We decided that we needed a few barn renovations done to the goat barn. One of the main reasons why was because Chuck and Tbone, our two 6 month old steer calves, are getting big.
The goat barn is a good size but the issue is half of the barn is on stilts. Why would the barn be on stilts you say? Well our land is super hilly and has lots of slopes. So instead of the original builders of the goat barn putting in some type of foundation to make the floor solid. They just built the barn walls up from the flat ground they had available and then extended the barn by putting it on stilts and building the rest of the floor on top. So yes half of the floor in the girl's goat barn is wood and the other half is dirt. We actually have those big black padding mats on the dirt area to make cleaning easier. The builders were smart though and put a drain in the middle of the dirt floor. It makes cleaning and hosing down the mats much easier.
You can see the back side of the barn on stilts
With that said, we needed to do something so the cows could no longer get in the barn so when they are even bigger than they are now they won't collapse the floor.
Months ago Jamie built a 1/2 door on the barn so we could either lock the goats in or out. He came up with a great idea to build another half door but raise it up so the goats could come in and out of the barn but the cows couldn't come it. Cows have trouble bending over and trying to get under things, where goats do not. I have seen a full grown goat crawl across the ground. Granted she was rubbing her belly on the grass because it must of felt good but with knowing that we knew they wouldn't have any problem going under the door.
New door
The above picture shows you the new door. It's approximately 3 1/2 feet up from the ground, plenty of room for the goats to go under. We still need to paint it though and Jamie is going to cut a square hole out of the door near the latch so I can open it from the outside and not have to crawl underneath it myself if it's still locked. The other half door that goes all the way to the bottom of the doorway opens from the outside. We still have it up and use it everyday. It is very helpful because once all the goats come into the barn waiting for their turn for feeding time we just close the other door so the goats can't get out and bother the cows while they are eating outside.
Once everyone is done eating, goats and cows, we open the longer half door and secure it so it stays open and then we close this higher half door and lock it so the cows can't get in. It's a very genius idea that Jamie came up with. It will also be nice for winter time because it will block some of the wind that otherwise would come through the whole door if it was open.
This door will be wonderful for when it comes time for kidding. The mama's and babies will have the barn to themselves and a place to go where they won't be bothered by the cows.
Chuck & Tbone on the other hand do NOT like it. Not so much I think about being in the barn but being away from the goats. They think of the goats as their herd and they want to stay with them all the time.
Chuck & Tbone saying "AAWWW come on, let us in!!
The other part Jamie renovated was the milking area.
New Wall
We decided to build a wall here which is the separation from the pasture to the milking area. First the wall is nice because before we used to have a fence here, the goats would hang over the top trying to get more food because you know their starving. All day they are starving, not really but they sure do act like it. Even Bruschi, our biggest goat, got over the fence one day trying to get more food.
So this wall is nice to keep the goats out of my milking area unless I want them there. The wall is 4 feet high so hopefully they won't be able to get over it. With Jamie building this wall it actually increased the size of my milking area also, which is really nice.
New milking area
As you can see in the above picture, I have plenty of room for both of my milking stands, grain buckets and room to move goats in and out or around if I need too.
Yes, I'm sure your asking why I have two milking stands. I have two because I am not always milking all of my girls. This way one girl can be milked while another who is not milked can have her grain at the same time. It cuts down on chore time greatly. Milking stands are great and since Jamie is so handy he builds them for me. I'm sure one day, since Hailey is already a great milker, that if we decide to milk all the girls I will use both stands and Hailey can milk at the same time as I am. I have all of my goats, even the boys, trained to the stand. The milking stand is not just for milking. I use it to hold a goat while I am administering shots and also to do hoof trimmings. You should see the boys. I open the gate and they just run over and hop up onto the stand and start eating their grain while I go ahead and trim their hooves. They know exactly where to go because remember they are starving and they know that grain is in that bucket.
The wall will also be nice to block out the wind in the winter time when milking starts up again in hopefully February. The unfinished part of this area is the floor. It is currently just dirt. I try very hard keeping it clean with raking it every other day. I've talked to Jamie about it and hopefully in the spring we will be cementing this floor in. That will make it even easier to keep the floor and everything else clean as I'll be able to sweep it everyday and wash it down when it's needed.
The other reason for this wall is because we needed an outside hay feeder. We were going to build a separate structure but thought that was silly because I wanted the wall anyway and we still had enough room on the other side to build the feeder and it would be under the roof so they hay wouldn't get wet.
New outdoor hay feeder
The feeder works really well. Right now we are using it for the cows but it will work great for the goats too once the cows are gone. Actually the goats use it now too when they sneak over to steal some of the cows hay. Remember they are always starving.
I've talked to Jamie about getting rid of the pallet creep feeder and building a permanent structure off of this wall to the side of the hay feeder. We won't need that for months, not until the babies are born and starting to be weaned.
I think the renovations came out perfect. Drew helped his dad with some of it. It amazes me that I can explain an idea to Jamie and then watch him make it become real. We are slowly but surely making the barn the best it can be functionally for us and the goats. Still a few more things I would like to change but everything takes time and money.
Oh that reminds me, all of these renovations cost us under $150. Not bad huh?
