I thought I’d share some pictures from when I built the goat raising house. I say “goat raising” because they will be outgrowing it, and I plan on using it as a nursery in the future.
The basic idea is an old chain link dog pen (10×10) that used to be my rabbit “barn”, a tarp roof, and pallets around 3 sides to prevent predator break ins.
Here you can see the basic house. I’ve put up the chain link pen, the roof, and half the sides. Missing in the picture is the shadecloth and the raised sleeping area I built out of pallets and cinder blocks.
I used landscape timbers and 2×4’s to build a roof frame work over the pen. This supports bent cattle panels which in turn support a tarp. I’ve found that just a tarp sags when it rains and seems to wear out faster.
The wood is held together with strapping, plates, and lots of screws. the cattle panels are tied to each other and the frame with UV resistant zip ties. I like to leave the ends long to discourage things from roosting/building nests there.
Against the sides I added wooden pallets, screwed together with 2×4 pieces and other cut up pallets. This stops the goats from pushing the fencing too far out and things from pushing the fencing in, as well as providing shade and a wind/rain break. View from inside:
And how it looks outside:
Once everything is tied/screwed together, tiedowns are added over the tarp (shown above is the roof to pen ties, not shown are the augers). So far this type of building has done well in storms.
Issues I’ve had are the rain blowing sideways into the sleeping area and not being able to cut the grass that’s growing between the pallets. I’ll eventually add another tarp for a bigger weather resistant area , and the grass is being handled by the geese for now.
I wouldn’t be able to figure out an exact cost on this one since I already had most of the materials. The tarp was $100. Pen cost me $300 new, I think they’re $400 and up now. Pallets were free. I didn’t count screws but I easily went through a box of those, and probably a dozen plates and different hardware. I already had the landscape timbers and 2x4s , also from the old rabbit pen.
So far, the goats love it!
