# Do any of you stall your goats at night?



## TNTPoultry (Apr 5, 2006)

I was reading a book that was written some 30 years ago and the author talks about stalling the does at night, in their own individual stalls. During the day, they are together.

What do you all think of that idea?


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

My 3 minis share a stall at night. They need to be safe from the coyotes.


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

I don't stall mine. They've got shelters and LGDs to keep the coyotes at bay. I don't think mine would be happy AT ALL if they were stalled.

Oh, that was NOT a dig at you, Minelson.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Goats love being in the herd. Mine wouldn't like individual stalls. They do, however, each have their favorite place in the barn.


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## QoTL (Jun 5, 2008)

Mine also get put in the barn at night during fall/winter/spring. So far in the summer, we've left them out (they have a house with a door out there) but the coyotes are getting mighty close these days 

Community stall though- they love to cuddle


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## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

Mine couldn't care either way, stalled in a group or their own stall as long as the food is with them they are happy. Nobody cuddles except for moms and babies. the only one who complained having his own pad was Tony, even though he could kiss over the boards.


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## KatieJJ (Mar 8, 2010)

Mine are kept in a large stall together, with access outdoors during the days when it's not raining. We close it up at night, except occasional times during the summer when my two were both full grown. (Mine were a mother and 4 mo. old daughter, Rosie, when I got them.) Now that I have babies again, I won't leave them with outdoors access during the night until they are all grown. We have coyotes here, but I wouldn't expect them to go after full grown adult goats. 

Am I wrong in this assumption? I am a total greenhorn, even though I have had them two years. I haven't been around people to learn from until I found this forum about a week ago.


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## TNTPoultry (Apr 5, 2006)

With a community stall....do you actually close them in at night so they cannot get back out until morning? I'm leaning toward this idea of stalling at night, not so much individual stalls, but a community one sounds great. However, a friend of mine said that goats will come down with pneumonia, if closed in at night. 

Anyone have thoughts about that?


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

KatieJJ said:


> Mine are kept in a large stall together, with access outdoors during the days when it's not raining. We close it up at night, except occasional times during the summer when my two were both full grown. (Mine were a mother and 4 mo. old daughter, Rosie, when I got them.) Now that I have babies again, I won't leave them with outdoors access during the night until they are all grown. We have coyotes here, but I wouldn't expect them to go after full grown adult goats.
> 
> Am I wrong in this assumption? I am a total greenhorn, even though I have had them two years. I haven't been around people to learn from until I found this forum about a week ago.


The coyotes here would take down a full grown goat.  I would only leave them out if I had a LGD. I can't have a LGD because all my dogs end up sleeping in my bed!


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

I don't think there would be any benefit to stalling individually. You'd need more room - one stall per goat plus a run in area while they're pastured during the day. It'd be a lot more work to let them out in the morning. You'd have to maneuver more during cleaning. You'd have no room for expansion unless you had more barn room to steal for stalls. It'd cost more to build multiple stalls than it would one large one. You'd need lots of individual buckets for water and individual hay feeders, instead of a couple large hay feeders and one large trough. Imagine how horrible it would be in winter to lug buckets of warm water to each stall, instead of having one large tank with a de-icer!

Just have one large run in, two SEPARATE isolation pens (in a different barn, for incoming animals), two growout kid pens (m/f), a large buck pen/shed, and 2-3 kidding pens. Always make it big enough to expand into. IE, if you start with 3 goats you may very well have 10 by the end of next year. 

I do not close my girls in at night. I close them OUT until the chickens go to bed, to deter the chickens from sleeping on my stairs... LOL. But, the door is then left open after dusk. Then again, I don't have a lot of predator problems either. We do have coyotes, etc, but haven't lost even a chick to a predator in years. I believe it's because of our two large dogs that 'patrol' our property. Not LGD's, but enough to keep predators away.


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## QoTL (Jun 5, 2008)

If they can take down a full-grown deer (which they do), goats aren't a problem.



And yes, mine are closed in. I wouldn't think, as long as it's kept clean, that pneumonia would be much of a problem.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

TNTPoultry said:


> With a community stall....do you actually close them in at night so they cannot get back out until morning? I'm leaning toward this idea of stalling at night, not so much individual stalls, but a community one sounds great. However, a friend of mine said that goats will come down with pneumonia, if closed in at night.
> 
> Anyone have thoughts about that?


