# Building a new doe barn!



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

We are finally in the works for building a new doe barn! We're planning to use a carport as the roof/base, and trying to figure everything else out from there. I'd originally wanted to order it today, but will have to wait until Monday most likely so we can figure out all the details. Hoping it will only be a 3-5 week wait for install (fingers crossed).

Do any of you have a carport shelter? Pros and cons? I've asked on a FB group and got good info, but always looking for more considerations.

Our biggest issue right now is placement. We have a small place with a creek that runs through the middle, it usually has no more than 2' of water in wet season, and seldom comes out of its banks near the current setup. We plan on installing a thick layer of gravel and some crushed type of rock (Class I sand most likely) on top.

Placement... my husband wants to have it facing east/west (our home runs long ways east/west). It would work, BUT, we wouldn't be able to see beyond it - into the doe pen, or view of the back of our place. Otherwise that option is fine.
But if we sort of put it where the old doe shelter (cattle panel shelter) is at and just move it away from the barn a bit, having it face south/north, we can have more of a view of does, creek, back of our place, but... barn, buck shelter and new carport barn would be grouped up so we'd really have to consider drainage options (we have no issues inside the cattle panel shelter as far as drainage issues go, floor is built up higher than outside).

We'd agreed on having them enclose the sides with metal and we'd enclose the ends so we can make doors, windows, etc. out of wood. But I'm wondering if it would just be better to do wood all the way around. If we do metal we'd put panels or something on the inside & outside to keep goats from touching metal.

We'll do either spray foam or wrapped foam sheets for the inside of the roof to hopefully help with condensation and weather conditions (cold in winter, HOT in summer).

We're planning on doing 20Wx32L. Front half 2-3 stalls on each side (Boer goats), middle would be creep area for babies to come out into, and back half for does to sleep/lounge. Open it all up when stalls are not being used is a possibility.

Sorry to write a book, but if this all works out I figure this might help the next person who wants to go with this idea as well 

I've considered maybe we could do the sides like this:









Or sort of like this. Again not sure if we'll do sliding doors or doors that open up. I worry about goats jumping on the doors so have to have a way to keep them from destroying them lol










This is the same size carport we are planning to get, this one has the sides and the end gables. We've debated 1 enclosed side, and the rest wood, both sides enclosed upon installation, but have not talked to my husband about the Gables yet. We'll be installing posts inside to help with keeping it tied down and support if we ever get any snow (we have had very little the last couple of years).

Also planning to do a barn red not brown


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Wow. That sounds great! You have lots to figure out. Good luck!


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Very nice idea. Will cameras help see the does if the placement of the building blocks the view? You have alot of choices..but they all sound good. Cant wait to see what you end up doing!


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

I think @Jessica84 has a carport shelter, but I could be thinking of something else.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:great:


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

I would want to be able to see more of the beauty were it ours. Also. In door placement.... think and pay attention to what way most of your weather comes through. I would try to put the doors opposite of that.... at least that is how we do it here. But our barns are quite open on the fronts too. So the way the weather comes in most of the time might be a bit more important to ours.


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## Goat Whisperer (Dec 3, 2018)

I would use wood on the side. We know a lot of folks who have done carport shelters and every single one regretted doing metal siding. They just become a hotbox! I'm glad you are going to insulate the roof- I was going to mention that! We just put up a 40x60 pole barn (kit from builders discount). Love it! We insulated the roof as well. Worth the $ in the long run!

Make sure you make it tall! In our old barn I would constantly hit my head (several diagnosed concussions...) because the bedding builds up in the winter, and you don't have as much head clearance. You may also need to put in 8+ inches of rock and grit depending on mud issues.

Another thought..... Think about gutters. With the pics you put up, I don't see any good way to install/utilize gutters. Rain coming off the roof can flow right through your barn. We just had gutters put on our barn for this very reason. It SUCKS when you barn is muddy/flooding.


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## NDinKY (Aug 3, 2019)

Thanks for posting this thread! We were actually looking at a carport for equipment storage (trailer, spreader, tractor, implements) and hay storage, and also having a buck stall to get them out of the main barn and give more room for does. 

Any idea if it is difficult to attach wood siding? Do you have to put in wood posts for support? I really like how the one has the clear panels to let in light.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

MellonFriend said:


> I think @Jessica84 has a carport shelter, but I could be thinking of something else.


