# Shelter for 2 goats



## PiccoloGoat

I'm starting to think I may need to start planning the shelter we need to build soon. I'm getting two miniature goats and they're living in my backyard so it's going to be nothing like a barn but just a shelter to get out of the rain and sleep in if they wish. I was just wondering how big it should be and what kind of floor would be best. I've been seeing a lot of mixed opinions on dirt vs concrete and I was wondering if maybe paving the small area with flat stones and filling the gaps with dirt would work? So it would be easier to sweep (I imagine) while also draining pee and stuff 
Any thoughts and ideas welcome


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## nancy d

One of our 3 sided shelters is dirt. Floors in bldgs are wood. Plain ol dirt works fine, it absorbs urine pretty well.
Any surface is going to require some cleaning; large flat stones sounds like a great idea.


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## PiccoloGoat

This is the best picture i can find to explain haha









but maybe closer together.
Do you think they'd be happy enough on the stones if I found flat enough ones? I guess some sleep on concrete but i want them to be comfortable  Should I also add straw or something or is it not necessary?
I'm trying to gather as much info and stuff as possible before I get them so they can be comfortable and happy with me


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## keren

Alyssa I would just have a dirt floor. A three sided shelter will be fine, get a few free pallets, nail them together, put solid sides and a roof on them and they will be quite happy. 

When do you get them? I was wondering just the other day


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## PiccoloGoat

Oh good dirt floor means less work for me I guess  Just wondering if there was better options
I was thinking about the pallet idea, because everyone seems to love them here. My step dad could probably get pallets but all the pallets i see in my area are painted red or blue and it makes me concerned that it might be poisonous paint?
anyway I'm trying to make sure they have a nice cozy place with enough air flow and i was just lurking through the posts and found this picture|








I like it a lot! i wonder if it would be hard to build..

I haven't heard anything about the progress of the does or if they have kidded yet  I was thinkuing about sending her an email to check in. I'm getting anxious!!


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## Dayna

That doesn't look to hard to build. Just make sure the one side is like 12 inches higher than the other so that the rain rolls off the roof.


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## keren

I reckon your step dad could make something like that easy

yeah I would send her an email


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## PiccoloGoat

I checked the first email she sent and t was sent the 13th of December and she said over the next 8 weeks so it should be really soon :shrug:
Plus another 5 weeks on top of that (that's when she said the kid is ready to go)

Also I found some free pallets close to my area so I need to talk to my parents a bit about what the plan is. 
I'm just trying to figure out how it would be structured. Do you use big posts as a base and nail the pallets on?


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## keren

You can literally just nail three or more pallets together and put a solid roof and solid sides if need be. Or you can go more fancy and use posts/wooden beams like in the picture


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## PiccoloGoat

By nailing three together do you mean width or length? 
I think we have some scrap metal roof stuff around to use for the roof


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## keren

two for the sides one for the back and a bit of tin on top


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## PiccoloGoat

Oh! Now I understand haha 

I'll let you know how it goes.


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## HoosierShadow

We were going to build a shelter like the one in the picture - that's where we got the idea, I found it on a sheep farm website.

We did build our barn addition something like that. Except instead of using single posts, we used pallets and went 2 pallets high, then my husband cut the pallets on the backside so they weren't as tall, so the roof is slanted.
It's 12' long and about 7 1/2' wide. 
If you look here:
http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/f203/goat-barn-updates-138075/

That'll give you an idea how we did it. 
What I didnt' show though was on the lower side/backside, there is a section, about a foot high at the top that is not covered with OSB to allow air circulation. 
If you did something like this, make sure to leave an opening for air. The back of our this is facing east, our weather comes from the north/west/south, so no worries about wind/rain/snow blowing inside. 
We're going to put a door on it, probably next weekend, just need hinges & a handle, and if weather gets bad, we'll just close it.

BUT, if you built a shelter similar to that, you could do a double dutch door.
In the link I gave, if you look at the front door of our barn, you can open the top and close the bottom vise versa.
So if weather gets yucky you can at least close the top, so they can go in/out the bottom 

Just thought I'd throw out a few ideas for ya


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## PiccoloGoat

I know I stole the picture from your thread hehe

I'll have a look at yours when I get on the PC. 
I don't know if doors will be needed to be honest, our weather is pretty good. Never snows. No cyclones/hurricanes or anything of the like. We sometimes get windy rain but that's about it. 
I'll try figure out what direction the wind and stuff generally comes from and build to cater to the natural happening.


