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Building and Planning Sections: A-L M N-Z Plans
Working pen for sorting livestock 10’ x 10’. Works best in the corner of a fence, with a gate in one side. Also should have a working chute maximum 6’ wide at area where would load or unload from a livestock truck. (Shurley) Breeding pen: 150’ x 150’ will hold 30-50 goats (Shurley) Quarantine pen: size depends on # of animals coming in at one time. Should have washable floor that can be easily disinfected. (Shurley) Maternity pens: 4’ x 5’ in size. One pen for every 10 does in herd. (Schoenian)
5’ x 5’ with heat lamps. (Shurley)
Regulations for setting up the milk room and parlor Contact your nearest Wisconsin USDA office and ask for information on setting up a dairy. They'll give you a packet of information with copies of the statues, specific instructions on special topics such as minimum separation distance requirements between potable or non-potable wells, reservoirs, springs and possible sources of contamination, C.I.P. milking system requirements, milk house construction requirements, milking parlor construction standards, bulk tank installation requirements etc. They will also have information on value-added operations such as selling milk and meat products if you are interested in that..
Sample Farms: Diagrams of existing dairy set-ups This section contains diagrams of barns that have been remodeled for goat dairies. You will see the circular flow from pens to milking parlor that is so important to a smooth milking routine, and you will see different ways to handle the feeding of hay and baleage.
Stocking rates vary widely from author to author. There are several listed here, so you can see the range of what is considered acceptable. When you figure stocking rates, measure only open space. Take the total area of the building and subtract feed bunk space, gutter space, ramp and walkway space. Then divide the remaining area by the stocking rate. Be sure to read through “Grouping Goats To Simplify Feeding” in the Nutrition section of this website, so you can see how many pens you need.
* adapted from
The Sheep Handbook **ADGA
*** Greene ****McKinney
*****Schoenian Note:
Schoenian recommendations for goats in confinement of 20 sq ft. of space,
requires an additional 30 sq. ft. of exercise yard if pasture is not available. The comfort zone for dairy goats is 55-70
degrees F. Temperatures over 80
degrees F. seriously reduce feed consumption and milk output. (Steevens) In Winter........ move 20 cubic feet per minute per animal In Summer..... move 150-200 cubic feet per minute per animal (Stevens) (McKinney) Do not put fans on the floor.
Goats get pneumonia very easily whenever wind blows in their face.
Hang fans well above the goats heads. (Zimmerman)
Link: Getting ready for summer Very specific information on air exchange rates for different classes of goats. http://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/SRDPspring06.PDF
Goats will chew holes in anything made of plywood or pressed wood, but they do not chew rough exterior 100% wood siding, so it makes a very good material to use for walls. It comes in 4’x8’ sheets and there are lines in the wood every 6-8” like a wide wainscoting. It’s available at Menards and Home Depot near the plywood. For washable walls in milk rooms, sick pens and maternity pens, use 4 x 8 panels of "white board", with joining and edging strips to seal the edges. There is a special nail/screw for these panels. You will need a good, even structure behind the panels to support them. These panels can also be used to line the bottom of feed bunks, to keep the bottoms of the bunks from rotting out, and so they can be c leaned easily. Dairy goats need a minimum of ¾-1 gallon
of water to drink every day. (Van
Saun) In order to prevent goats from defecating
into short tanks, either raise tanks on a cement platform, or use a tank with
higher sides, and then put a cement blocks in the bottom of the tank to limit
the depth to the recommended 12 to 14 inches, so that if a goat falls in, it can
get its footing to get back out. You
also can place ramps in front of a deep trough to enable small goats to reach
the water. (Shurley) See how to build this inexpensive water unit at Dairy Goat Library's Watering Unit, using a Hudson Valve and a Plasson Coupler, available from
(Adapted
from The Sheep Handbook)
http://www.mytscstore.com/detail.asp?pcID=8&LearnID=28
In confinement housing, there should be 1-2 sq. ft. of window area per goat. (McKinney)
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