I do but I use the tarp kinda carports. 
Can't wait to see what you do. You always take your time and think things threw so I bet it will be wonderful. Although I cringed a little when you said you were going to take down your cattle panel shelter lol my two cents is if you have the room to keep it up do so, you can never have too much shelter. I still have my original little shack I first made for the goats and it's not used much but it sure comes in handy when I need a little pen with shelter


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much everyone! We're excited and anxious to get this project under way! But trying to figure out the best route to take with it has been a back and forth issue. 
I definitely don't like the idea of losing view of the place, but after looking and looking again, having front/back facing east/west is probably best because of drainage issues that we'll face. Small space, and everything will be kind of cramped together.

Goat Whisperer - I agree about metal siding, I've heard the same thing, and it worries me. I told my husband we should just order the carport and if he really wants metal siding, we could order sheets in the color we want from Lowe's, then we could cut out windows. But wood siding IMO would just be better because we'd still need to cover walls so they can't mess with the metal.

I want to have windows - maybe glass, but doubtful, I'm afraid we'll find a dumb way of breaking them lol. But at least wood doors on the windows we can open and close as needed, could even put screens to help reduce bugs/flies in good weather.
I would LOVE to put the clear roofing sheets around it to allow light inside especially in the summer like in the first picture I posted above. Then have the windows spaced out.

NDinKY - A lot of the pictures I've looked at when searching carport barns, carport barn wood siding, etc. and a FB group people are putting posts in the ground, then drilling holes in the carport frame and attaching carport to posts for added security, then attaching the wood siding or boards to the posts. It was recommended to me to NOT attach the siding to the metal structure legs and weaken the metal with a bunch of holes. But attaching the metal frame to posts with limited holes wouldn't hurt it.
We may use a company called Quality outdoor products, a local feed store orders through them, and charges 10% down, delivery and installation is 20% of total carport price, total remaining amount due on carport is paid upon delivery/installation. Not sure how other companies do it. Big issue is time frame for delivery/installation, I've heard some companies are running months behind.

Jessica - Aww thanks I appreciate it! I actually do plan on repurposing the cattle panel shelter, just not sure where/how just yet, waiting to see what we come up with on the new barn. Once I order the new carport and have a delivery/install date, we'll tear it out and put it up temporarily where it's out of the way and the girls still have a place to sleep.

This first pic is view from my back deck. Orange tape shows the length and about where it will be although we'll move it to the left more so it's not right up against the barn. All that old fence will come down. Because the grass is grown up so tall in the creek it's hard to make it out, but creek runs right through the middle of the place on the left side. Old bridge is back near the left corner of the little buck pen in middle of pics (where the old hay is at). We're also getting ready to install culverts in the creek to make a new bridge!



















Terrible angle, and measuring tape isn't straight, but gives an idea how wide it will be


















Makes it look little lol But the new building would be 20x32, and the cattle panel shelter is 11x19.

Please don't mind the mess of a barn front, haha. We'd fully expected to add onto the front and take off all the doors, etc. so we haven't done anything with it. So when we get building materials for new shelter/barn, we'll fix the doors on the front of the barn and get it all up to par so it's not an eye sore. I'm hoping to finally paint the buck shelter next week, although we still need to find some more boards. My husband used pallets for the sides, and filled in openings with pallet boards, but I can't seem to find the same sized pallets so the board will fit.

My son and I dug up the electric to our septic pump the other day (wire laying across the ground in some pics), it ran through the edge of the doe pen gate, and along the fence, so now it's buried out of the way. A plus? now we know where it's at, if we want to eventually run electric out to the new shelter and have a couple of power outlets that is a possibility.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

HoosierShadow said:


> I want to have windows - maybe glass, but doubtful, I'm afraid we'll find a dumb way of breaking them lol. But at least wood doors on the windows we can open and close as needed, could even put screens to help reduce bugs/flies in good weather.


I don't know if this would be possible, but you could have plexi glass windows. My prefab barn has plexi glass windows and they are great.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

MellonFriend said:


> I don't know if this would be possible, but you could have plexi glass windows. My prefab barn has plexi glass windows and they are great.


Thanks that is definitely something we can look into!

