats, i'll use the horse trailer. It's a silverado aluminum goose neck. You can fit about four or five average sized horses in there. It's a nice trailer, but even being aluminum, it's heavy and not fun to pull around. Found it on craigslist for a pretty good price.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

When i was taking lots of goats to shows I have a 4 horse stock trailer to haul them. I would use that and the back of the truck with a topper.

you can find the toppers on craigs list pretty cheap.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I have a little 4 by 7 trailer. It's built on the front axle of a Volkswagon car so, it has springs under it. We have a heavy tarp top for rainy days.


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## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks for the responses! 

Would the topper fit 3 full size goats? or would you have to put everyone in separate crates?


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## rustygoats (Feb 11, 2013)

I built a pen that fits in my truck. 4X6 roughly. When I need to haul a buck i strap it to my flatbed trailer and off we go. Talk about getting some strange looks going down the road with a pen strapped to a trailer with a billy goat in it lol.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

We have a pen made from cattle panels that is 4x6 and it goes on our trailer. We have hauled up to three Nubians in it with no problem.


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## GoatsLive (Jul 1, 2012)

We have a Kia Sedona mini van. What I did was cut a 3/4 inch piece of plywood to fit behind the front seats as a barrier, and then transport the goats in the rear of the van. For feed and hay, we built our own trailer from scratch, which cost less than 1/2 of buying one from the farm store.


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## fiberchick04 (Mar 8, 2010)

We have a goat bumper pull trailer and a goat tote. If we take all of our goats to a show then we have to rent a semi and trailer.









This isn't ours but this is what ours looks like.









Same with this. Just showing what ours looks like.


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## Stacie1205 (Mar 26, 2011)

All of my goats have come home in my 2005 dodge Caravan. I can get 3 small ones behind the back seat no problem. I brought home 3 full grown boer goats and put 2 back there but the third wanted to be with them so she went over the top of the seat and just rested pretty much on top of the other two, lol. traveled over an hour that way. Brought both young bucks home that way also. I just lined the back with old feed bags and hay to try and keep it clean. I have a 2 horse trailer for bigger things like mini donkeys and horses. But I have a new truck now so will probably be using the trailer more unless I make a goat tote for the truck bed. The ones I have seen lately look like 3 cattle panels cut in half and then put together in a box shape. Probably just clip them together with dog clips and tie it in and your set! Might be a bit difficult to get a very big goat up that high but then again, they really didn't like the idea of the back of my van either, lol.


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## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

I have an 8 ft bed in the truck I use it has the topper for It I just put up to 6 goats into the back and away we go not the best and make sure the topper is locked but it works:laugh:


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## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks everyone those are great ideas!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Our F150 doesn't pull loads very well up hills. We put a canopy over the 8' bed. Fits 6 grown Boers easily.
Should have gotten one a bit taller though.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

We have a 6'x8' livestock trailer, it's very strong, and great trailer. We used it the past 2 years and it's been great for hauling the kids goats to their 4-H shows, getting hay, etc.
We made a divider in it, nothing fancy at all, but divided it into 3 sections and worked great.

It's a great trailer if your hauling animals often, but we really don't use it other than in the summer. So we're thinking about getting a horse trailer instead, something with a solid top so in the winter I can possibly store hay in it 

I don't have a recent pic, but still looks pretty much the same.


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