How to build a Goat House?

Goat house is the basic necessity for any goat farm. Goats are not fussy about any aesthetics of their shelter but they don’t like a wet and cold place. Moreover, wetness causes many diseases in them, so always design a shed that can keep them warm and dry. If you keep your Goats happy, they’ll never want to leave the shed which means less trouble for you.

Suitable Goat house or shed is required for a profitable Goat Farming Business. The Goat house should protect them from Cold, rain, wild animals, and also from theft.

There are a bunch of different options in choosing the design of Shed. Let us get back to basics, let’s talk about the requirement of Shed. Will the Goats stay all the time in the shed or will it stay only night times or will it stay for a few hours only. Know more about goat grazing options and their housing benefits then decide which goat house suits you.

Essentials for Goat Housing

If you’re creating goat housing, consider where you will store feed, straw or other bedding, and other goat-related equipment.

Also leave space for feeders and water, which will keep things cleaner and prevent wasting of feed. All animals should be able to eat or drink at one time.

If your goats will have access to a lot of woods, pasture, and other range areas, you will need 10 to 15 square feet per goat indoors for sleeping space. If not, you’ll need about 20 square feet per goat for sleeping space and 30 square feet for exercise (ideally, this would be outdoors).

Each adult goat needs at least a 4-foot by 5-foot kidding pen, so consider this space in your goat shelter depending on how many does you will breed at one time. You can have different does kid at different times in the same pen if you clean and sanitize the pen between kidding.

Recommended floor space requirements for Goat Farming

Age groups	Covered space(sq.m)	Open space (sq.m)
Up to 3 months	0.2-0.25	0.4-0.5
3 months to 6 months	0.5-0.75	1.0-1.5
6 months to 12 months	0.75-1.0	1.5-2.0
Adult animal	1.5	3.0
Male, Pregnant or lactating doe	1.5-2.0	3.0- 4.0

Different sheds in a profitable Goat Farm

The sheds of the following types are required for housing the animals,

• General flock shed (Doe shed)
• Buck shed
• kidding shed
• kid shed
• Sick animal shed
• Storeroom
• Attendant’s room

1. General flock shed (Doe shed)

• The flock shed shall be used for housing does keep for breeding purposes.
• The shed shall be 15m (l) x 4m (w) x 3 m (h) and can accommodate not more than 60 does.
• The shed should be three meters high and should have a brick-on-edge floor.
• In low lying and heavy rainfall areas, the floors should preferably be elevated and in temperate regions, they may be made of the strong wood.

2. Buck shed

• Rams or bucks kept for the breeding purpose are housed individually in these sheds. Alternatively, wooden partitions can be raised in the bigger shed to partition into stalls.
• The dimension is of 4m (l) ×2.5m (w) ×3m (h) and can accommodate about 3 bucks.
• The shed shall be partitioned lengthwise to form three equal compartments.
• The partition between each shed should not exceed one meter.
• The partitions may be either of wooden planks.
• The partition shall be not more than one meter high from the floor.

3. kidding shed

• These sheds shall be used as maternity rooms for pregnant doe and are housed individually in these sheds.
• The shed shall be 1.5m(l)×1.2m(w)×3.0m(h), to manage for holding feed and hay and a bucket for keeping water shall be provided in the shed.
• These sheds shall be made drought-free.
• In cold climates, some warming devices, like a room heater shall be fixed in maternity pens, so that the newborn is protected from cold during winter.

4. kid shed

• Kids from weaning up to attaining maturity are housed in these sheds at the rate of about 25 animals per shed.
• By making suitable partitions in a larger shed, not weaned, weaned but immature and nearby maturity kids can be housed separately.
• On larger farms, however, three separate sheds may be constructed to house three categories of kids.
• The shed shall be with a dimension of 7.5m (l) ×4m (w) ×3m (h) to accommodate not more than 75 animals.
• The shed shall be partitioned breadth wise dividing into two compartments. The compartments having a dimension of 5m (l) ×4m (w) ×3m (h) shall be used to keep the not weaned animals and another compartment with a dimension of 2.5m(l)×4m(w) x3m(h) shall be used for keeping the weaned animals.

5. Sick animal shed

• There shall be a sick animal shed for segregating ailing and disabled animals.
• Away from the other sheds one or more sick animal sheds may be constructed with a dimension of 3m (l) ×2m (w) × 3 m (h).
• The lower half of the door may be made of wooden planks and the upper half of wire-netting.
• There may also be a window of 0.7 m broad and 1.2 m high with a wire net covering.

6. Storeroom

• This room should have clean smooth floors and walls lined with glazed tiles up to the height of one and a half meters.
• The room should be made damp and dustproof.
• There shall be three windows on three sides.

7. Attendant’s room

• The labor house meant for the caretaker shall be located at a convenient place in the yard.
• The house may be 6m (l) X 4m (w) X 3 m (h). There shall be a door of one meter wide and two meters high on the long side of the shed facing the passage of the yard.
• The door leaf may be of wooden planks. There may be four windows; one of these facing the passage of the yard and the other three facing outside.
• Each window maybe 0.7 m broad and 1.2 m high and covered with wire netting.

Brief about Goat Shelter

A list of necessities that make an ideal Goat Shelter are discussed below. Let’s condense down to a few required items that build up a goat house.

• Consider a shelter that is least a 3 sided shed. The Goats are quite hardy animals that can withstand varying temperatures but not wetness. A good roof with a 3 sided shed will be enough for most of the goats.
• All the feed, straw, bedding, and supplements should be stored safely away from the goat shed. Only on the daily requirement basis, the goats are allowed to access.
• Upon planning a goat house, think about the placement of feeders and water points. Freshwater should be available most of the time and also wasted feed to be prevented.
• A minimum of 10 to 15 sq ft to be considered per goat on planning the goat shelter. When planning for fencing, the outdoors should be 30 sqft per goat.
• Each adult doe should have a kidding pen, with 20 sqft minimum. The kidding pen should have a solid building that will not affect external temperatures and even predators.
• Always sanitize the kidding pen.
• When goats are left outside of Goathouse, the fencing should be available. The Permanent fencing should be constructed, considering leaving a minimum of 30 sqft per goat. The fencing should be of high tensile wire along with an electric wire to be added at the bottom of the fencing line or criss-cross along the fence.
• The electric fence keeps out predators and secures the goats inside.