Next big thing I need to figure out is a good, affordable wood for siding! I don't want any gaps for drafts/rain, but my husband likes the looks of using boards vs. sheeting. Although... I told him, we could still do metal sides if he wants as long as we put in windows and allow air to flow through.
My daughter's show animals would stay in the barn, so I'm planning on getting some fans to use as well.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

(thumbup)


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I'm ordering the new doe shelter/barn tomorrow! Finally! We went to look at some of the buildings yesterday at one of the dealers so my husband could get an idea of what we are getting ourselves into.

So... it will look like the attached pictured carport but longer.

We started tearing down the cattle panel shelter this evening. 
Poor thing... but it sure did it's job, but what an eye sore it became  If we had painted it, then I think it would have still looked fairly decent.


















We set up the cattle panel with cover elsewhere, but honestly don't think the does will like being over there next to the house, so we may have to move it, but at least if it were to rain they have access to shelter. I may end up moving it back there next to the fence where the boys are at. 
I'm getting ready to get paint for the buck shelter so we can get that painted, and eventually repaint the barn, and take that feed bag off the front - the top door is warped a bit so strong wind/rain storms were blowing a little water into that front area and we had feeders right there. one day I hope we'll still at least put a covered roof over the area in front of the barn. Going to reconstruct that front area that sticks out, and make it so we can push 2 round bales of hay in there with double doors.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

So exciting! I can't wait to see what you do with it. The does must be like, wait I thought there used to be a barn here.:what:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

MellonFriend said:


> So exciting! I can't wait to see what you do with it. The does must be like, wait I thought there used to be a barn here.:what:


Thanks! Yes I agree, they are locked in the back of our place during the day, so when they came up they were like... 'Where's our home?' lol.

They are laying around the hay feeder in the cattle panel shelter old spot tonight. Tomorrow I may try to come up with a better spot for their temporary shelter. Forecast is now calling for a lot of rain tomorrow which I wasn't expecting the word 'torrential' in the forecast. Ugh. So we'll figure something out. Where we put it, the trees would help block some of the rain, plus there is the smaller shelter.

If they act like complete damsels in distress, I'll just have to rearrange the boys. 2 young bucks and a wether have the side of the barn closest to where the cattle panel shelter AND 1/2 of the buck shelter. So I could always move them out of the barn. Please pray that doesn't happen because I can see it being pure chaos lol


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I haven't been on here in a while, and thought I'd update! So the building spot is ready for gravel. Unfortunately, the truck couldn't get the gravel onto the spot due to soft ground (got stuck so it's as close as he could get it). We had 2 loads of #2 delivered today. We'll either see if we can rent a Bobcat from someone we know, or if we have to we'll manually move it with shovels and wheel barrow (done it before -- gravel around the barn area and in the buck shelter lol).

Yesterday morning I burned all the old wood from the cattle panel shelter, and dug up some muck from the old shelter where it packed into the floor like dirt. 









Marked location for the new shelter!













































Dump truck was just too heavy to get around the corner, darn! But it's much closer than dumping it in the driveway!









I was really hoping we could have had it dumped on the spot, so this weekend with rain coming we could get an idea of where drainage issues could present. Fingers crossed we can get this moved quickly because I am anxious to plan out where to bury some drain pipes to help with any issues as it will definitely not be an easy task.

It will be another 2-3 weeks before we get the carport installed but we're hoping to get this done and leveled so the ground has a little time to settle.

So that's where we are right now. Slowly getting there


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

(highfive)


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Nice! I hope you can rent the bobcat.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks! Well, Bobcat is looking less like it will happen due to the extended forecast - rain which means soft ground getting softer, ugh. So we've been doing manual labor and honestly, we almost have the 1st load moved. My husband and son got a lot of it moved with my daughter and I helping. My arm still isn't right (ugh), so I try not to over do it.
Expecting rain tomorrow especially in the afternoon with heavy rain a possibility, so we may not get much more done until Saturday afternoon or Sunday.




























We've downsized our herd considerably, these are 6 of our 8 does! (2 adults and 1 baby doe stay in the barn at night so baby can get to her creep feeder).
The girls think I have cookies when they heard my water bottle crinkle lol









Harmony on right is dam of Mindy (2yo) and Aspen on the left (yearling).









Misty (red) is our eldest doe (5 1/2), and her yearling daughter Willow


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## NDinKY (Aug 3, 2019)

That’s exciting progress! Good job getting all that gravel moved, sounds like quite the task.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Aww your girls are so pretty! :inlove:


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

You guys are doing :great:!! Its so nice to read about how YOUR FAMILY is doing this together! So happy for you. I really like how well your plans are coming along. Your girls look really good as always..
But I think the Kentucky Derby is coming....you going? I hope so...your pics are amazing...!!!:clapping:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:nod::up:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks! It's getting there! My husband and kids were able to get the rest of the 1st load moved! The girls are getting used to their new temporary housing, but still protest a bit.



