# 4/15/08 Barns - what you like or dislike



## StaceyRosado

Please join in and tell and show us what you have for a barn/shelter. What do you like most about it? what would you change if you could? Or anything else.

A few of us are building here (myself included) and would like to know what you find most helpful or wish you had.

Please mention what type of goats you raise and for what purpose as well as how many goats you have.

(ifyou need help with posting pictures please let me know by pm or e-mail [email protected] and I can help you, we WANT to see those barns/sheds/shelters!)


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## sparks879

lots of outlets and lights! a well lit barn for those dark winter nights. as well as being able to feed from the outside. a in door and an out door. that way the does arnt crowding you at one gate while youre trying to shove one back through. latches you you can undo and latch with one hand while your holding a goat. thats all i can think of for now. Im sure i will add to it.
beth


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## Nancy_in_GA

If I were building my barn again there are two major things I would do different.

Make the ceiling higher. We followed some plans for goat barns that said to make them lower than a normal barn (like 7') to help keep heat in better in the winter. But when the bedding builds up over the winter, the goats can reach the rafters. Difficult to hang lights.

Hire someone with a bobcat to make a hill, or crown, at the building site so there would be no drainage problems.

The thing I like most about our barn is we added a shed roof to the front, so we drive a pickup under it and deliver hay when it's raining. Unfortunately since the barn is so low we can't drive our tractor under it because of the roll bar. 

Original barn (summer, 04)
http://home.earthlink.net/~nlyons545/si ... n_barn.jpg

Barn with shed roof added (fall, 05)
http://home.earthlink.net/~nlyons545/si ... d_roof.jpg

Shed roof with hay feeder added: (fall, 06)
http://home.earthlink.net/~nlyons545/si ... feeder.jpg

And I definitely agree about being able to feed from the other side of a wall.
I think this is a great topic! Wish I knew about this forum back then.


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## Muddy Creek Farm

Nancy I really like your barn! I will get photos of my barn when it is clean :greengrin:


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## StaceyRosado

oh please do! i love your barn and some good angles of everything would be great. 

My dad says "give me plans" and I have no clue what I want!!!


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## Muddy Creek Farm

I am thinking about cleaning it tomorrow if I get a chance, and I'll take lots of pics :sun:


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## sparks879

nancy i really like your barn as well. Do you think you could take more pictures. It looks perfect for my size herd. my biggest problem here is where to put a barn. We live on a hill and there are very fe flat spaces. the one the house is o is about it. we live ona corner lot. Have just under two acres. we decided to put the goats in the gull;y area so we wouldnt have to mow it. there is on flat spot where the doe shed is but we are having a hard time with a barn designn. So far the best we have come up with is make sheds around the pasture, and use the existing shed/barn as a milk room. during the winter there is a lake that forms in the low part of the doe pen. when it gets too full it flows through the kid pen and the buck pen. where do you keep kids and bucks? do you have more then one pasture area?
maybe someday i will have flat ground....
beth


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## Muddy Creek Farm

Stacey - I doodled up a drawing of my barn so you can see how it is arranged.










And here are some photos I took today

Doe area









Another view 









And another 









And yet another









Our new kidding stall









Buck area


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## heavenlyhaven

the barn at my old place was really nice
you would walk into one door (big slider)
and there was a large open room
to the immed left was my feed stall and then my chicken coop
the chickens had their very own 'pasture' that had a roof and fence on 3 sides that could be covered in winter
directly in front was the goat stalls and they had their own pasture and of course their own doorway into that pasture
to the immed right was a door with 2 steps down into the cattle barn with a big slider door and their own pasture
the manger was to your immed left once you got down the stairs and then the headstalls 
the back 1/3 was a horse stall
back up to the main section
above the chicken coop and feed stall, going from the front of the barn to the back over the goat stall was a hay loft
above the entire cattle/horse area going from front to back was another hay loft
to me, that was an ideal set up
now i only have a handfull of goats and a 1 room barn
chickens have their own seperate coop and feed is kept in the garage :worried: 
if i ever win the lottery i'm gonna buy 1000 acres in the middle of no where and have the farm of my dreams :ZZZ: (everyone can dream)


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## Nancy_in_GA

Beth, I can guarantee your land is flatter than ours. Our barn is built on a terrace. Water seeps down from the terrace above. No kidding done here, just 12 (very tall, nubian and Saanen) pet goats. It only gets cold here from Dec to Feb, and rarely below 20 degrees, so we left the front open.

