The Permanent Goat Barn Setup

How We Provided Shelter & Containment for Our Goats

When we first signed Kelsey up for 4H and she became interested in goats we started doing some research. The main topic we were looking for is what goats needed, what kind of shelter, supplies, enclosure, etc. Starting with shelter, we looked at several buildings that others built for their goats and then came up with a plan for what we wanted for our goat barn. With does in mind, we planned for two stalls of the same size and one slightly bigger for kidding. We also wanted a milking room and a space for food and supply storage.

Once we had the layout on paper we contacted Drew’s brother, who has a lot of construction and carpentry experience, for his opinion and to see if he could give us an idea of what to buy to build this goat barn. After getting the recommendations, we looked at pricing for what we needed and made the purchase.

This was the easy part; we had no idea how to make this pile of wood turn into the image in our head. While we pondered this conundrum, we came across an awesome opportunity to start our goat herd. We of course jumped in with both feet and then had to figure out how to give these goats shelter. Thankfully, we were able to pull together a short term solution just in time for us to pick up our new baby goats.

Our temporary setup was a simple design and a bit small, but it worked well in the short term. The overall cost was minimal since we borrowed most of the material, and we had some materials on hand. Our goat barn was much more costly, mainly because we overdid the design, but we still ended up with a functional goat barn. It is a 16’x16’, L-shaped building, the ends are 6’ wide and it is just over 8’ tall. It has three stalls, and a room we use for food storage and as a milking room.

The Start of Building the Goat Barn: The Frame

The frame was easy to assemble, although we forgot to account for the width of the 2x4s and it ended up being slightly taller than 8ft. Of course, we didn’t realize that until we had it mostly done, so we left it that way. The next step was placing the frame on several cinder blocks.

The area of the yard we set up for the goats flooded heavily in wet weather. So, a friend of ours suggested placing the barn on cinder blocks and bolting the frame to the blocks. This solved a couple of potential problems. One problem solved being the frame rotting from all the water. Another potential problem this solved was adding weight to the structure to anchor it during high winds or tornadoes.

The cinder blocks were fairly inexpensive as well as the bolts that we bought to anchor them. Our friend came over one weekend with his hammer drill to help us drill holes into the cinder blocks and place them. We used ¼”hex x6” lag bolts to attach the frame to the blocks.

Another way we anchored this goat barn is shed anchors. There is a kit that has a metal cable, four anchors that have an “eye” on one end for the cable and “auger-like” end that goes into the ground. The kit also has wire clips to secure the cable in place. I chose the locations around the barn that I would be placing these anchors and started the simple process.

To place the anchors, you just push the auger-like end into the ground then turn it so it will dig down into the ground. I placed the anchors close to the building as well, I’m pretty clumsy and don’t need any obstacles to help trip me up (my feet trip me up enough). I did not want the goats to trip over them or get hurt either.

After I had all four anchors in the ground, I took one end of the cable and secured it with the wire clip to the eye of the first anchor. Then I ran the cable up and around one of the rafters of the roof and secured it there with wire clips. I used wire cutters to cut the excess cable to use on the next anchor. Before securing it at the top, I made sure the cable was as tight as possible. I repeated these steps until all four anchors were secured.

From the Anchors to the Walls

Once this was completed, we moved on to hanging the OSB for the walls. We used 4×8 sheets of 7/16” thick OSB for the walls. We hung them horizontally and used heavy duty staples in an air nail gun to attach them to the wall. I believe the staples we use were two inches long. The ends of the “L” to the building needed cut down as they were 6 feet wide by 8 feet tall. The front of the building had several oddball cuts since this has entrances to the stalls and milk/storage room.

At first, we were going to hang OSB inside to segregate the stalls. However, we decided to keep them more “open” by using welded wire fence on each side of the frame. For a short time, we were able to use the section as a hay feeder. This was temporary, however, due to the goats standing on the fence and rubbing their heads on it. We have since “doctored” this with OSB and have plans to build a hay feeder that will better withstand the nonsense of bucks.

Since we hung the OSB horizontally, we had two 4×8 sheets “stacked” to cover an 8×8 section. We ended up adding 2×4’s to the inside frame for more support. We lined the 2×4’s up to where the OSB met so we were able to place staples along all the edges of each sheet. We also felt we needed another area to secure the metal siding. The roof was the next thing we tackled.