Moers kiko boars said:


> You guys are doing :great:!! Its so nice to read about how YOUR FAMILY is doing this together! So happy for you. I really like how well your plans are coming along. Your girls look really good as always..
> But I think the Kentucky Derby is coming....you going? I hope so...your pics are amazing...!!!:clapping:


Thanks so much! I will say my son is not enjoying it, he wants us to bring the Bobcat in and do all the work lol but I can't blame him. At this point I can't really help them, my arm was complaining last night - nerve was twitching on the back of my shoulder/lower backside of my arm last night and this morning, it was so annoying! Stiff today - never had nerve twitching before. I called my family doctor and left a message to see if I can go ahead and get a referral for another doctor, so when she is able to call me I'll give her more details (last doctor was a hand specialist and hard to get into him). If I need to do therapy, at least I can try to find somewhere local. I just feel like therapy alone isn't going to fix my issue. thankfully I feel okay tonight, just a bit stiff.

Yep, Derby is Sept 5th, but I am not going. Honestly... I don't want to go this year which is a shame as I think it's shaping up to be a good one. They are not allowing spectators and last I was told only 20% of media - there are HUNDREDS of people who go every year in the media, it's crazy. So that is a major cut. There is just so much unrest in Louisville I don't feel safe going there.
Instead, I am waiting to see if I am approved to attend the September Yearling Sale which starts in a couple of weeks. They have an app that you have to apply for a credential through and require testing, which I plan on doing on site testing for. 
Praying I can work the October Keeneland meet, then we have Breeders Cup in November at Keeneland. We have a big team for that, so I am praying they approve credentials for the whole team (official photographers for BC).


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Wow..you are a busy lady...Now when do you have time for kidding? No wonder you are hurting.
I dont blame your Son..Bobcats are fun to play in. And he wouldnt have to hurry....so he could play a long...long time!:heehee: Now you also have 4H &.Ffa??? Whew....I remember those days...lol.
Well I bet your new Barn will be stunning. And I love your photography..So I hope you get into all the sales and races you want. Cant wait to see what you do this year! Congrats and good luck!!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks Moers I appreciate it! Yeah my son was looking forward to the Bobcat, but turns out we won't need it! My husband has gotten nearly all of the gravel moved! He's asking 'so... what are we putting on top for the floor?' lol. I wanted to wait and do the floor after the building is setup, but he wants to do it before it gets here. So now we have to figure out what to use. 
Class I sand is what we have in the buck shelter and used it to build up the floor over a foot, and put stall mats over part of it where they sleep. But... unless it's packed firm (which can be hard to do), then when you sweep you'll sweep the little pelleted gravel and dust with it as it is a fine pebbled/dusty gravel.

lol guess I was holding my phone at an angle, oops looks like it's on a hill haha 


















I've had mention of using Limestone? I'd love something that packs in flat and firm and not as easy to pull up with the broom or rake. We may eventually put some stall mats down, but not sure it will be soon.

I honestly am not sure what will happen with 4H/FFA outside of the sale in a few weeks. The livestock club has done 'nothing' not even online meetings or educational stuff since February. So fingers crossed we can figure out ways to get the kids involved. My daughter won't get to do FFA this year most likely as she doesn't have an Ag class (and is doing virtual schooling). She'll be in High school next year and we can push more for FFA.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Looks good!


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Last winter..I think it was @happybleats .it was a very wet year and they were putting down an inexpensive product the dried hard. Easy to sweep. They used it for pathways. I dont remember what it was called. Maybe you could ask them.


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## daisymay (Feb 13, 2017)

there was a farm i visited. they had wood floor where the goats were, kind of like a deck but, slats(2x4 but the 2'' side was up) if that makes sense so the manure and urine goes thru, i think they made them 4'x4' or something like that so they can pick them up to clean underneath a couple times a year. i believe every other one had a slight angle. it was really neat for the barn area, kept it clean. someday im going to try it.


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## Feira426 (Dec 11, 2019)

Look at you go! How exciting, and looks like you are putting so much thought into it all. I’m sure it’ll turn out great!!