We used a building plan from the Canadian Plan Service. I searched for it today online and it is gone, but I downloaded it on my pc. Better than more pictures, I think.

Overview (pdf, 538k):
http://home.earthlink.net/~nlyons545/si ... /8162l.pdf

Details (pdf, 215k):
http://home.earthlink.net/~nlyons545/si ... /8162p.pdf

We modified the plan some: 
Spaced poles 8 feet apart from side to side and 7 feet from front to back.
Used 4x4's instead of round poles, and a lot of metal Simpson strongtie connectors. 
Made 3 sections instead of 4, so it is 14x24. 
Left off the planked bottom walls.
And of course, we made it only 7 feet tall (on average)

The roof design was what sold me on this plan. It was my very first building so I appreciated the simplicity of the roof.

This is probably more information than you really wanted.  
Nancy


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## Cinder

This is a great thread as my 'barn' consists of an igloo dog house right now. My hubby keeps asking me what I want for a future 'real' barn and these are great ideas. I'd love to hear from more of you.

Muddy Creek Farms - what is the black plastic like stuff hanging in your door? Do the goats mess with it?


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## Muddy Creek Farm

It is rubber stuff that we cut into strips to keep the wind from coming in the doors especially during winter. And nope, they do not mess with it! My goats actually have never eaten tarps or plastic or anything but their food lol. They are very picky eaters :wink:


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## StaceyRosado

thanks chelsey that drawling helped me visualize so much better the placement of the pictures! I really like it. I think I am going to redue the designe after talking to my dad and I like how you set that up.


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## Muddy Creek Farm

I had fun drawing it lol. I just wish I had another kidding stall, but I do set up a temporary one in the doe area when I need to.


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## StaceyRosado

I only have one kidding pen at the moment but hope to add two with my new barn.


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## all1965

Our barn it a horse barn that the goats have taken over.
When you are walking to it it has a big roll down door in the front. The middle is open. To the left is a tack/feed room and 2 stalls. To the right is 3 stalls. The stalls and tack room are 10x10. We have another roll down door in the back so we can close the barn compeltely. There is a light in every stall and tack room and 2 in the middle of the barn. We have a water faucet inside the barn as well. The barn is tall enough and wide enough to get a tractor through it. In front of the barn is a concrete slab the length of the barn and about 5 feet wide becasue the barn is kind of at the bottom of a slope. It helps with drainage. I will take pictures once I clean it. It's been raining so much here I havn't had a chance to clean it.


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## jBlaze

What a fun thread, lol. 
Nancy, I see you don't get snow! Your roof is so flat, not steep. I would love to add on to one of our barns too, but more just extend the roof, but the peak is not tall enough to extend without going too low. 
Muddy, love the sketch, it really helps. Love the bench.
Beth, I love barns on a slope! You have one side that is level with the top of the slope and easy access, and the other side is up off the slope and you get a nice cool cave under your barn.  

My barn is on flat land, so drainage sucks, we get mud holes at the doors into the paddocks. I need more hay storage. (or fewer animals, as if!) I really like having great lighting, water and electrical outlets in each stall. A concrete people area so easier to clean. I have gutters on the barn too, which my folks did not have, so that's cool. 

We have 5.5 acres, with 20-ish goats 5 horses, 4 alpacas and currently 4 llamas. 
goats are lamanchas, and a couple obers and one saanen, and the pygora fiber goats.


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## PiccoloGoat

MCF, I really like the idea of your barn.
I might just steal the idea  

though in the photos its hard to make out the kid area but meh
See I might be moving soon and if i do im getting goats (yay :stars: )
So I am going to think about barn ideas so i have something in mind
I might have a gate into the buck area inside and outside, though


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## Rushtawin

Shelters really depend on what you want and what works for you. I've used everything.

