I think we are at around 35 does and 3 bucks. They can be a lot to handle, but we designed the bard with goat management in mind. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
Thanks a lot. We are really happy with how it turned out. Even more happy we were finally able to get the bucks moved to their own paddock and get their shelter complete. They now have their own 2 acre paddock that will be cross fenced so we can run two concurrent breeding groups.
Thank you so much!! We try to be informative, entertaining, and supportive of this homesteading and small farm community. Thank you so much for stopping by and watching!! Merry Christmas to you! - Rick
Thank you so much for watching. A lot of planning went into the design and because of that, it has been able to grow with us and adapt as our needs have changed and numbers of animals has increased. - Rick
Thanks Doug for stopping by and watching. A lot of planning and labor went into building it. It's a good home for the goats and therefore it keeps the wife happy - happy wife - happy life!! 😄 - Rick
This is the best goat barn design I've seen on all of TH-cam. Thank you for posting this. Your barn design is amazing and so neat and clean! Well done!! 👏✔👍
Thanks so much for stopping by and watching. I can tell you that a lot of research went into designing it. I knew what I wanted it to do and have not been disappointed by any design element. It was a lot of work to finish, but I think the end result meets our needs perfectly. - Rick
Yes sir you did an amazing job. I would love to build this for my youngest daughter. She is into sheep for FFA Did you build this based on plans or drawings?
Great organization and cleanliness! Most people do not realize how much work it takes to keep a farm in amazing shape. I subscribed and admire your channel. Thank you for your content. Best wishes from Miami FL!
Thank you so much Kathy for stopping by and watching. A lot of thought and hours went into designing a structure that would meet our needs and allow us to work the way we wanted to work. It has worked out really well for us. Thanks for subscribing. - Rick
When we first started our homestead in Alabama I went out and got 27 goats and 20 chickens and a pig and cows and horses all at once! Wow! That was a mess! Lol we were not set up for that mess! You guys have a nice set up!
Whew - that would be a lot of livestock. We are adding NDs to our goat herd in 2021 because everybody wants miniature goats. Our primary goat operation will remain for meat production. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
We had a dog named Dixie many years ago found her wandering the state line road between Tennessee/Kentucky... she looked like a small husky/red fox mix. Miss her very much.
Thank you so much for stopping by. A lot of planning went into this barn. Hundreds of TH-cam video and 2 or 3 books on pole barn design. Now 3 years later, I would not have changed a thing. It works very well for our needs. Thanks for watching. - Rick
What a nice setup. Your animals all look great. We are hoping to do some work on our barn this winter, might become a video lol, but you have definitely inspired a few ideas. Thanks so much.
Anyway I can help answer any questions about the barn - just let me know. I has turned to out work even better than we had thought for how we use it. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
*Looking forward to the future here,* Love the barn, not a big goat fan, but we have kept a couple, a couple and that was too much! Thanks for sharing! Thanks for coming by last night, we hope to make Mondays at 8 a regular.
Thank you for the updated barn video. We also live in Florida and are in the planning stage for our pole barn for pigs and goats. Appreciate it!! I just subscribed :)
Cool. Thanks so much for following along on our journey. Stay tuned - we are in the process of building a much smaller barn for the front of our property using a very basic 12x12 pole structure as the foundation of the building. We will use it for 2 feeder hogs, 2 feeder steer, and our Nigerian Dwarf bucks. Lots of pictures on our TH-cam community tab. Videos are forthcoming in the coming weeks. Where are you in Florida? Welcome!! - Rick
Hey Rick! Went back a few months to watch some of your stuff. Man, I love what you've done here with this structure. I've wanted to do a multi-purpose open air design myself- for hay and livestock working facilities primarily since we already have a machine/equipment shed. Like you said- lots & lots of gates to make it functional for whatever we need to do in it.