As far as wood siding, I also prefer boards - they are much sturdier than the siding panels I’ve used, and if something happens to one you can just replace the one board instead of a whole large sheet. 

Just my two cents, and I’m sure there are many pros and cons for either!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

So much being accomplished, coming along nicely.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much! I'm sorry I'm so late in replying, the last few days have been a bit busy and every time I tried to get on, I got interrupted lol!

Steve - THANK YOU for the suggestion! I am going to put in yet another call to my doctor today, and I will mention that to them! It's definitely frustrating, and avoiding any kind of shots would definitely be nice, especially until I could get into some kind of specialist. I really think I need a surgeon that specializes in back/neck/arm - last one I seen was a hand specialist.

We have 8 mature does, and a young doe who I'm not sure we're keeping = we opted to sell all our other young does and not retain any, so I don't really know how I'd wean her without splitting up our does. I told my son we should sell her, we'll see. 
Part of the reason we are building the new building is so my daughter has a place to keep her show goats as well, and so she can better care for them and prep them for showing. She likes to show registered Boer breeding goats in the county fairs and a few ABGA shows, but with our county fairs all being cancelled, she only got to go to '1' ABGA show this summer. So we're planning on letting her keep 1-2 Market wethers, and some commercial doe projects. If I knew the shows would be cancelled we would have tagged in does to show in commercial classes! So we'll be more prepared next year. We'll also be buying 1-2 new young does for her to show in ABGA shows, and most likely will be buck shopping for a young buck that she can raise/show. We love our current buck who just turned 2yo, but she doesn't want to show him as he is a bit hard for her to handle (hard to keep him standing still lol). So we'll see, we may sell him, or may just end up buying him a new young buddy. Decisions...lol.

We haven't been able to work on the building site in a couple of days thanks to the rainy weather. Hopefully we'll dry out some after today. My husband only has a tiny bit of gravel to move, but we need to take new measurements and make sure we have some overhang on the sides then level it the best we can.

I will message Happybleats about flooring and see what they used and have some ideas from friends on FB


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Steve89 said:


> TENS are available over the counter, physiotherapists may have one you can try out. Definately investigate the cause if you can. Remember the average surgeon will advocate their own services regardless. If you can get a scan done to look for nerve impingement, but remember many scans only show extensive damage (false negatives). Lol nothing like insurance companies to make one jaded with healthcare (doh)
> 
> Im sure others will have more specific advice but if you bottle feed very early they will be easier to handle and also wean. If you get 2 in tact males they may spray/fight more?
> 
> Looks great already, look forward to seeing the finished product


Thanks, I appreciate it and will look into it! I've seen a general ortho who couldn't pinpoint issue (started with a cyst in my wrist daughter was playing and squeezed my wrist back in Oct, pain shot up my arm and it's not been right since then with tingling, muscle pain, weakness, etc.). Ortho said cyst wasn't an issue... Seen one of the best hand surgeons in our area, and he said compressed nerves in my neck, but I still think it goes beyond that. He recommended therapy, it helped but only took the edge off. I feel like it's localized in my arm, but goes down into my back. The cyst has shrunk to nearly being gone, but if you run your finger over the site, it has a burning sensation afterward. So weird.

We've actually raised goats for 10 years and don't bottle feed - I try to avoid bottle babies as much as possible honestly lol. We've just been needing this barn upgrade for a long time. Our barn is just too small and the cattle panel shelter just wasn't working out - we need something bigger and hopefully better.
We normally keep at least 2 doe kids each year. Most of our does kidded in January, and planned to keep 2-3 doe kids, but decided to sell everything and use some of the $$ to help pay for the new building. This little doe we have now was born in May, and is the only May doeling we got from 2 kiddings (her brother is weaned and in with my daughter's 4H wether). 
We normally have 2 bucks together or a buck and a wether and don't have problems - normally. We just sold our bucks twin brother back in June, and they got along great, but they played all the time. The brother was more dominant, but neither would try to hurt you. So hard selling these guys, but fun to change bloodlines, and with my kids showing, it's good to get young stock to raise & show, then use for breeding.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

We're hoping to order the flooring to put over the gravel this week! We measured the gravel spot yesterday and hubby just needs to spread some rock around at the front of the building site and it'll be ready for the next step!



