-A one stall mini barn/storage shed split in half... where the other half was a feed/bedding storage area with a latch the goats couldn't open. It had a hay feeder and an automatic waterer, with the hot/cold spigot and bug zapper light right outside of the barn. Each half had a light. The door was split in half, useful for penning the goats up. Outside were giant electrical spools of varying sizes and a wooden bench type thing... fencing was heavy gauged livestock fencing, the gate was chainlink and sported a ton of bungee cords, and then a second gate. 

-Livestock panel hoop houses are great and cheap to construct. Hog clips excel at holding them together, and they're fairly sturdy, especially if you add pressure treated lumber around the base... which also maintains the n shape. You can then use poultry or livestock netting/wire if you need to enclose the front/back of it, with shade cloth or tarps to provide protection from the elements. They are very functional - usable to pen the goats in at night, protect youngstock, kennel dogs, or coop poultry. 

-I fenced in the sides of a 12x12' shed to the roof and am hanging doors on either side of the south face. I will be dividing it in half, extending runs out from each door. The doors are sturdy enough to contain dogs or goats or whatever else suits my fancy. I will be adding a tarp or wood to make it wind and winter proof.

-Dogloos and Vari Kennels make my goats so happy it's unbelievable. They've also used empty Rubbermaid mini stock tanks to nap in, even when they have access to a barn/shed/other enclosure. I'm not kidding when I say I've had to remove 4 full grown Nubians from the large Vari Kennel/Pet Porter, which opted to sleep on top of each other - much like a litter of puppies. Oy vey! =)

As for advice on barns/building plans? Overhangs rock my socks off - I love having them to set up PVC troughs, automatic/creep feeders, hay storage, or whatever else suits my fancy. I love portable stanchions, which have wheels and look like they're set on hand trucks/moving dolleys. Make sure to have enough counter space in your milkroom! I hate having to navigate around clutter. I also insist on being able to store grain in rodent proof containers. 

Doors should open into stalls, away from the aisle or milk room for ease of handling. I like being able to use a cattle/horse gate to keep the goats in the barn aisle when they're not in their pens or milk room - it's easier than chasing them all over the place. Spigots should be centrally placed around the barn and between pastures. I LOVE hot water spigots in barns! The girls LOVE warm water after milking except in high summer. (They also LOVE salves used on their udder after milking, but be sure it isn't a type that will alter the taste/scent of the milk.)

 Other things I've learned...

If you're milking, your scale, refrigerator, and back up buckets should be in reach (unless you've got a small enough herd to bring the milk into the house fridge). Alfalfa fines double as cat litter and can be used in stalls to cut down on wet spots. I like having a few bucks pens and a few handling/back up pens, to double as kidding "jugs". I enjoy long, low, metal water troughs - easily scrubbed out with a plastic bristled broom (to avoid bending over). Round bales save me a lot of money and labor. So does ordering syringes in bulk. Online sites are much cheaper than the livestock supply/feed stores or vets' offices. Kelp is a great supplement! 

I have a mini cooler that I bring with me to the farm, with Epi for allergic reactions to vaccinations, antibiotics, etc. along with CD&T vaccination or whatever else I need for the trip. It doubles as a place to sit if my bucket or milk crate are out of reach. And, with a cold pack and 7-9 ice cubes, it stays chilly enough for a few hours at a time... and is a great place to store water/munchies. 

Carabeeners are amazing at securing temporary fencing.


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## Julie

If there was one thing I could change about my barn ... it would be easier access for cleaning. What I mean by that is ... for my pony's stall we made doors big enough that I can get my skid loader in and out and just use it to clean the stall ! No back breaking work !! It's actually FUN !
But for all my other stalls/pens, I have to wheel around a wheel barrel in and out to get to the muck. My buck pen is basically in the middle section of my barn ... so I have to wheel the wheel barrel inside of the barn up to the pen, fill it up (it's a small one, so it only takes a few scoops to fill) and take it through my barn, out the door, then to wherever the muck pile is. This takes a million trips ! Which means it takes FOREVER !!! Maybe I just need a larger wheel barrel  :scratch: :shrug: 

Anyway, I would just have some type of easier access (if possible) to get my pens cleaned out.

Other than that, I got running water, a hose hooked up to the water supply, electricity, lots of outlets, lots of lights, a XL feed table (which I LOVE), a sink and counter top, a two story heat box, etc. etc.