Thanks for watching and commenting!! A lot of thought went into this structure and the flexibility and openness has proven to be its greatest asset. Case in point, last night at feeding - our wether Chewy gored one of our nannies and injured her leg and a minor puncture wound. Just by re configuring a few gates, we had her isolated into her own pen in about a minute to be able to check her out. We just stacked up our winter hay supply so now the barn is half full of hay bales. Right now the gates are configured to make two long runs on each side. When kidding starts in late December, they will be reconfigured to allow for multiple kidding stalls. Now with about two years of use behind us - I wouldn't change a thing about. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
@@MountainRoots I dont have plans, I tend to draw things out on notebook paper and go from that. The middle structure is 24'wide by 48' deep. The two lean to structures on the sides are 12' wide by 48' deep. I had someone else build the pole barn and do the concrete. I then built the entire interior. I would be happy to send pictures if you want information on a particular detail or how I put something together. It's kind of funny - I have had 3 different channels come and visit the farm just to look at the structures (main barn and the buck barn). One fella over near Tallahassee just finished the pole barn section and now is working on the concrete and interior. I noted you are up in Western Virginia. We drove up there a couple of years ago just to get some does and both of our herd sires are from a goat farm in Tazewell, VA - that's a beautiful area up there. Let me know if you have any specific questions. - Rick
@@TheLaLaFarm Yeah, thanks for taking time to discuss! What did you pour, 4" concrete pad? And YES! Tazewell is beautiful country- my ancestors are originally from down just beyond there. We've been in Virginia since just after the turn of the 18th Century.. I'm up closer to Roanoke/Floyd area now.
Thanks a ton!! My whole family tells me I overbuild everything. The barn is often their prime example of this. I on the other hand - research everything - design it on paper - then try to build something that is functional and built to last. The barn is super flexible in terms of how we configure it for what we are doing during a particular time of the year. Right now, it is pretty wide open like in the thumbnail so my granddaughter can work with her goats for our annual county fair. Come winter, it will be filled with hay. Thanks for stopping by and visiting the farm.
Great video! I have watched it several times to get an idea on plans for my barn. Do you have a layout sketch or plans of your barn? Thank you for sharing!
Yeah - this design is really easily adapted. You could very easily put walls on it - In Florida - we have to have open spaces, else the heat would just be too much for animal to bear. We can sit in the barn in the middle of July with just a shop fan and it feels really comfortable. Thanks for stopping by and watching. An thanks for stopping by our Live last week and winning the shirt. We will get it ordered this week. - Rick
6 Count Family - Thanks!!! We have a total of 20 acres. About 7 of that is dedicated to the does. About 2 acres dedicated to the bucks. We started with 2 bucks and I believe 15 does from 6 different farms. We focused on diversity of blood lines and pedigree and body form for our initial herd. We are focusing on breeding kids between 6-8 pounds and and ADG above .35 for a 90 day weening weight. We are limiting our our adult does on the 7 acres to just 25 so as to not overgraze the property. Right now - with kids we have I believe 42 total. Be happy to answer any questions you might have as you move forward. Thanks for visiting the channel.
Do yall get freezing weather down there? If so does those auto waterers freeze? Also that doe that you said was a show goat her teats are 2x2? I know that's acceptable but people seem go after the 1x1 a lot more. You have a nice set up.
Love your barn.... we live in central texas. We are pretty humid here, esp in the Spring and summer and get about 35 inches a Year rainfall. Questions about LGDs and baby goats and chickens - do they all co exist well? Do your Nubians and Boers co exist? We have automatics waterers love them but use hoses to them. Like the pvc on yours better. Trying to combine bucks, wether-horned and non horned. What do you do? Also how long do you leave baby goats on mamas when do you wean? Do you have a nursery pen so they can feed without mamas eating their feed ? Also do your goats eat the barn off your trees? Ours do? Thanks Naomi at morning Star Milkers in Red Rock Texas. Thanks so much
