# Temporary kidding pens in the barn



## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

We have one kidding pen that has a door to an outside area. It is a permanent area and has been used as a milk room, a sick room, a place where a Nubian mother raising Kinder kids can have some privacy while still being around other goats and a kidding area. In-other-words, multi-purpose. Meggie is in there right now because I am concerned that she is 5 and has never had a problem kidding so this HAS to be the year!!!
Once a year we need several kidding stalls for girls who are about to have their kids all near the same dates and will then return to the herd while the kids will go down to the cabin to be cared for and fed by us. Mac constructs the temporary kidding pens and I watch...it is great work if you can get it. Mac SWEARS by (at) it!! Anyway, here are some photos of how it works. After the girls are finished with it we take it down and it stores against the wall...sticking out about 1 foot into the barn...not in the way of anything until we need it next year. We use thick beds of straw on the concrete floor...there is a drain across from and downhill of the temporary stalls for cleanup. First girls to use it this year are due Feb. 5, 6 and 7. My comfy lawn chair will be set up just out front of the stalls for observing since we did not get the barn cam for Christmas that I had been asking..er, begging..er demanding..anyway, we didn't get it. 1) before the set up 2) the back boards are two 4x8 sheets of plywood 3)the top support ties into the framework of the pole barn 4) ready for fresh straw and babies.


----------



## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Wow. Now that's impressive! And nothing like dual + purpose areas!!
Even down to Mac swears by & at it.


----------



## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

Good line, Nancy! lol. It is even more than you think. Some of these sheets of plywood are new this year because Mac used several of the older ones for this contraption he builds inside the bed of the truck for moving goats around and some of those boards got warped from being outside...also, he made two new "gates" because he used the panels from before for the boys kid pen in the buck area last year. There are a million uses for plywood and cattle panels! Besides, we need that floor space for other stuff the rest of the year...so, temporary it is...


----------



## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

That is nice!!!


----------



## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

Personal suggestion here, a Nubian kid can get through those holes until they are several weeks old.

Otherwise great concept, did you us anything to protect the wood?


----------



## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

The kids are not left in the area at all. Most of the time the girls never even see them. As soon as they are born they go to the house. Bucklings left with their dams go outside with the dam very quickly...the girls have never stayed indoors AFTER the birth for more than one night. However, we are looking at some changes in our lives that will make lots of things different and so we may have to consider if the kids can escape. Thanks!
The boards are not treated at all and are often used for other things and replaced! Mac likes to have a supply of wood for his projects (this is really MY project that he designed for me and then moved on!!). I bet none of the 2x4's are original...he uses 2x4's for stuff all the time and just replaces them. But it does all come down and breaks apart nicely and is stored against a wall on the left...THEN he starts raiding it during the year....it could just sit there 'till next kidding season.


----------



## trnubian (Mar 19, 2005)

Very nice.


----------



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Ummmmm .... Guess my goats are spoiled for freedom to kid where they choose. 

Sounds as though you have a plan and a hubby who helps you achieve it. Congratulations.


----------



## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

He is the best! Of course, I only tell you guys that...don't want him thinking he is all THAT! So far all of our kids have been born exactly where WE want them! Honestly, their moms do not seem to mind...they have privacy, plenty of rest and food, water, etc. The doelings and some of the buckling are gone from them immediately...we hand raise them. It is a choice we made for all the usual reasons: CAE prevention, friendliness, easy cocci prevention in the bottle, etc. We are now in our 70's and are considering making some changes that will hopefully allow us to continue enjoying the goats for the future...how ever long that may be. As most of us always say, there is more than one way to raise a goat!


----------



## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

Oh, I should ad that when we raised Kinders their dams nursed them and kept them with them. The people purchasing Kinders had a different attitude about dam raising vs hand raising then Nubian buyers have...


----------



## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

Nice!! 
Would be easy to attach some smaller meshed wire to kid proof the gates if needed.


----------



## Frosted Mini's (Nov 29, 2012)

That's very nice!

How I wish I had had my camera with me, but we visited one farm in Montana while I was visiting my mother-in-law, where they had their kidding pens set up on a pulley system, and they could lift the entire thing up and out of the way for cleaning! I think each one moved individually. It was pretty neat.


----------



## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I Love them. looking forward to all the pictures with mamma's & babies in those stalls too!


----------