If a bunch were stuffed into too small and area and it wasn't kept clean and no ventilation then you might have a problem. Mine go in at night and they get let out in the morning and free range the property. They have access to their stall at all times. I have their water/minerals/baking soda/hay in there along with their bedding. Here are some pics...It's a horse stall
















this is the set up from our old place..it was for 1 pregnant goat so lots of bedding


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Just want to add that the key for me is to lock them up as late as possible and let them out as early as possible...that way there is less poop and pee to clean up


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## KatieJJ (Mar 8, 2010)

Ok, coyotes might kill my full grown goats. Thank you- I won't be leaving them out at night again.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

KatieJJ said:


> Ok, coyotes might kill my full grown goats. Thank you- I won't be leaving them out at night again.


I sleep better knowing mine are safely tucked in at night  But then there is always the thought of fire :grit: I just can't win. But I am ultra careful and have more control over fire prevention than a coyote attack.


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Mygoat made some wonderful insightful comments due to experience. Minelson's situation is a little different since she only has a few. Love those nice wide openings, girl!
The only time mine are in lock down is when they kid, that is, if I can get them in before hand some are pretty sneaky about kidding outside.
Even then, I hate the cleaning out of stalls especially since a wheelbarrow cant fit through the gates. 
We have LGD's so I dont worry about the coyotes around here. From day 1 they have been with the goats exclusively.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Fire is my main reason why I lock as little as possible up. If predators became a problem, I'd get an LGD... but my barn is at LEAST 100 years old. We re-wired it but some if it is still pretty old wiring. We've got few to no rats/mice to chew on wires - but freak accidents happen. I also have the water troughs outside and positioned with the heater cord tied/secured so that the heater cannot fall out, and keep the area clear of dry grass/hay/straw. I'm terrified of barn fires. 

Another thing that works great is to keep a radio playing at a decent level in the barn. Radio announcer voices keep predators at bay. I've been doing it for years, seems to work. I like to keep a good country or rock station going.


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## QoTL (Jun 5, 2008)

Another trick is to have a male family member urinate around your barn/animal yards.


It really does work. Last summer my dh neglected the duty and I lost a ton of chickens.


Plus, men just generally like to pee outside... *roll eyes*


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## Wonderland (May 26, 2009)

I don't put mine up at night, but they have a LGD - the best one ever, in my opinion  - so I don't worry about them too much anymore, despite coyotes and stray dogs. Before we got Mellow, I would have frequent nightmares about things killing them.

Of course, right now two of my girls are separated from Mellow and the other goats so they can make friends with a buck I'm borrowing. The day we brought the buck here, we saw two coyotes in the back pasture. Even though I'm confident that the area they're in is secure, I had nightmares again about coyotes attacking them. I might go insane before this over. :stars:


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Mine have their shed where they go at night. In the Winter, the "door" is a heavy blanket, screwed in place so they don't drag it down. 

During the day, they are outside in the Goat Compound, which is fenced off. Never worried much about 'yotes, but we tend to go out there the minute we hear a noise. 

Maybe we need to rethink that...

ANYway, Trub is locked away by herself right now, though she can "visit" the boys through the openings in the door (made out of a shipping pallet). I can't let the other goats in with her b/c they tend to walk on her hugely pregnant body.


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## desertshi (Jul 23, 2008)

I put mine up in a stall together. The baby goats stay out though. This is my way of seperating them. I have the goats in with three cows though so nothing is going to get them!!


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

QoTL said:


> Another trick is to have a male family member urinate around your barn/animal yards.
> 
> 
> It really does work. Last summer my dh neglected the duty and I lost a ton of chickens.
> ...




That must be why the coyotes never get too close to the barn, dh always pee's outside down there. Well I do sometimes too rather than run all the way to the house, take off my boots & coverall before running through the house, Heck I wouldn't make it!!


Our goats have a big pen that they are locked in at night with house's that have doorways. During the day they can come & go from there pen to out to browse around. The boy's I have a big pasture area fenced(partly wooded) but they come back to there pen at night too which has a door to there section of the barn which they can go in & out at will.
Lots of coyotes here but never had a problem with them going after any of our livestock.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Minelson, Your setup is so nice. Love that barn too.


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2010)

We have a girl's stall and a boys stall. The barn we used used to be used as a cattle intake barn. The guy who lived here used to take cows to the market, so he would need a place to pen them for a day or two. Each stall could hold 5 cows comfortably. PLENTY of room for 2 goats!

During the summer I'm more lax about penning them. Coyotes have to go over 1-2 six foot fences to get into the barn. If they're that hungry they aren't going to have the energy to jump that many fences. It's just that when it's hot and no breeze I feel mean locking them up. 

But ***I*** sleep better knowing they're penned in at night.


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