Goats are remarkably hardy animals. They can survive on forage and browse that would make a cow or sheep’s stomach rumble in discontent, and their clever feet can scamper among rocks, cliffs, and scree that are impassable to even the most surefooted human.
尽管它们在严酷的环境下表现得很坚强,但有一类它们还是相当懦弱的。的元素。
Providing adequate goat shelter and housing for your bleating herd, therefore, is of particular importance when you’re setting up the initial infrastructure for goats. Whether they are meat breeds, dairy breeds, or a herd that you rent out for trimming hard-to-reach scrubland, they need a good, solid shelter for their comfort and protection.
Read through this article to learn the important features of a good goat house, special considerations to consider when personalizing one to meet your specific needs, and some examples of interesting shelters that may lend you the inspiration you need.
What Makes a Good Goat Shelter?
山羊庇护所的关键因素不在于它的美学,而在于它的功能。一个好的庇护所需要尺寸合适、干净、干燥、不受极端温度的影响、通风、防风。让我们逐一讨论这些因素。
Enough Space per Goat
Size is an easy place to start. Allow for at least15 square feet of housing per standard-sized goat, and 10 square feet for miniature breeds. If you have the benefit of building from scratch, be sure to also factor for the final number of goats you hope to have one day, not just the size of your starter trio.
An Easy Way to Manage Manure
Next, let’s talk about manure management. The cleanliness of a shelter is your direct responsibility, of course. You can help yourself immensely by making sure the goat shelter is human-accessible. Hunching under a low roof in cramped quarters makes maintaining the goat area an uncomfortable drudgery, and when a chore is unpleasant, it’s easy to not do it as often as you should.
Whether you replace the bedding weekly or add fresh layers and then do a huge seasonal cleanout, being able to move freely is essential. So remember, if you’re building a shelter from scratch or adapting an existing one, be sure to keep the human element in mind.
Helpful Additions
You can add lots of helpful features to your goat shelter to make caring for your animals easier. You can work in a storage area for housing goat feed, cleaning and dairying equipment, and any other supplies needed to care for them.
Be sure to build in at least a 4-foot-tall barrier to keep goats from this storage space, as there’s no telling what havoc they’ll wreak if they figure out how to break into their own grain storage.
In addition to that, make sure you also bar rodents from messing around with your goat supplies. I find that galvanized trash cans are great for storing grain out of the reach of mice as the lids usually form a nice, tight seal, and there’s no way mice can gnaw through the metal.
Related Post:5 Goat Fencing Options And Details To Consider
Finally, I would encourage building a composting area for the manure and soiled bedding halfway between your goat shelter and garden. It will make a handy storage area for all that garden fertility when you’re between seasons.
Dry Floors
Dry floors are also an important consideration for goat health. There are a lot of options for flooring from the bare-soil ground covered with a thick layer of bedding to expensive concrete foundations. Both come with their benefits and challenges.
当我参观一个水泥地面的山羊奶牛场时,饲养员告诉我,它需要每天喷洒清洁。喷雾清洗需要连接到加压水系统。如果你住在离网的地方,这可能并不容易。
On the other hand, a dirt floor “breathes” more naturally but is also more directly influenced by rainstorms. Mitigate those effects by making sure your goat shelter is on sloped ground, allowing moisture to drain downhill rather than pooling in the shelter and encouraging bacterial problems.
Protection From Extreme Weather
现在,让我们谈谈温度和天气缓解。与绵羊不同,山羊一旦有能力就会躲避恶劣天气。给他们最好的舒适和安全的机会,确保他们随时可以避开风、雨和雪。在冬天,一群山羊挤在一个舒适的庇护所里,可以在零下华氏度的温度下互相取暖,但前提是它们是干燥的,而且没有任何气流吸走它们共同的热量。
A way to make sure the shelter is wind-proof enough is to pretend to be a goat. Get in their shelter on a windy day, and hunch down until you’re at their level. If you can feel a breeze, you know that your herd can feel it too. Work to stop up gaps that create the breeze, but make sure you don’t make it so airtight that air can’t move at all.