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## keren

yeah tbh I wouldnt worry about the door. Three sided shelters are sufficient in Australia


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## PiccoloGoat

I'm trying to think of a way to use the shed in the backyard as part of a wall but either there is a tree in the way or a fence too close/low 
*pulls out hair*
That shed is such a pain. Smack bang in the middle of the flattest part of the yard.


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## HoosierShadow

Glad you don't have the weather to worry about. We're in Kentucky, and we get a little bit of everything here. Right now it's 'supposed' to be winter, but it feels more like a roller coaster LOL This time last week we couldn't make it to 30F, today it was mid 50s, tonight low is 51! Tomorrow & Wed 60s! Then back in the 30s and 20s. Rain, snow, wind. We don't get a lot of snow though, usually 1-2 decent snows - enough to play in. Spring thunderstorms can be pretty bad though with heavy rain, lightning, wind, and we've had tornadoes too close for comfort.


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## PiccoloGoat

Oh yes me too haha. Very lucky. Though sometimes I think a little snow or two wouldn't be half bad. We don't get quite cold enough though. 
There's big floods right now in Queensland and it makes me so glad I don't live up in the tropical part of Australia.


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## keren

PiccoloGoat said:


> I'm trying to think of a way to use the shed in the backyard as part of a wall but either there is a tree in the way or a fence too close/low
> *pulls out hair*
> That shed is such a pain. Smack bang in the middle of the flattest part of the yard.


Make it the goat shed


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## keren

seriously though, shelter for two mini goats, not that difficult. Get a big dining table, nail some wood to the two short sides and one long side, and hey presto you have a three sided shelter for them to hide in AND they can sit on top of it


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## PiccoloGoat

You have no idea how much I want to make it the goat shed *rolls eyes*

I think that would be too low though because I was half planning for it to be where their feed and minerals would be kept otherwise there's nowhere else to keep that stuff out of the rain. And I wanna get inside there with them


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## HoosierShadow

Pallets....get you some pallets.... <can you hear my echo? lol>. Here we can get wood pallets for free pretty much anywhere. We use them for everything. If you have that access, you could make a nice shelter. Since you dont' have all that icky weather, all you'd have to do is nail some pallets together to make it big eough, and find something for the roof. For the side that the weather/wind comes from you could use a tarp. 
You could use a piece of OSB/plywood over the top, just have a board to help support it in the middle, use a tarp or two over it and around the side where the wind would come from, and as long as you have a decent tarp and tie it so it's not flapping around, that should work. 
This is what we've done in our buck pen, we kept saying we'd make a permanent shelter and never have lol The tarp needs replaced, but it's a couple of years old from another project. When I went in there to feed the buck one day last spring during a wind storm, I didn't want to come out because the tarp worked great at keeping the wind out.

Do you have a picture of the shed and area around it? maybe if you post pictures someone might be able to suggest ideas 

BTW, the weather looks to get 'interesting' here tomorrow. They are saying strong/severe thunderstorms, possible tornadoes too! As a cold front moves through. Wonderful...NOT! I admit, storms scare me.


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## PiccoloGoat

I tried my best to draw a diagram of the area they have.








The red is the house, the yellowish thing is the edge of the porch/patio area, the black is the fence. Brown is tree/bushes. The green is the shed. It's not really in proportion but you can assume the edges of the picture are the fence between my backyard and the neighbours.

The shed is in an inconvenient spot as there is room all around it but not a whole lot. I'd say maybe 2 or 2.5 metres behind, 1.5 on the right and 3 on the left. Also my yard is a downward slope until there where it levels out. The fence on that left side had a lattice extension that makes it much taller than the other sides so I planned to build around there so the little bugs can't get out!


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## HoosierShadow

Hmmm... Is the shed full? Or could you move things around and use 1/2 of it for storage stuff, and 1/2 for the goats? If they are mini's they wouldn't need a huge space, and that looks like a good sized shed.
If not, how far to the left can you go? Maybe move all that stuff that's sitting over there on that side, and make a little shelter next to the shed?


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## Goatgirl21

PiccoloGoat said:


> I'm starting to think I may need to start planning the shelter we need to build soon. I'm getting two miniature goats and they're living in my backyard so it's going to be nothing like a barn but just a shelter to get out of the rain and sleep in if they wish. I was just wondering how big it should be and what kind of floor would be best. I've been seeing a lot of mixed opinions on dirt vs concrete and I was wondering if maybe paving the small area with flat stones and filling the gaps with dirt would work? So it would be easier to sweep (I imagine) while also draining pee and stuff
> Any thoughts and ideas welcome


I made mine out of pallets and tin. Both were free. They make very sturdy shelters and are easy to make. I cant load a pic, keeps saying system just crashed, ill keep trying. But basically I took 5 pallets, 2 for the back, one for each side and one in the middle (to make a 2 stall shelter) screwed them together and put tin on the roof and sides. My pallets were shipping pallets so they had smaller sides and I used those for the top for the tin to be screwed onto but a couple 2x4s would work. There ya have it, Instant, sturdy shelter.


