# Planning a newbarn, need advice



## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

We are in the planning stages to build a much larger goat enclosure attached to a milking barn. So I need to know how much land needs to be cleared for a barn. I have been viewing barn posts and love the pictures that are still available for viewing, but unfortunately many no longer show up. So feel free to add as many pics as you want to give me ideas as you answer the following questions.

I currently have 2 Boers (1 prego doe and 1 special needs wether), 2 mixed petite dairy (momma found in the road and her daughter), and 8 Nubians (1 is prego and another is nursing triplets, the rest are unbred doelings).

1.) how many kidding/sick stalls should I have and what size should they be?

2.) how big of an area should be devoted to milking? Would like info on your setup.

3.) How much area should be devoted to food storage (hay, grain, etc.)

4.) How do you handle milking time? I am thinking in relation to everyone else who is not getting milked but wants to eat the food the doe being milked gets to eat. I really want to build something that eliminates chaos if possible. Right now I chain up half the herd and give them goodies to eat while I milk one goat. I am doing that once a day, but it won't be long and I will be milking twice a day and not sure how that is going to work out yet. So whatever set up I create in the barn, I would really like milking time to run a lot more peaceful.

5.) Any great ideas for barns that are working for you, or you wish you have included, etc. I really want to do this once and be done.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

No answers at all? That's sad.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

For kidding stalls, I would suggest removable panels so you can use that space when not kidding. How long you keep does in a stall and how many does kidding at one time will determine the number you need.

For personal milk, you just need enough room that it is comfortable to milk. Have it close enough to easily get a goat there but far enough so others can't get to it. I would figure out a gate system so you can easily get a goat out for milking.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I don't milk so I can't answers questions related to that. I think for about 10 breeding does that 3 kidding jugs should be sufficient. However, as has been noted in several other barn threads, it is quite a waste of space to have permanent kidding jugs that are only used about 1 week per year. It's better to have a set up where you can pop up temporary jugs and/or use them for hay/feed storage at other times. I like my jugs to be 6'x6' for full size goats.

Square bales are about 3' longx1.5'x1.5' - I imagine you go through 1-2 bales per day. So if you want to store an entire winter's worth of hay then you can calculate how much space is needed. Figure out how tall you want the stacked (I can't get them up & down easy more than 4 high).

I like to be able to hay, grain, & water from outside the goat loafing area (over a fence line or hip wall) because sometimes I'm in a hurry and don't have my barn shoes on.

There are good suggestions in these two threads if you haven't read them all yet: 
http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/f203/new-barn-plans-162676/

http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/f217/barn-shed-layout-plans-goats-161925/


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## Bootsy (Feb 4, 2014)

If it helps any at all here is a pic of our barn its a metal building on the goats side we put a garage door in the back and a wide door on the front and I built a fence across the front on the inside to give me enough space to store feed and some meds and such


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## Bootsy (Feb 4, 2014)

The rear door leads to their barnyard in which is about a acre im about to expand that some because between them and the llama there is not a green leaf on a tree from the ground 6 feet up


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## Bootsy (Feb 4, 2014)

We have 25 acres we just purchased pics above other than the road that is cut in ill post a pic we only cleared 2.5 acres for the future sight of our log cabin then about 1.5 acres for the barn and the barnyard


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