Barn and Pasture Plans

With the kid pen switched like that you will not have enough head space in your feed through feeders for adults in that stall. Figure I have a 10 foot feeder in mine and when the big girls are pregnant they are belly to belly with 8 at the feeder. During the rest of the year they can easily eat 12 deep. And you don't want to have to fight babies mauling you to fill feeders everyday. Vicki

 

Like Sara said, not enough head space on the wall for feeders. Not unless your 20x10 is only going to hold 4 does? With each 10x10 area having 6 foot of feeder space you fill from your cemented side with their minerals and their alfalfa pellets, and 4 foot gates...I would put the alleyway back between the baby pen and the doe pen like it was on the flip side when I saw your plans. Yes it would be area off your baby pen for you to walk, but you could also use that alley way to feed the baby pen like I do, and since yours like mine wouldn't go anywhere you could get away with 3 feet. vicki

 

What program did you use to design your barns and layout??? I have not been doing this long enough to offer any advice, though, so no help!

 

I visited a goat dairy down by Marmouth ND, she had a little hallway that you walked into and then off the hallway was one door with the bulk tank, sinks etc. then you went through another door into a the milking parlor which was concrete--you could also go through another door into the hall--down the hall was the door into the barn. Her stantions were concrete and were formed in a U, the does put their heads in locks(I can't remember, there was soo much to see), they milked from behind, it has been adapted from a cow dairy and the milk went into a milk tank from the goat. She had 2 doors in the center of the U that slid up and opened when she pulled a rope or chain. One door let them in and the other door let them out. On the barn side there were ramps up to the door. Her babies were in the barn off to the side--- but she ran an actual dairy so I am sure she had at least a hundred if not 200 goats. She was a very very nice person and always had time to answer questions (no matter how dumb they were). When I set my area up--I am going to be sure to have a separate milk room and a milk parlor off the barn area--I am not going to have a dairy, I jsut think it would be easier for me anyway---I am reading others replies about the does areas, glad you showed this for us. Carolyn

 

Much better. Plus with the freezer in full view of all the goats your threats would be taken much more seriously than mine with the goats being able to see it Vicki

 

Troy's barn is very similar to mine. If there ever becomes teeth in the law of Texas to make it really illegal to sell milk from our farms, or I wanted to sell milk into stores etc..and remember it would then have to be pasteurised anyway, you can't sell it raw off your farm (like going to farmers markets etc.) it has to be pasteurized...anyway. I would build a facility in front of my barn that contained the grade A regs. The girls would still live in my barn, my customers would still visit the cement side of my barn, but my girls would go out the front door and walk into the Grade A dairy milking room, out another door to the pasture/holding areas.

We have toyed and actually had meetings with others interested in this and even have gotten as far as a meeting with 2 milk inspectors and the costs of this portable building (if it comes to it in Texas, prebuilding them and selling them completely built here and installed at your farm) Adding the cost of all the regs out here, plus you would have to then run AC to milk, when although technically illegal to do what we all do..I wouldn't be shelling out the money now either. I would start with this barn, which is lovely by the way, quality stock and then only move to a graded facility if forced to, and we would all be doing it together

Spending a couple thousand to build a barn and sell milk or spend 10's of thousands to build a barn and sell the same milk. Vicki