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## PiccoloGoat

HoosierShadow said:


> Hmmm... Is the shed full? Or could you move things around and use 1/2 of it for storage stuff, and 1/2 for the goats? If they are mini's they wouldn't need a huge space, and that looks like a good sized shed.
> If not, how far to the left can you go? Maybe move all that stuff that's sitting over there on that side, and make a little shelter next to the shed?


Yeah the shed is full of stuff and I'm not about to ask my step dad to move all his crap. (It's a never ending battle) 
Yeah we're getting rid of a lot of that stuff that's an older photo, we've done stuff since. I was mainly scared of building too close to the fence but there might be a good spot


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## PiccoloGoat

Goat girl I like that one


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## Goatgirl21

PiccoloGoat said:


> Goat girl I like that one


Hey the pics actually uploaded lol


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## Goatgirl21

Goatgirl21 said:


> Hey the pics actually uploaded lol


Heres a pic from the back covered with tin. I have built several and working on another now for the kid pen but ill add tin to the front so it will be more enclosed to keep the little ones warm. Its plenty tall enough and I put their minerals and grain inside on the pallet rails.


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## milkmaid

On our property, I have to add dirt to raise the floor or it will be very muddy during rainy weather. So unless you know there will be no drainage problems, it's a very good idea to raise the floor! A few wheelbarrows of dirt does the trick.


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## PiccoloGoat

milkmaid said:


> On our property, I have to add dirt to raise the floor or it will be very muddy during rainy weather. So unless you know there will be no drainage problems, it's a very good idea to raise the floor! A few wheelbarrows of dirt does the trick.


I've been trying to pay attention to the way our like land drains and it think I'm pretty good for drainage. I'll keep that in mind though


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## PiccoloGoat

Also I'm decided on the shelter. I came to my senses and realised they wouldn't be living here forever (hopefully moving to property after I finish high school) so there's no point trying too hard. 
The three sided pallet shelter with tin wrapped around with probably be it. 

edit: goat girl just wondering what size those pallets are. they look massive


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## Goatgirl21

PiccoloGoat said:


> Also I'm decided on the shelter. I came to my senses and realised they wouldn't be living here forever (hopefully moving to property after I finish high school) so there's no point trying too hard.
> The three sided pallet shelter with tin wrapped around with probably be it.
> 
> edit: goat girl just wondering what size those pallets are. they look massive


They are very heavy duty. I have never seen them so big and very heavy! They are about 45 inches high and 69 inches wide but any pallets should work especially for little breed goats. I didnt have screws for one shelter so I wired them together then put tin on. I have lots of pics of building them so hollar if you need any or have any questions. I have only built one that was a single and its for my hay. I just threw a tarp over it for now. Easier to take apart and move lol


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## Goatgirl21

Goatgirl21 said:


> They are very heavy duty. I have never seen them so big and very heavy! They are about 45 inches high and 69 inches wide but any pallets should work especially for little breed goats. I didnt have screws for one shelter so I wired them together then put tin on. I have lots of pics of building them so hollar if you need any or have any questions. I have only built one that was a single and its for my hay. I just threw a tarp over it for now. Easier to take apart and move lol


I put a pic of the sides that I used for the roof.


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## Macyllehub

Pallets are a great idea. We built our goat shack out of scrap wood we had in our shop which was nice since it was free! (literally, it was given to us some years ago)

I like the pallet ideas to block off a part of my barn for a kidding pen. I just found out our local power company gives away pallets so I think I'll pick some up this week.


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## Macyllehub

That's what our goats have as shelter right now  All made of free materials. Under it is where we keep the food and minerals to keep them dry too!

Oh, don't mind the random bunk bed "fort" my children were building last summer... it's in the field behind the goat pen.


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## Goatgirl21

Macyllehub said:


> Pallets are a great idea. We built our goat shack out of scrap wood we had in our shop which was nice since it was free! (literally, it was given to us some years ago)
> 
> I like the pallet ideas to block off a part of my barn for a kidding pen. I just found out our local power company gives away pallets so I think I'll pick some up this week.