Good ventilation is also an important factor in keeping your goats healthy and keeping the air from stagnating. I would recommend making sure there is ventilation somewhere around the perimeter of the roof area — that way, there can still be good air exchange without the winter winds blasting your goats directly.
In the summer, a shelter is also incredibly important, especially if you’re raising European breeds that originated in cold climates (though the desert breeds will certainly appreciate it as well). Temperatures above 80 degrees will send the herd seeking shade for relief.
Related Post:Raising Goats
在这种情况下,在遮蔽处的侧风将有助于更新空气并提供额外的冷却。一种既能让夏季的凉风降温,又能防止冬季的穿堂风的方法是在门对面的墙上装一块嵌板。冬天的时候把它封起来,夏天的时候把它变成一个漂亮的“纱门”,用一段链条栅栏或山羊板——允许空气流通,但不允许山羊流通!
Additional Features for Breeding Herds and Dairy Herds
If you are breeding your own goats, or if you have milking does, an important additional feature of the goat house is a separate kidding stall or stalls. This safe, clean area will allow the does an environment they need to kid at ease and in private, and it also affords you a more direct area to monitor them during the first few weeks.
Of all the herd members, a doe and her kids arethe most vulnerable to cold. You may choose to install a heating element over the kidding area, but the fire risk must be managed and taken into account. An alternative, of course, is to carefully time the breeding of your does so they only give birth during the warmer months, and can conserve their winter energy for staying warm.
Another feature to truly make this shelter multifunctional, is to build in a milking area. This will make acquainting your does with the milk stand an easy process since you won’t need to move them to an unfamiliar spot. For the sake of cleanliness, make sure the goats don’t have access to the milking area when you’re not there.
再一次地,4英尺高的墙应该足够高,既能阻止他们进入,又能让他们好奇地看到你在他们的世界中移动时在做什么。
Goat Shelter Safety Considerations
Another consideration to keep in mind is the placement of the shelter in regards to your整体击剑. Even if you have fantastically secure fencing, if the shelter is butted-up against it, you may have inadvertently provided an escape route to your goats.
Be sure they can’t climb on the roof and take a flying leap toward freedom … and your vegetable patch! And even if they can’t reach the fence, keeping goats off the shelter’s roof, in general, is always a wise design plan. Those sharp hooves can easily puncture through lots of different roofing materials given enough time. As agile as they are, goats can fall — and a fall can mean a broken leg.
同时要记住(如果你是山羊新手),小山羊是厚脸皮的。它们喜欢在墙上跳跃,像自由奔跑的山羊一样用四肢蹬地。在你的社交媒体账户上,你认为山羊收容所的窗户看起来很可爱,但山羊可能会打碎它(在这个过程中可能会伤到自己)。
Finally, make a routine of inspecting your goat world regularly to check the shelter for signs of wear and tear and potential hazards. Goats are excellent at messing around with structures and may create their own danger. Keep watch for signs of goat-wear. A nail sticking out of a board or a piece of stray wire are all torn lips and pierced feet waiting to happen.
Examples of Goat Shelters
On our homestead, we’ve turned a portion of the barn into an access-anytime shelter during the day. Goats can wander in and out of their area and into the pasture when wanted.
At night, we can securely close the door and keep them safe. But what’s best for you on your land? To find the best fit for your herd, let’s take a look at some goat shelters online that incorporate all these elements in different, yet effective ways.
Edgar Wayne Webbsays
Hey all you goat lovers out there! It warms my heart to see all the excellent ideas for low to no cost shelters, especially the ones using pallets. Aren’t they just the greatest building material yet? I’ve learned quite by accident and experience that what works good generally looks good too. It’s very reassuring to see such good examples.
Thanks to all.
Edgar