How much indoor space?

[Aped]

I am getting my herd together. I have no goats yet but I will be picking up a nigerian buck and wether. I also have plans to pick up a mini-nubian doe and a nigerian doe. That is just to start my herd and I also want to breed them. So I got supplies to build a small goat shed. I figured it would be 8 x 12 but partitioned so the the buck and wether would have a 8 x 4 space and the 2 does would have an 8 x 8 space. Well now that I put the foundation down I'm thinking it is too small. I read 15 sq ft per goat for indoor space and I think 25 for outdoor. But I honestly can't see even 2 nigerians fitting comfortably in the 8 x 4 space. Not to mention full sized breeds. Plus I want to breed so I how much room does a kidding doe need? And I wanted to get more than 2 does eventually! Does anyone really follow the 15 sq ft rule of thumb? Or do most people do it bigger? And they also would have access to outside so it's not like they would be crammed in there all day. I'm not so concerned about the buck and wether but does and kidding does. Any have any advice?

 

[lilhill]

Build it bigger than you think you will ever need or forever be adding on.

 

[helmstead]

Amen, LilHill!

Our barn is only for kidding. The stalls are 5 x 10. It also has a large 10 x 10 stall that is always accessable to the nursery pen, which we can close off and use as an additional kidding stall. Extra housing for the penned goats is done with a mixture of large dog houses and my DH's 'goat houses' which are wooden with metal roofs and floors that are a good 6" off the ground. Two goats fit in one of our houses.

 

[lilhill]

In the beginning, we built the barn with three 8'x8' stalls and feed room, and in two separate smaller pastures, we built 8'x10' buck shelters for each one. Then we decided we needed a nice shelter for the doe pasture and use the barn for kidding/maternity. So we constructed a 10'x12' doe shed in the doe pasture. Then we purchased two Port-A-Huts for the doe pasture for extra shelters. As the herd continues to grow, we continue building! Build it BIG the first time.

 

[Aped]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I ended up adding another 8 x 8 section specifically for the boys so the girls can have the 8 x 12 then the outside for each of course. and I think this will be good for a little while.

But now that it is pretty much built, I have another shelter related question. I had to build this shelter alone. I was originally going to use 1/2" OSB but I ended up only using that for the roof and getting a cheaper thinner OSB for the walls mainly because I had a hard time transporting/cutting/manipulating the thicker one buy myself. Well now the shed is really ugly looking! And it still needs to be weatherproofed.

MY question is can anyone recommend something inexpensive that will cover all that ugly plywood and also weatherproof it? I'd kind of like it to look a little nice since I have a slightly ambitious plan to make the roof into a "green roof"

 

[goat lady]

Can some of you put pictures of your goat houses up. Ours is not finished and we are looking for ideas. Thanks and God bless everyones goats.

 

[ksalvagno]

What about looking on something like Craigslist for siding?

Our barn houses all of our animals but we do have a Little Tikes playhouse out in the field for them to use as a shelter out there. The goats are never left in the field overnight though.

 

[sillystunt]

ok so if my pen is 24x12 thats 288sqft. that's good for 4 nigerians, right? lol sorry for the hyjack but your numbers answered my question....lol