Pallets are awsome! I have a guy who has tons and tons of them for free. I have used them for shelters, a hay feeder, fences, and stalks for my maternity ward lol there is so many things you can do with pallets. I love free stuff! My husband does construction so all the left over tin or scraps and he brings them home for me to use.


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## clearwtrbeach

PiccoloGoat said:


> I'm trying to think of a way to use the shed in the backyard as part of a wall but either there is a tree in the way or a fence too close/low
> *pulls out hair*
> That shed is such a pain. Smack bang in the middle of the flattest part of the yard.


I'm not sure exactly what the fence situation is. Depending on that, you could make the shed one wall, where the fence is go right up to it and make that taller than the fence. I have one who is a climber/ jumper so I made the lowest end of my slanted roof 5' high- so she can't jump on it and launch herself over the fence! I used the wall of the one shelter( that saved one side of putting up another shelter), second side is the back wall is up to the fence (and again it's taller so she can't get over) and the 3rd side is in the pasture. We're adding a dutch door so I can close them in if needed and still have air flow. If that makes sense.


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## PiccoloGoat

The fence is probably way way too tall for them to get over but I'm paranoid so I'm leaving as much space as I can haha!
But yeah we've decided on what we're doing and it should be pretty protected from wind and such. 
Now Ive just gotta find some nice big pallets c:


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## mjgh06

We use a lot of pallets here for shelters. You can extra large pallets from warehouses or industrial shops. We do three pallets for the three sides, then an extra large pallet on top for the roof. Cover everything with plywood and then the roof with what they call roll roofing here. I also cut up pallets to make roofs over the feeders and over the nursing pens. We also use small wood fencing with rabbit wire for enclosing nursing areas and kid areas. I have some pics I'll attach.

The first picture you can see our main shelter for the does on the far left and the feeder roof on the right. The second picture you can see the shelter roof in the center in our nursing pens and a good side view of the feeder roof. The third is a close up of the main shelter when we were building it. The fourth picture is of our buck's shelter.

ADDED: In our main shelters we use a pallet on the floor as well, but in the nursing pens we just have a dirt floor.


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## PiccoloGoat

Ooh that looks nice.  I hope I am able to make things look nice and not dodgy haha!


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## mjgh06

You'll do great! Just post pics when you're done. We all love seeing ways we all do our shelters and such.


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## PiccoloGoat

I'll try to remember to take step-by-step (ish) photos when the time comes to build 
it's been horrible and rainy and then horrible and hot on and off lately so not much chance to get outside


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## keren

Have you heard from victoria about whether any babies have been born yet?


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## PiccoloGoat

keren said:


> Have you heard from victoria about whether any babies have been born yet?


Yep still no babies.  
Sucks that she doesn't have a due date.


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## PiccoloGoat

Just a little update thingy
I got excited because around the corner a house was getting a second-story addition and so there were pallets left out the front that i was going to ask if i could have. they were really long ones that arent as wide but i figured it was better because we would stand a few up to make the roof higher. 
Anyway then mum said something about they might just build the other kind of shelter i liked (i posted a picture) that i had decided not to do because it required sinking posts into the ground etc
she said it wouldnt be much harder because with pallets you have to bracket them together etc and i dont know, I thought it was a bit unnecessary.

anyway this is the kind of shelter we may be building if they decide they want to go to all the trouble









it would be a three sided shelter with the roof extended out a bit to make a kind of "porch" and then i was thinking of having a kind of half "wall" in front where the two front posts are if that makes sense
I could probably draw it if it would help
so what do you think?


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## rustygoats

Just a little shed I built for mine.


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## PiccoloGoat

That's interesting. How tall is it?


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## crocee

And what are the ribs made of? or what did they come from?


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## rustygoats

13' long 5'wide 5'tall. Made the ribs out of 1" square tubing rolled into a 5' arc. Welded arcs to angle for the base then attached tin


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## crocee

Thank you. I have a small welder that should be able to handle this job.


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## PiccoloGoat

Well the game keeps changing here as always 

My step dad says he can get planks of wood for free from his work and he has a carpenter friend who is willing to do some favours (hooray)
So we haven't talked about it in detail but we were thinking of making the four panels (three sides and a roof) separately and bracketing them together so that it can be taken down and moved. i figured this is good because they'll only be here for a few years but it means we can use it if we ever move or if they have to be moved if there's any issues with them staying here. I'm very excited 
I'm still hoping to con them into letting me attach a kind of porch because I think it's cute and I'm fixed on the idea


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