Goat housing

Listen to this radio story (MP3 download) or read below.

Radio interview source: Linda Spahr, livestock educator, Pennsylvania State University Cooperative Extension

When our goats aren't in the barn, they're frolicking around the pasture. In nice weather, they stay out there and we have a portable hut for them to go in if they need shelter. One of a goat's worst enemies is a cold floor draft, so you don't want to close up the to the point where the walls and ceiling are wet with moisture from condensation.

Linda Spahr is a livestock specialist at Penn State University, and says goats need shelter with a happy medium.

"If you have fresh air coming in the top and then mixing with the warmer air before it hits the ground, you're alright," Spahr says. "What you don't want is those cold drafts that come in across the floor where your babies are laying, your does are kidding, and now you've got this cold floor draft coming across. That's what's going to make them sick, that's what's going to kill them."

I like three-sided huts, because there's plenty of air movement and we can move them around so the opening is facing away from direct wind. Be sure there's plenty of space for the goats to hunker down in, whether that's several small shelters or one big one.