How to Build a Goat Farm

Beginning farmers often have many questions about getting started. There is no one perfect way to design a goat farm, but there are some general guidelines that will help you achieve success. Choosing appropriate foundation breeding stock, housing the animals in the right kind of buildings, and knowing what kind of products the goats can produce will help your farm find success sooner. Remember that a farm is like any kind of business, and may take many years to break even.

Things You'll Need

  • Woven wire fencing
  • Metal T-posts
  • Two or three barns
  • High-quality doe goats
  • High-quality buck goat
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Instructions

    • 1

      Visit area goat farms and choosing a breed that excels at the type of production you desire. Choose a fast-growing meat breed if you intend to raise goats for slaughter, a high-producing dairy breed if you intend to sell milk, or a breed with excellent fiber traits if you wish to raise goats for their coats. Learn as much as you can about your breed before bringing your breeding animals home.

    • 2

      Erect a perimeter fence from woven-wire fencing. Contain large breed goats with woven field fence or sheep and goat fencing. Contain miniatures with no-climb horse fence that has 2-inch by four-inch openings, anything larger will allow curious kids to escape the safety of the pasture. Barbed wire will absolutely not contain a goat unless it is set at 4- to 6-inch intervals; it can be very dangerous if a goat gets its head stuck between the barbs. Interior fences may be made from a variety of electric fence components, but will not guarantee containment if a goat is determined.

    • 3

      Designate a building to house your buck goats and a separate one to house does. A third house for weanlings may be useful if you are raising dairy goats, though it is optional. Keep dairy kids pastured with their mothers by building a pen where the kids are separated from their mothers at night. Milk dairy does in the morning before releasing their kids from the pen.

    • 4

      Build a strong fence around your designated buck yard. Buck goats need about 200 square feet per goat for exercise -- the best areas are longer than they are wide, allowing the bucks plenty of room to run. Most often, the does will attempt to break into the buck pen instead of the other way around. If does become trouble, place a strand of electric fence at shoulder height to discourage does in heat.

    • 5

      Designate a pen or room in one of your barns for breeding specific goat pairs. Be sure the doors and walls are sturdy and if possible, provide an entry that onlooking goats cannot access. If you choose to field breed, maintain a small field and housing area per buck so that you can breed only the does you wish to pair to a specific buck.

    • 6

      Store hay and feed in an area of the barn that the goats cannot access at will. Goats waste a tremendous amount of hay and can easily bloat after gorging on grain -- a secure feed storage area will pay for itself in dividends. If the feed room is easy to access from your milking or checkup area, install an inexpensive refrigerator to store medicine and vaccinations.