My next concern is drainage. We need to work on installing some drainage pipes. I'm just not sure how/where we should do it yet but planning on doing a French drain type of pipe buried that will go from front far corner (near barn) of new building site out towards the creek, then install 2-3 different pipes in the area beyond the building site. We'd like to build the ground up in these areas, but not sure how/what to use. Dirt will just turn to mud. Gravel isn't an option right now ($$ this is an expensive project already have $422 in gravel so far!), I had thought about a load of wood chips? My husband says no, but I know it's going to get muddy!

Pictures below -

This is between creek and building site - it's dried out/firm now as I took this a few days ago after a lot of rain. This is the back side of the carport barn, and where the does will come/go into their sleeping area. The darker spot is where the dump truck's tire sunk more than half way in!


















Yesterday - creek is where the grass isn't cut.









This whole grassy area gets swampy. 









So that's where we are right now on this. Kind of on hold until after this Labor day holiday.

BTW, I saw this idea on a FB group and plan on doing something like this on the back, but bigger/wider.









Also doing the back similar to this (most likely with wood and a window of some sort in the middle). That away the left side would go to the front yard if we want them up there (where they stay at night right now), and the right would allow them to go out the back. When we have kids we prefer to keep them in the front area. So if we want them to go one way, we can shut the other door (gate in the summer). So far that's the plan, let's see how much we change it or how much my husband hates it lol


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Looking Good! You guys are comingnup with fantastic ideas! Fascinating reading about your ideas:!:clever:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:nod::up:


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Looks good!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks I appreciate it! I can't wait until it's installed! I am very much a visual planner, so it's hard to figure out how we'll do the inside.

We also need to finish the buck shelter. We just have one wall that still needs boards. I want to get it painted in the next couple of weeks. Really should have gotten it done so we could paint it this week!

We raised the floor about 1' or so with Class I Sand earlier this year and put the stall mats over it. Warm months we don't keep any bedding down, and that also keeps them from wanting to pee inside! The young boys generally will not pee in there if we keep all the hay swept up, same with the big buck. They are wasteful with hay though, so between hay/poo we sweep twice a day. I did just sweep his side out - he is the worst with hay, looks like he has a party with it lol









Weird wide angle pic. Yep gotta get this thing done, we built this last year and never finished it lol. My husband is being picky about the pallets for getting boards off of (ugh). Need to cut the extra length off the top (we were going to extend the roof and decided not to). Ignore the mismatch barn lol we never finished painting because we had goats back there that wouldn't leave it alone years ago lol Getting ready to paint barn too! Barn was originally that blue grey color, I told hubby nope RED! haha.










They yucky green area is near the gate (not pictured) and that is where the buck likes to pee lol. We're planning to work on that part of the pen just not sure yet what we'll use - gravel or make a walkway with large rock. It gets pretty mucky in the winter/wet months.









So this is about what it looks like in the evening if it's swept out in the morning. We have a pile and pick it up every other day or as needed. I don't get too picky if it's mostly spent hay.









Not fancy, but it has worked out great. It faces the east, near the fence/tree line and really helps keep the weather out. Now to get this thing finished, I just need to measure pallet boards and see if I can locate the exact same size (came from construction site).


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thought I'd update our progress so far! The Carport is running about a week behind, and should be here sometime this coming week.
Last week we got Grade driveway Gravel and put it over the 2" gravel. It was quite funny seeing this big truck back there. This guy wasn't going to get stuck and he didn't lol




































While waiting, and having some dry weather I picked up some barn paint and we got the buck shelter painted. When my husband takes his vacation he's going to find the right sized pallets so he can pull boards to fill in the gaps and get this shelter done!









The boards that are longer are there on purpose to help hold the rocks/wood barrier on the bottom in, so the Class I sand flooring doesn't erode out over time.









Got this shelter that the does currently have access to as well.




































These old sheds are... OLD, haha. They are next to the house, and are in need of major TLC, but look good now with a new coat of paint (minus 1 side - ran out of paint lol)









I'm not thinking Bonfire for these things anymore right now...lol


















I want to paint the barn as much as I can hopefully in the next week. Can't really do the front doors until my husband fixes them.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

:great: Lookin' good! I love red barns. All of ours are red with the exception of our largest. (It has such lovely knotted wood, we stained it instead). Can't wait for your carport to get here! I hope the installation goes smoothly for you.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They look great!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Nice.