Hi Naomi! Thanks for watching. Yes, our LGD and baby goats and chickens do co-exist well. The most important thing with an LGD in with any animal is to make sure they are trained well and specifically to the animals (goats, pigs, whatever) that they are guarding. Betsy does incredible with poultry, as well as with all of our goats regardless of age. She was trained with poultry from day one, as a matter of fact was born in a chicken coup. However, she was not exposed to goats until coming to our farm. I worked extensively with her in acclimating her to goats. Remember, with any LGD training is key to success. Our Nubian, Boers and Kikos do co-exist but with a bit of a struggle at times. Our Nubian and our Boers were pastured together as bottle babies, so they have formed a tight bond. However, when put in with the Kiko herd, they are the bottom of the pecking order. I have since moved our Nubian into a pasture with some special needs babies and she is doing much better. I will be adding some Nigerian Dwarf's to our farm soon and intend for the Nubians and NDs to be pastured together in a different pasture from the horned meat goats. It just seems to be better that way in my experience. The waterer set up is great, but we did have some problems with freezing this winter as we had some exceptionally cold nights. I think you would be ok as long as your weather is not a constant freezing. With the bucks, that's a tough one. At present, all of my bucks are horned. I have two that were raised together (only a month apart in age and came from the same breeder). They do well together as long as they are not in rut. I have another younger buck in that pasture as well, and he had a rough lesson in learning his place, but has adapted and is doing fine in with the big boys. My wether, Chewy, is a horned BUTT-head who can stand his own, but knows his place. So, I guess I would say it works but you have to be aware of the dynamics between the males and will sometimes have to separate. You could combine more but I would not combine horned bucks with dehorned or polled bucks...that is asking for trouble because they have no way of defending themselves. And once the horned realize they can pick on the others, they will target them which will lead to stress on the animal and that's never good. So long story short...horned with horned, non-horned with non-horned...but you still need to watch for aggression. I ween and pull my bucklings at 90 days because that is around the time they are able to impregnate a doe. The doelings I typically let the dam ween naturally unless I notice the kid is pulling the mama down or won't eventually ween. I try not to force ween when necessary until after they are 120 days. I did pull one last year that wanted to keep on even though the mama was kicking her off, but I only had to separate them for a week and then when I put her back in she left the mama alone. I do not have a nursery pen, but I have installed a creep feeder gate in a stall that allows for the kids to eat when they want without the big goats getting in and scarfing down all the feed. I did a video on that recently if you want to check it out. Just search Best Way to Feed Your Baby Goats and it should come up. AND yes! They do eat the bark off our trees. Pine tree bark is especially tasty to them, and as a bonus it is a natural parasitic. The only way you are going to get them to stop eating the bark off your trees is to wrap the trees with wood planks from the base up to a height where they can't get to the bark. I have not done this, but have seen some examples on other channels. I hope this has been helpful. Feel free to send me an email at lala@thelalafarm.com if you want to discuss further, or if your just want to talk goats. - LaLa (Kimberly)
Good Video. Question: what do those sheet and goat panels with the 4x4 inch spacing cost where you are. Here in TN they are about 55.00 for a 16 ft panel. Way too high in my opinion. Thanks
Thanks for stopping by and watching. We buy those 4x4 panels and Tractor Supply for about the same price. They are expensive, but work wonderfully for how we use them. I kind of view it has an investment so I dont have to go back later and fix anything the goats have broken. - Rick
I am in TN too and co-op sells the same panels TSC sells for $55 for $38. I haven't priced any this year so they may have gone up but I use a ton of them!
Holy smokes!! Look at all them goats!! 😆
I think we are at around 35 does and 3 bucks. They can be a lot to handle, but we designed the bard with goat management in mind. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
Self, ,,,,,Thou shalt not covet Great job. First time seeing a stand up feeder
Thanks a lot. We are really happy with how it turned out. Even more happy we were finally able to get the bucks moved to their own paddock and get their shelter complete. They now have their own 2 acre paddock that will be cross fenced so we can run two concurrent breeding groups.
You folk have a very nice channel, I enjoy watching your videos.
Thank you so much!! We try to be informative, entertaining, and supportive of this homesteading and small farm community. Thank you so much for stopping by and watching!! Merry Christmas to you! - Rick
Very well thought out! I enjoyed it
Thank you so much for stopping and watching. - Rick
Wow you have a very nice barn!
Thank you so much for watching. A lot of planning went into the design and because of that, it has been able to grow with us and adapt as our needs have changed and numbers of animals has increased. - Rick
nice looking barn!!!
