Making Sure You Have Proper Shelter...

One of the most critical things that you need is shelter.  If you have the opportunity to travel and visit different farms you will see that there is countless ways to give your animals adequate shelter.  I want to run through a few. 

The most common of course is the pole barn.  Most people that have livestock will have a barn on their property.  The size and layout is completely determined by your need.  Here at quality boers we are actually in the middle of doing our homework to build a barn facility to replace our current one.  If you haven't built yet I would like to lay out some ideas for you to consider.

The first thing I believe is important to think thru is pen layout.  When designing your barn or if you are going to be moving into a new barn take some time and think it through.  Plan out your barn from doors to electrical placement.  Every step is important to think thru.  Ask yourself, how am I going to clean the pen? Where will I plug in the heat lamp? Do I want to run automatic wateres? Should I plumb in a hydrant? Should I utilize a on the spot water heater? Where do I want my community pens?  Did I make it so I can expand numbers without rearranging the whole setup?  What should I make preparations for that maybe I can't afford to do now, but will in the future? Do I have enough light?

It is important to go though this checklist slowly and methodically.  Take your time, haste equals waste if you're not careful. 

I believe that there is 3 areas you need to think through when it comes to your pens.  The first is one of the most crucial, kidding pens, although people may disagree with me because kidding only comes once or twice a year I believe your kidding set up determines alot.  First, if you don't have a good kidding area you can possibly lose kids.  I have seen people kid in community pens and I have seen people kid in indivdual pens and in my book there is no comparison.  I greatly prefer the individual pen.  I think it offers more protection for the kids while maintaining the ability to make sure that each mother is getting the same food supply compared to the weakest doe getting less, which produces less milk, causing the kids to grow slower, you get the idea...

If you don't have the room to do the individual pen idea you will need to try to divide your does into the "weaker group" and the "strong group" so at least your does have a better chance when it comes to feed time.  If at all possible tho I do suggest the individual pens. 

When you are designing your pens the general consensus is a 4x6 ft enclosure.  Although I have seen it done I do not suggest going any smaller than that.  The other thing that is highly recommended is to creat an area for the kids to get under a heat lamp where the doe can not follow.  I have seen cases where when a heat lamp is just hung in the pen that the doe has laid on the kids. 

The second thing is when you put the water in for the doe make sure intially that it is high enough so that the kids cannot go in to the bucket and drown.  I was visiting a farm recently that told me the story of how their teenage son came out to do chores and found one of their kids drown.  Needless to say it was heartbreaking. 

The third thing that I look at is designing the pens so that they are easy to clean.  As most of still use a pitchfork make sure that there is a community area nearby close enough to pitch the manure to that is easier to get to, such as a community pen, center walk way...ect....

The fourth thing that I like to look at is how easy is it to get the does in and out of the kidding area, gates, pens, other things that may make it difficult to move the does around.  Really think it thru.

The second part of pen set up is the community pens.  These will be larger pens where you will hold your goats as a "community".  When you are looking at how many community pens you need consider some of these factores.  You will need a buck pen, doe pen, young does, young bucks, quarantine pen, and possible even a pen for illness.  When you look at designing the pens in your barn I try to make sure that all the pens have the ability to come into different areas of the barn for shelter.  The general rule of thumb is you can never have enough pens.  There will always be animals to be in them, but if you make to few you will always be pushing to make something work and that can create problems in the long run.

The third part of your barn is where you hay and feed is going to be stored.  Most people have a hay loft but if you don't you need to take into account how many bales and how much room it is going to require to stack.  

The second type of shelter is a closed faced lean-to.  I have used these and still use them although ideally we are moving to a complete set-up inside the barn.  These serve their purpose well and although I would never kid in one throughout the winter for non-kidding goats this is a good alternative if you don't have any space in your barn.

The third type of shelter is an open-faced lean-to.  While this works well in the summer as long as the rain doesn't blow from the wrong way I would not recommend this method for the winter as snow can blow right in the open side.  Of course if you are in the southern areas it might work for you.

Well I hope this gives you some ideas if you have any questions as always feel free to email me!