Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
goats, your housing plans will need to be a bit more elaborate. The barn should be a sturdy
structure devoted to your dairy herd and should not house other goats or animals. Pens do not
need to be cemented but should be maintained in a clean and dry manner. The does can be
kept in a loose housing situation, which provides one or two large pens for the goats, or the
does can be confined to their own individual pen or tie-stall.
Structures
Each type of housing presents its own benefits and problems. A loose house situation, in
which the goats are kept in one or two large pens inside a barn and allowed to move around
freely, gives the does exercise and social contact. The manure pack can provide extra warmth
in the winter as it emits some heat and insulates from the ground. A manure pack is essen-
tially what it sounds like: a layer of composting manure, along with bedding, where the goats
are housed. Although it may sound unappealing and unsanitary, a manure pack is often an ex-
cellent natural source of heat when housing farm animals. The big disadvantage of a loose
housing situation is it is hard to maintain the manure pack with a dry upper layer. Hay must be
fed off the ground to lessen the transmission of parasites. The individual pen housing option,
in which eat goat has its own pen, will have higher initial costs due to pen or stall construction
and can deprive the does of exercise and social contact. With the loose housing option, the
does also can be provided with outside access to a pen or pasture during good weather. This is
also the most popular option for young stock and meat-type goats. Bucks also should be given
their own shelter with the same standard as the housing for the does and young stock.
Dairy goats have more requirements than goats raised for meat or fiber or kept as pets. In ad-
dition to shelter and feeding areas, you will need space for milking, for processing milk and
storing equipment, and for taking care of kids and pregnant does. Everything has to be kept as
clean as possible to protect the purity of the milk and the health of the does.
Milk production and quality is closely linked to stress levels in your goats, so you want to
make their environment as pleasant as possible by providing the most comfortable accom-
modations you can afford. Goats need places where they can stay warm (in cold weather) or
out of the sun (in hot weather) and sleep safely; pens or enclosures where they can be separ-
ated from other goats from time to time; an outdoor run or exercise yard; pastures or fields
where they can forage; and objects to climb on. Feeding and watering stations should be ac-
cessible and easy to keep clean. You will want to provide stall areas that can be easily cleaned
and pens that are safely separated from storage areas. How many pens and pastures, and how