Thanks Doug for stopping by and watching. A lot of planning and labor went into building it. It's a good home for the goats and therefore it keeps the wife happy - happy wife - happy life!! 😄 - Rick
Great barn design, we have not had goats since 2011, 👍🏼🇱🇷
This is the best goat barn design I've seen on all of TH-cam. Thank you for posting this. Your barn design is amazing and so neat and clean! Well done!! 👏✔👍
Thanks so much for stopping by and watching. I can tell you that a lot of research went into designing it. I knew what I wanted it to do and have not been disappointed by any design element. It was a lot of work to finish, but I think the end result meets our needs perfectly. - Rick
Yes sir you did an amazing job. I would love to build this for my youngest daughter. She is into sheep for FFA Did you build this based on plans or drawings?
Good video. Your barn and its set up is impressive!
Thanks Michael.
I agree they have a great set up.
Great organization and cleanliness! Most people do not realize how much work it takes to keep a farm in amazing shape. I subscribed and admire your channel. Thank you for your content. Best wishes from Miami FL!
Thanks for the sub! Really appreciate your feedback. Thanks again - Rick
Lovely video wonderful presentation ❤️💐❤️
Thank you for watching.
-lil Rick
Not much on goats but that barn is amazing.
Best barn design I have ever seen! For any type of livestock! New subscriber here!
Thank you so much Kathy for stopping by and watching. A lot of thought and hours went into designing a structure that would meet our needs and allow us to work the way we wanted to work. It has worked out really well for us. Thanks for subscribing. - Rick
Saludos amigo !!! Nice Farm and very organizate
Thank you so much for stopping by and watching. - Rick
That’s a dang good barn! Loved the releasing of the animals lol...
For some reason I didn't see this on my feed until this morning - makes no sense. So thanks for stopping by and commenting. - Rick
Great looking barn and great set-up.
When we first started our homestead in Alabama I went out and got 27 goats and 20 chickens and a pig and cows and horses all at once! Wow! That was a mess! Lol we were not set up for that mess! You guys have a nice set up!
Whew - that would be a lot of livestock. We are adding NDs to our goat herd in 2021 because everybody wants miniature goats. Our primary goat operation will remain for meat production. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
Such a great set up!
Thank you so much! A lot of thought went into it and we are really please with how it works for our operation. - Rick
So many healthy goats! I like your set up, Rick!
We had a dog named Dixie many years ago found her wandering the state line road between Tennessee/Kentucky... she looked like a small husky/red fox mix. Miss her very much.
That little girl is a Blue Heeler mix. Thanks for stopping by the farm.
This barn is awesome! Love it! Jealous lol
Thank you so much for stopping by. A lot of planning went into this barn. Hundreds of TH-cam video and 2 or 3 books on pole barn design. Now 3 years later, I would not have changed a thing. It works very well for our needs. Thanks for watching. - Rick
I enjoyed watching your vedios sir
Thank you for stopping by and watching. Really appreciate it. - Rick
Merry Christmas Y’all, have a good one.
Thank you so much!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours. - Rick
What a nice setup. Your animals all look great. We are hoping to do some work on our barn this winter, might become a video lol, but you have definitely inspired a few ideas. Thanks so much.
Anyway I can help answer any questions about the barn - just let me know. I has turned to out work even better than we had thought for how we use it. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
Wow what a great set up. Looking forward to seeing more of y’all’s videos. ✌️
*Looking forward to the future here,* Love the barn, not a big goat fan, but we have kept a couple, a couple and that was too much! Thanks for sharing! Thanks for coming by last night, we hope to make Mondays at 8 a regular.
I just love your name lol. We stumbled on it last night during the live.
-lil Rick
Thank you for the updated barn video. We also live in Florida and are in the planning stage for our pole barn for pigs and goats. Appreciate it!! I just subscribed :)
Cool. Thanks so much for following along on our journey. Stay tuned - we are in the process of building a much smaller barn for the front of our property using a very basic 12x12 pole structure as the foundation of the building. We will use it for 2 feeder hogs, 2 feeder steer, and our Nigerian Dwarf bucks. Lots of pictures on our TH-cam community tab. Videos are forthcoming in the coming weeks. Where are you in Florida? Welcome!! - Rick
@@TheLaLaFarm Thanks Rick, I will be sure to check that out. We are in Northwest FL about 30 minutes from Alabama.
Hey Rick! Went back a few months to watch some of your stuff. Man, I love what you've done here with this structure. I've wanted to do a multi-purpose open air design myself- for hay and livestock working facilities primarily since we already have a machine/equipment shed. Like you said- lots & lots of gates to make it functional for whatever we need to do in it.