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## Goataddict (Jun 8, 2020)

:goodjob:


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Looking Good! It's amazing how new paint can make old look great!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thank you! I love red barns and I agree it's amazing how a new coat of paint can make old buildings look great again! 

That run in shelter that we painted yesterday we got from our neighbor about a year ago. He passed away back in March from cancer and is missed so much (Retired Ag teacher, active in his Church, long time sheep breeder and all around great man). It felt good to revive the shelter, I thought about him the entire time. 

Still nothing on the carport yet, but I'm hoping if no more delays that it is installed before Friday as I start working at the horse track on Friday. Crazy that it's been 11 months since I've photographed a race there!


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Thanks for posting! I've been hemming and hawing about painting (or staining) an old barn on our property we use for hay storage. It really does make a world of difference! I need to do it after seeing your sheds all done up.

When you put the sand in the buck shelter or the gravel where the doe carport is going - what did you use to compact it?


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

SalteyLove said:


> Thanks for posting! I've been hemming and hawing about painting (or staining) an old barn on our property we use for hay storage. It really does make a world of difference! I need to do it after seeing your sheds all done up.
> 
> When you put the sand in the buck shelter or the gravel where the doe carport is going - what did you use to compact it?


Your welcome! I bet your barn will look great! We had put it off partly because paint is so expensive (at Lowe's), and not having the buck shelter completely finished with missing boards. But then I saw that Rural King had 5 gallon buckets of flat red barn pain for $53 vs. Lowe's $103 (glossy and apparently the only one they sell now). I need to go get more as soon as I get a chance.

Honestly, we have done everything manually. If you can level it as best you can and put down stall mats that IMO would be the best/easiest way to compact it. My husband used a heavy canvas that he anchored the sides down and let the boys walk over it for a couple of months before removing the canvas and putting what stall mats we had left down. 
The mistake he did make was not building a good barrier around the sand. I highly recommend at least a wood barrier to keep the sides from chipping away. He sort of has a barrier on the sides, but later on we'll end up working on that to make it better. The front corners he didn't quite have enough sand to go to the wall, and that area chips away which is frustrating when cleaning - then the little guys dug it out a bit since that seemed to be a perfect sleeping spot (lol). But again If we had a barrier and a little more to fill that in, then the hole wouldn't be there.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Oh good tip about the Rural King paint, I would have never thought to look places other than lowes/home depot for paint but we have Runnings here, I bet they have similar to Rural King!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

SalteyLove said:


> Oh good tip about the Rural King paint, I would have never thought to look places other than lowes/home depot for paint but we have Runnings here, I bet they have similar to Rural King!


Yep, definitely check around! I really didn't know where else to check other than TSC. The local Ace Hardware is fairly expensive on anything. I try to avoid Walmart, but I haven't checked to see if they sold any. I love the new Rural King, it's about 20 minutes away if I take the interstate. Rural King tried to come to our town years ago and the town boycotted it. I understand it would hurt a lot of the small businesses, but come on... people will just go spend their $$ in another county...

Carport update? They should be here bright and early tomorrow to start setting it up! Fingers crossed all goes well! We're very excited! But then the real fun will come... once it's set up we have to get an idea of what we're going to need in order to get it ready so the girls can at least move in. Their temporary setup is fine, but they absolutely don't like it and want to be back near the barn and I can't blame them.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thought I'd update that our carport was installed today! We love it and can't wait to get started on getting it ready so eventually the girls can move into their sleeping area in the back half!























































We'll have to figure out what we'll line the walls with (OSB or plywood would be ideal, but prices I've heard have skyrocketed....), insulation needs to happen in these first steps and get that out of the way.
Sleeping area in the back needs to be done, then the stalls.

We have some ideas for the stalls - using old horse stall doors! We have some of these old stall doors that we can cut to size and use as stall dividers like we did in one section of the old barn


















I'd really like to put them to use inside because they are just going to rust out in the weather. 
Plan is to cut them to size and paint them (need to find ideas for paint!).