Figuring Out the Roof

First, we cut the 2×10 boards down and secured them to the front edge of the roof. This was how we created the slope of the roof. We laid 2x4x10s across the top perpendicular to the frame. We secured these with 3” screws to the frame. We were a little stuck when it came to the corner of the “L”. Originally, we were going to try to do some fancy angled boards that sloped down towards the corner. However, we couldn’t figure out how to connect it all to keep the roof leak proof.

We decided to do the “long” side of the L with the 2x4s laying the same direction. On the remaining “short” side we laid the 2x4s perpendicular to the frame on that side. Once all these boards were in place we realized that we needed more 2x4x8s. The ones already in place were fine but did not give enough support for the metal sheets. So, after a trip to the nearest big box store, we started laying 2x4s perpendicular to the first set we laid down which allowed us to be able to secure the metal all the way across the roof.

The metal siding we purchased was cut to different lengths based on the measurements of the goat barn. We took the measurements to the metal shop and asked what we would need. We had originally planned to have a covered outside area for the goats for added shade. However, considering the number of tornadoes and heavy storms that blow through our area a friend suggested changing that. The extended roof would catch more wind and it would have made it more likely to be damaged or be pulled off the ground during storms.

We agreed but of course, we already had some of the metal cut to 12’ for the roof. We cut these down to use first on the roof, then used the remaining pieces for our oddball cuts. We also had 9’ and 8’ lengths cut and a few smaller sizes for areas between the stalls.

Making cuts on metal siding is not fun, we went back and forth on a few ways to do it. We used a circular saw, effective but very loud, same result with a Sawzall although this one had more jagged edge afterwards. Our jigsaw could do the job decently, but it was still very loud. We ended up just using tin snips, which is slow and awkward, but it worked. If you don’t live in town and have good ear protection the circular saw would be my go-to.

 We used 1-1/2” screws with sealing washers to attach the metal to the barn. We predrilled each hole then put the screw in. For the record we didn’t always predrill in the right spot, especially on the roof. We knew we would have areas to seal up later, so we just added the mess ups to the list. The roof went pretty smoothly otherwise.

To finish up the roof at the corner we took some short sheets and laid them over the front edge of the long side of the L onto the short side of the L. This was a little tricky to make sure everything was leak proof, and we had to add a few boards in this area for support. Overall, this worked well, although I’m sure there are better ways to do it. The last steps to finishing the roof were putting up trim pieces and using weatherproof caulking to seal any holes or cervices necessary.

Hanging the Metal Siding and Trim

The siding is what we put up next. We used the same screws to attach the metal to the walls of the goat barn as we did the roof. The walls were a bit trickier to do since we couldn’t just lay the metal sheets in place. We tried to predrill holes before we held the siding up to the barn to place it. However, we gave up on that because it wasn’t always lining up with the next sheet.

So, one of use would hold up the metal sheet and the other would predrill then put the screw in to secure it. Other than the awkwardness of holding the metal sheets against the wall and the cuts we had to make for around the stalls, this was an easy process.

After hanging the remaining trim, we considered the goat barn finished! What a relief, it took us several weekends in between work and the kids’ extra curriculars but we did it! Of course, the next thing to tackle was containment, we needed a fence to keep the bucks and does separate and keep them from getting into mischief.

Moving On to the Containment:
T-Posts and Welded Wire Fence

By this time, we were pros at setting up this welded wire fence with t-posts. Between fencing in the back yard and adding to the temporary goat pen we had a good routine. Although half of the goat area was fenced in, we added fencing all the way around. As I mentioned earlier, an important aspect of containment is protecting your goats from predators. The fence we used around the yard is only 3’ tall. We bought a few rolls of 5’ tall, welded wire fence for this new goat area.

We started by lining the existing 3’ fence with the taller 5’ fence. This was the easiest as the T-posts were already in place. We just had to add more t-posts clips to secure the fence. The t-posts that we had to set in front of the buck’s side to the pen was a huge chore! The previous owners had a gravel path beyond our driveway that led to the shed that is in front of the goat pen. We actually broke one of the t-posts from trying to drive it into the gravel packed ground.

Finally, after some digging (literally with a shovel) and a less gravelly spot we were able to get the posts in front of the buck’s side of the pen set. Before putting the fence up in this section we went ahead and placed the remaining t-posts for the fence that would separate the goats and the posts for the doe side of the fence. We left space on the buck side and the doe side for gates. After the fence was up, we turned our focus to the gates. We quickly realized that the t-posts were not going to be strong enough to withstand the constant movements and weight of the gates.