Thanks for watching and commenting!! A lot of thought went into this structure and the flexibility and openness has proven to be its greatest asset. Case in point, last night at feeding - our wether Chewy gored one of our nannies and injured her leg and a minor puncture wound. Just by re configuring a few gates, we had her isolated into her own pen in about a minute to be able to check her out. We just stacked up our winter hay supply so now the barn is half full of hay bales. Right now the gates are configured to make two long runs on each side. When kidding starts in late December, they will be reconfigured to allow for multiple kidding stalls. Now with about two years of use behind us - I wouldn't change a thing about. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
@@TheLaLaFarm That's AWESOME! Do you have building/blueprint plans for the barn??
@@MountainRoots I dont have plans, I tend to draw things out on notebook paper and go from that. The middle structure is 24'wide by 48' deep. The two lean to structures on the sides are 12' wide by 48' deep. I had someone else build the pole barn and do the concrete. I then built the entire interior. I would be happy to send pictures if you want information on a particular detail or how I put something together. It's kind of funny - I have had 3 different channels come and visit the farm just to look at the structures (main barn and the buck barn). One fella over near Tallahassee just finished the pole barn section and now is working on the concrete and interior. I noted you are up in Western Virginia. We drove up there a couple of years ago just to get some does and both of our herd sires are from a goat farm in Tazewell, VA - that's a beautiful area up there. Let me know if you have any specific questions. - Rick
@@TheLaLaFarm Yeah, thanks for taking time to discuss! What did you pour, 4" concrete pad? And YES! Tazewell is beautiful country- my ancestors are originally from down just beyond there. We've been in Virginia since just after the turn of the 18th Century.. I'm up closer to Roanoke/Floyd area now.
Wow that is one sweet barn Really like it. I’m jealous. New follower here. Looks like a nice operation. Look forward to watching your channel grow.
Thanks a ton!! My whole family tells me I overbuild everything. The barn is often their prime example of this. I on the other hand - research everything - design it on paper - then try to build something that is functional and built to last. The barn is super flexible in terms of how we configure it for what we are doing during a particular time of the year. Right now, it is pretty wide open like in the thumbnail so my granddaughter can work with her goats for our annual county fair. Come winter, it will be filled with hay. Thanks for stopping by and visiting the farm.
Great video! I have watched it several times to get an idea on plans for my barn. Do you have a layout sketch or plans of your barn? Thank you for sharing!
Hello and thanks for the tour. Are you able to share where you purchased your steel trusses and how far apart they are spaced? Thank you.
This barn is beautiful!! We raise pigs but hope to one day get goats. Here in Minnesota we would definitely need side walls but love the layout.
Yeah - this design is really easily adapted. You could very easily put walls on it - In Florida - we have to have open spaces, else the heat would just be too much for animal to bear. We can sit in the barn in the middle of July with just a shop fan and it feels really comfortable. Thanks for stopping by and watching. An thanks for stopping by our Live last week and winning the shirt. We will get it ordered this week. - Rick
Wow! New to the channel. Nice setup! How many acres do you have? I’m in the research phase at the moment. How many goats did you start with?
6 Count Family - Thanks!!! We have a total of 20 acres. About 7 of that is dedicated to the does. About 2 acres dedicated to the bucks. We started with 2 bucks and I believe 15 does from 6 different farms. We focused on diversity of blood lines and pedigree and body form for our initial herd. We are focusing on breeding kids between 6-8 pounds and and ADG above .35 for a 90 day weening weight. We are limiting our our adult does on the 7 acres to just 25 so as to not overgraze the property. Right now - with kids we have I believe 42 total. Be happy to answer any questions you might have as you move forward. Thanks for visiting the channel.
The LaLa Farm thank you for the response. I’ve subscribed and looking forward to seeing more videos!
@@thebamlife1775 thank you. Got the new buck barn coming out later this week.
Do yall get freezing weather down there? If so does those auto waterers freeze? Also that doe that you said was a show goat her teats are 2x2? I know that's acceptable but people seem go after the 1x1 a lot more. You have a nice set up.