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## Amos

here is our small barn/shed set up:










The winter buck pen area; the does use it in the spring in summer, when we have the bucks in the pasture on the other side of our property. But otherwise the the bucks stay there in the winter out of the wind and we put up a small leanto for them.

Goals would be to extend the fences into the woods a lot more, get a better kidding 'pasture', convince the donkey to move into the back pasture on the other side of the property, and basically get a bigger shed!

We have an old huge chicken shed that hopefully by next year my mom and I can get our hands on.


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## grandmajo

This is a great thread! My hubby is putting an addition onto "his" pole barn for the goaties, and the ideas here are really helping me to see how to divide up the space inside. We were given a 27 x 37 building free for tearing down, so we are using the lumber, siding, etc from that. The goats area will be 16 x 40 feet, right now we have the poles cemented into the ground, but I'm going to take pictures of it as we progress.


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## sparks879

Actually your land does look a bit flatter. We live on a pretty steep hill. the front door is about ten feet above the ground, we have stairs and a deck where the back door is just about ground level. That kind of gives you an idea. The barn is the same way, one wall is taller then the faceing walls because of the ground. We had an extremly hard time fenceing and this is the main reason most of our fencees are electric is because it goes up and down hills nicely. I will see if i can get some pictures.
beth


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## nancy d

I cant believe I just found this thread. Muddy Creek & Nancy you have great set ups!
Around here we are using an old long chicken barn for storage & kidding stalls. 
We didnt think to make the gates to the stalls wide enough for a wheelbarrow :scratch: 
Theres another bldg that is about 15x20 with front & back doors. Neither door was made for wheelbarrow, one side has 3 wooden steps maybe someday we will build a ramp and take the darn lip off the threshold.
The former chicken barn had a couple of bare light bulbs in it with the first ever invented wiring, complete with porcelin and you had to tighten or loosen one bulb. It got a little scary when that one stared smoking when you turned it on!
We did have both bldgs rewired a few yrs back so there is flourescent lites & enough outlets all placed high enough so goats cannt reach. And motion lights to the entrances! Do I love those things!
We all sit on a gradual slope and get all the run off fromt he road above us. The lower pen is mush and the upper one isnt much better. It has a three sided 6X10 shelter with a 10x20 car canopy butted up against it. 
10 goats (mostly Boers) are perfectly happy cause their hay rack is there the lazy buggars. They usually pile up under the hayrack & the cottage as we call it.


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## newmama30+

I wish I had found this thread before...We have 22 does and four kids right at the moment mainly Kiko x and Boer x. But DH took the Machine shed and divided it in half so i have 2 16x64 pens or i will if the second pen ever gets finished. Our current Barn was built in 1929 or so and is falling down but in the spring I am getting a new one 32x60 with hay loft running water, bathroom, wash bay, Feed room, and three kidding stalls/horse stalls we have mini horses so they dont take up much room. Also the barn will divided in half so that DH can have feeder calves also. Plus a spot for the poultry.  so cannot wait.


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## rocky_ridge_goats

In my barn I like...

- Lots of space for Bill, and enough for another
- the ablity to put a window or two in 
- the dirt floor

In my barn I dislike...

- no hayrack
- no windows
- no people entrance
- roof that's a bit short
- no real place for storing hay
- no seperate stall for seperating an injured/sick/kidding goat


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## Chi Chi

If you check out our blog we built a sheep and a smaller goat barnthis year. Because of our temps and land we have our barns elevated with special treated wood floors. It has been a blessing this winter and last year a lot of people had their barns flooded with all the rain we had- goats we high and dry. I love the little goat door in the side of the barn. Love having extra wide dutch doors. In warmer weather I leave the top open and they get a nice cross breeze with the two windows on the other side. I love the ramps we have. We also have two vents in the roofs that are allow light in. We are still adding more stuff in the inside and tweeking things.

[urlhttp://operationhomestead.blogspot.com/][/url]


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## Ruby Farms

We have an old dairy barn. My husband has done a really good job in putting in stalls for my goats. I still have 7 more stalls to put in. 

You can see my pictures on my Facebook page. There are too many to post here .. lol =)

Before winter sets in again we will have more electrical outlets, more lights, an electrical hot water heater, the barn won't be such a breezy place and won't leak.


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