We plan on completely redoing the fence in this section anyway as well as the buck pens. We may end up selling our buck after we are done breeding so no rush on this right now.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

That looks great! (dance)Those stall dividers look like a really awesome solution.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Looks great!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:goodjobhighfive)


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Congrats! That looks really nice! I hope the goats enjoy all the work you have done!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks Everyone I appreciate it! I've been super busy the past several days, and haven't had a chance to work on anything. I'm hoping to get a chance to do that tomorrow - start looking for and pricing building supplies. I thought it would be easy, but now that it's here I am so scatterbrained. Where to start? lol. I'm thinking we should start on the back wall and doors first, then get the back half done so the girls can move in, then work on the front. We placed it so the front will face east - our weather usually blows in from the west or south, sometimes from the north, very rarely from the east.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I thought while I actually have time to sit down at my computer I would update what we did with the barn! We got a super late start on it thanks to my son wanting to paint his car inside it before we started enclosing the ends. My husband took 2 weeks off work after Thanksgiving to get it ready in the 'nick of time' before 4 of our girls kidded end of Dec.

It has worked out wonderfully! We still need to make front and back doors though, and my husband has been debating on what to use, but I think we're going to get fence boards and make them out of those. We decided hinged vs. sliding.

This is the back of the barn, there is a doggie door for does to come/go. Right now we have the big door boarded up until we get doors on it. Front looks the exact same just no doggy door, and is boarded up with a piece of OSB that we use to cover the temporary doorway to get in/out. Windows are also boarded up for now, but hoping to get those done soon. We plan on making wooden frames for windows and screwing on pieces of the clear roofing panel or something similar vs. using glass. I want windows that will open.














































6 stalls, last one on the right side is currently for feed, etc. My husband has actually got the post in the ground to get it finished. Dividers are either snapped or wired in place and can be removed as needed.

ALSO... he installed electric! Yay! We have 2 outlets, but considering adding a 3rd towards the back as I have another light to hang up back there.

We opted to use wood on the gates for now vs. panels as it helps keep the draft off the babies when the door is open.









One thing I like about this setup.... we have options. between taking out panels and securing the gates this way if we ever wanted to open the barn up more we could. 









It's not fancy, but beats what we had and put the fence boards to use which would have otherwise been piled and left to rot and these are good, strong boards. I bet when they are painted they will look really good!

After doors and doing much needed fencing so these guys can go out more often is our next big thing. BUT... on the front of each stall I am wanting to make little doors that we can open/close so when they are in stalls at night, babies can play in the barn aisle or go to the back stall which will be their creep feeder. 
Tomorrow I am hoping to go to a place and look at creep panels so I can take that back stall panel off and put a creep panel on so that stall (where bottle babies currently live) can be a creep feeder.

Because of weather and need to put up a fence, these goats are inside much of the day  I don't want these does mingling with our pregnant girls and fighting with them. So that is my goal the next few days = getting fence up. Trying to decide what to use is the issue. Fence boards and wire, or buying fence panels. I'm headed out to measure the area in a few minutes to weigh my options. We have good, strong panels, but want to save those for a new buck pen. Right now we turn 2 moms and babies out into the back bigger area that is 15'x20' to play, then mid day we switch them out so the other 2 can go back there. Today they can go outside as it's nice out.

I just have so much to figure out for the future. 2 buck pens are needed, a place for all the does to sleep after kids are weaned. New barn is solely for pregnant does, moms w/babies or will be for any doe kids/does or wethers my daughter shows. I'm sure it will be very hot this summer so the less goats we have in there the better.


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Very nice! I like the ability to move panels and change the layout. I agree..with windows , doors & paint it will be amazing. So happy for you !


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

It looks super! It must be so exciting have a brand new set up like that. Congratulations!:goodjob:


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

Looks great! I’ll bet you’re relived to be about done.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks I appreciate it! I definitely can't wait to get it done, but have so much work to do once we can get this mostly done. Fence and where to put it is our biggest challenge. We've agreed on some things, but my husband doesn't realize we have to plan for the future as in, summer time. We'll probably have 4-5 young bucks through the summer if there are shows & still need to look for a new buck in about a month (when this group of kids are ready to wean so he'd have buddies). 
All 8 does will be together and finding a place for them to sleep or be out of the rain is the issue. I honestly am thinking we should set up the old cattle panel shelter (panels and cover only), in about the same place it was but running same direction as the new barn - after we put down gravel, then they could sleep in there during the summer into fall, or in barn if weather is nasty/stormy. So we'll see. I'd honestly love to buy another carport to put in that spot and maybe make some sides - even with fence boards so they have a good place to sleep and eat hay. We'll see what happens and what I can convince my husband we need lol


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Looks great!


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## fcdairygoats (Jun 24, 2013)

Looks great! I can't wait to start working on my barn this spring.


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