We could have purchased some 4×4 posts but we had some landscape timbers on hand that we planned to use for our grape and berry trellises. At the time landscape timbers were significantly cheaper than 4×4 posts and work just as well.

Remember that t-post we broke because of the gravel? Well, we didn’t break the landscape timber, but it took SO LONG to dig a hole for one of them because of the gravel. We were mainly using a post hole digger, but this particular spot needed help from a shovel too.

The Gates and Later Additions

The gates are a simple design using some leftover 2x4s from the goat barn, hardware cloth, a latch and hinges, enough for two gates. We also purchased spring loaded wheels to support the weight of the gates when they are open. We Measured each opening then cut the boards to the right size. Each gate has diagonal boards in the middle for added support. After the gates were installed, it was time to move the goats in!

There have only been a couple of changes we have made to the goat barn and fence. We needed space to store hay. We made the goat barn 8’ tall before we placed it on cinder blocks, so we had plenty of space to add a hay loft. This was very simple to do, I measured an area in the milk room that would still leave space for us to milk the goats and wasn’t too difficult to stack hay in. I then used 2x4s that I cut to the correct measurements to fit in the space then I cut one of our leftover OSB sheets to fit on the frame.

Before attaching the OSB to the frame, I secured the frame in place inside the milk room. Then I placed the OSB on the frame and screwed it down to the frame. This hay loft can hold twelve square bales of hay, which is great, but we bought twenty-one bales (that’s what fit on our trailer). Turns out the second bigger stall we made for the does had plenty of space for another hay loft. I followed the same process to make this hay loft.

The other changes we have made were due to our buck being hard on fences. While the does haven’t damaged any of the welded wire fence it is not sturdy enough to withstand a buck’s shenanigans. When our buck burst through part of the fence we had to find, at the least, a short-term solution.

First, we added another layer of fencing after removing the damaged parts of fence and we added 2x4s that we secured to the t-posts with screws. This gave the buck something to stand on and so far, has kept him from tearing up the fence again. We would recommend using sturdier fencing for any male goats.

There are several to choose from including sheep and goat fencing that typically (at least in our area) comes in 250-foot rolls. There are also hog panels and cattle panels that work well for fencing goats. Keep in mind any fence used for does will need smaller openings for any kids the have. There is a phrase we hear from time to time, “Fencing goats is about as easy as fencing water.” This is something to keep in mind for sure, but then again you may have better luck than we have with the welded wire. Also, remember that it doesn’t have to be fancy it just has to work even if it is only short term.

Supplies and Tools for the Goat Barn & Fencing

We used a nearby big box store for just about everything. The metal, however, we bought from a local metal shop in a nearby Amish community. We searched online marketplaces for a long time trying to find metal. A lot of the listings we found were low quality and overpriced or too far away to be reasonable. Although it is a good place to start to look for any of the supplies and tools needed.

Goat Barn Supplies:

• 9 – 2x6x12 for the rafters  
• 15 Sheets 7/16” thick 4×8 OSB for walls and hay lofts
• 25-2x4x16 for main frame structure, cross boards on the roof and stall frames
• 30-2x4x8 bought after initial 2x4x16s were gone
• 6-2x6x16 for the top and bottom of each wall frame
• 4 – 2x8x10 to create the slope for the roof
• Metal siding and metal trim pieces for corners of building and roof edges
• 1-1/2” screws with sealing washers
• 2” & 3” screws for the frame
• Silicon caulk to seal holes and cracks to prevent leaks
• Cinder blocks to raise barn, due to flooding
• 1/4”x6” Bolts to attach building to cinder blocks
• Building anchors

Materials: What Was Leftover & What We Bought More Of

We ended up with several sheets of metal left over from the barn build, which did not hurt our feelings any. We built a mini chicken coop with some of it. We will find a project at some point that will use it up, I’m sure. We had to buy 2x4x8s, more OSB and more 1-1/2” screws with sealing washers, as well as 2” and 3” screws along the way.

In hindsight, we overdid this build by a lot, not that I’m complaining. I truly appreciate the functionality of this goat barn and the room for growth it gives us. However, there were so many more much simpler builds we could have done to save time and money. One of our friends and goat guru has many types of shelters on her farm and they all work great for goats. Most are lean-to style structures, some only 4-foot tall others 6-foot tall. Very basic structures, three walls and a roof. She does also have a couple barns and buildings she uses for hay and feed storage and any animals she might need to quarantine. Keep it simple if you are on a budget and start small. You can always add on to buildings or purchase another building later on down the road.