Love your barn.... we live in central texas. We are pretty humid here, esp in the Spring and summer and get about 35 inches a Year rainfall.
Questions about LGDs and baby goats and chickens - do they all co exist well?
Do your Nubians and Boers co exist?
We have automatics waterers love them but use hoses to them. Like the pvc on yours better.
Trying to combine bucks, wether-horned and non horned. What do you do?
Also how long do you leave baby goats on mamas when do you wean? Do you have a nursery pen so they can feed without mamas eating their feed ?
Also do your goats eat the barn off your trees? Ours do?
Thanks Naomi at morning Star Milkers in Red Rock Texas.
Thanks so much
Hi Naomi! Thanks for watching.
Yes, our LGD and baby goats and chickens do co-exist well. The most important thing with an LGD in with any animal is to make sure they are trained well and specifically to the animals (goats, pigs, whatever) that they are guarding. Betsy does incredible with poultry, as well as with all of our goats regardless of age. She was trained with poultry from day one, as a matter of fact was born in a chicken coup. However, she was not exposed to goats until coming to our farm. I worked extensively with her in acclimating her to goats. Remember, with any LGD training is key to success.
Our Nubian, Boers and Kikos do co-exist but with a bit of a struggle at times. Our Nubian and our Boers were pastured together as bottle babies, so they have formed a tight bond. However, when put in with the Kiko herd, they are the bottom of the pecking order. I have since moved our Nubian into a pasture with some special needs babies and she is doing much better. I will be adding some Nigerian Dwarf's to our farm soon and intend for the Nubians and NDs to be pastured together in a different pasture from the horned meat goats. It just seems to be better that way in my experience.
The waterer set up is great, but we did have some problems with freezing this winter as we had some exceptionally cold nights. I think you would be ok as long as your weather is not a constant freezing.
With the bucks, that's a tough one. At present, all of my bucks are horned. I have two that were raised together (only a month apart in age and came from the same breeder). They do well together as long as they are not in rut. I have another younger buck in that pasture as well, and he had a rough lesson in learning his place, but has adapted and is doing fine in with the big boys. My wether, Chewy, is a horned BUTT-head who can stand his own, but knows his place. So, I guess I would say it works but you have to be aware of the dynamics between the males and will sometimes have to separate. You could combine more but I would not combine horned bucks with dehorned or polled bucks...that is asking for trouble because they have no way of defending themselves. And once the horned realize they can pick on the others, they will target them which will lead to stress on the animal and that's never good. So long story short...horned with horned, non-horned with non-horned...but you still need to watch for aggression.
I ween and pull my bucklings at 90 days because that is around the time they are able to impregnate a doe. The doelings I typically let the dam ween naturally unless I notice the kid is pulling the mama down or won't eventually ween. I try not to force ween when necessary until after they are 120 days. I did pull one last year that wanted to keep on even though the mama was kicking her off, but I only had to separate them for a week and then when I put her back in she left the mama alone.
I do not have a nursery pen, but I have installed a creep feeder gate in a stall that allows for the kids to eat when they want without the big goats getting in and scarfing down all the feed. I did a video on that recently if you want to check it out. Just search Best Way to Feed Your Baby Goats and it should come up.
AND yes! They do eat the bark off our trees. Pine tree bark is especially tasty to them, and as a bonus it is a natural parasitic. The only way you are going to get them to stop eating the bark off your trees is to wrap the trees with wood planks from the base up to a height where they can't get to the bark. I have not done this, but have seen some examples on other channels.
I hope this has been helpful. Feel free to send me an email at lala@thelalafarm.com if you want to discuss further, or if your just want to talk goats.
- LaLa (Kimberly)
Good Video. Question: what do those sheet and goat panels with the 4x4 inch spacing cost where you are. Here in TN they are about 55.00 for a 16 ft panel. Way too high in my opinion. Thanks
Thanks for stopping by and watching. We buy those 4x4 panels and Tractor Supply for about the same price. They are expensive, but work wonderfully for how we use them. I kind of view it has an investment so I dont have to go back later and fix anything the goats have broken. - Rick
I am in TN too and co-op sells the same panels TSC sells for $55 for $38. I haven't priced any this year so they may have gone up but I use a ton of them!
Do you allow farm visits?