You’ve purchased a lovely goat, read up on what to feed it, built some tall and hopefully goat-proof fences and now you must decide where it will live. If you have a barn, the problem is solved before it even becomes a question. However, if you don’t have a barn but you want to raise goats, you don’t have to go invest in building a barn.

In any group of people who raise animals, there are purists, there are practical folks and there are those who lie somewhere in the middle. I am one of the middlemen, leaning toward the practical side, so if your resources are limited, you may find this helpful.

Goats are largely mountain-dwelling creatures. They’re sturdy and hardy because their traditional environment required it of them. Adapt or die, as it were, so what you really need is a basic shelter big enough for them to move around in, secure against harsh cold, rain and snow, and functional enough that it can be kept clean. Goats spend the vast majority of their time outside, but need the option of heading inside, especially to get out of bad weather since they hate getting wet.

A small outbuilding the size of a garden shed would work just fine. If you need to start from scratch, you have some options. A three-sided shelter built of plywood and 2×4s works just as well. It doesn’t need a floor, just put some straw down. The handy thing about this kind of shelter is if you’ve built it small enough for 1-3 goats, you can just pick it up and move it when it needs to be cleaned.

If you’re already set up with a barn, make sure you partition it. There will be times when you want the goats separated. Gates or hog panels work well for this and can easily be moved around to change the layout as needed.

If you keep in mind that in the wild goats shelter under trees, in caves and under overhangs, you’ll be able to devise a general picture of what you need. Orient the opening away from the harshest wind, normally facing south, and you should be in good shape. I’ve even kept goats in an old chicken house; use your imagination and available resources.

One additional note of caution: if you build a small structure, don’t set it next to the fence. Your goats will play on top of it and jump right over into freedom.

— Naimhe Jeanne

You’ve purchased a lovely goat, read up on what to feed it, built some tall and hopefully goat-proof fences and now you must decide where it will live. If you have a barn, the problem is solved before it even becomes a question. However, if you don’t have a barn but you want to raise goats, you don’t have to go invest in building a barn.

In any group of people who raise animals, there are purists, there are practical folks and there are those who lie somewhere in the middle. I am one of the middlemen, leaning toward the practical side, so if your resources are limited, you may find this helpful.

Goats are largely mountain-dwelling creatures. They’re sturdy and hardy because their traditional environment required it of them. Adapt or die, as it were, so what you really need is a basic shelter big enough for them to move around in, secure against harsh cold, rain and snow, and functional enough that it can be kept clean. Goats spend the vast majority of their time outside, but need the option of heading inside, especially to get out of bad weather since they hate getting wet.

A small outbuilding the size of a garden shed would work just fine. If you need to start from scratch, you have some options. A three-sided shelter built of plywood and 2×4s works just as well. It doesn’t need a floor, just put some straw down. The handy thing about this kind of shelter is if you’ve built it small enough for 1-3 goats, you can just pick it up and move it when it needs to be cleaned.

If you’re already set up with a barn, make sure you partition it. There will be times when you want the goats separated. Gates or hog panels work well for this and can easily be moved around to change the layout as needed.

If you keep in mind that in the wild goats shelter under trees, in caves and under overhangs, you’ll be able to devise a general picture of what you need. Orient the opening away from the harshest wind, normally facing south, and you should be in good shape. I’ve even kept goats in an old chicken house; use your imagination and available resources.

One additional note of caution: if you build a small structure, don’t set it next to the fence. Your goats will play on top of it and jump right over into freedom.

— Naimhe Jeanne