# New Goat Stalls Finally Done



## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

Due to circumstances beyond my control, the long awaited goat stalls are finished.
The old ones were functional but not as efficient as I wanted.
I am not a carpenter, but if I had to I could do this at a glacial speed and not as put together.
Fortunately, I have the good fortune to have Amish carpenters that are able to come to my aid.
I had all the materials ready for them and in three hours the goats have their new digs.
Christmas came early for the goats!


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

They look great! You will have some happy happy goats for Christmas. If you don't mind sharing...how big are your stall areas, roughly? Thanks!


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## dozedotz (Dec 12, 2012)

I probably shouldn't tell you what my husband said...but I will! lol He walked in and I said, "Hon, look at what the nice Amish carpenters down the road did for one of the guys on HT." He said, "Crap!" and he said it with FEELING! In fact I have to say that it has been a while since he has expressed quite that much emotion about anything! Do you think he is envious? tired? exasperated? Hmmmm. How about all of the above!!? He is a frustrated carpenter who works at the aforementioned "glacier" speed while peppering his endeavors with colorful language that expresses his "love" for his work. Oh, well, on to the next project.
Yours looks FABULOUS!!! I have always said: It is not what you know, but WHO you know.
(I made that up all by myself.)


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## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

Thank you. They are roughly 10 ft long by 5-6 ft wide. I can also say that I highly recommend the horse panels that I chose to use. They could hold a lion if need be.
I also like them because they are 5 ft high and that's perfect for my goats as well as the 2x4" openings won't allow horns to get caught by heads going through.

Now I'm really going to depress you...not only do they do great work, their fee is shamefully low. As I mentioned, I bought all the materials, but the labor to do this job (two adults and one teenager) was....drum roll please...$185 (total job). Even if I could do the work, I wouldn't be able to do it in three hours so the money is more than worth it to me. (I did give them a nice tip and thanked them immensely.)
Give me a guy in a blue shirt and a black hat and I'm there!


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## Kittikity (Oct 21, 2004)

Skills like the Amish have are disappearing fast in the modern world.


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## Doug Hodges (Jul 22, 2013)

Wow. Those are super nice.


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## Clovers_Clan (Jul 17, 2012)

Wow! I have to say though, the goat in the last picture must be thinking "Ah, man! Now how am I going to get out of this?!"


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## gunsmithgirl (Sep 28, 2003)

Sweet!


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## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

Clovers_Clan said:


> Wow! I have to say though, the goat in the last picture must be thinking "Ah, man! Now how am I going to get out of this?!"


It's funny you said that because when I saw the picture, the first thing that came to my mind was "give me 5 minutes and I'll be out of here."


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

Nice stuff!! Very fair labor cost.

I like those horse panels too, Doug mentioned them and I had never heard of that configuration.

Were the main posts (4x4's?) already part of the barn or did they install those too?
Would like to see how they attached the panels and those 'hinge extensions'.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Very nice!


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## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

aart said:


> Nice stuff!! Very fair labor cost.
> 
> I like those horse panels too, Doug mentioned them and I had never heard of that configuration.
> 
> ...


The horse panels came from an Amish store. I live very close to an almost all Amish community and there is a leather shop there. While it's called a leather shop it's really a farm supply store and they sell just about everything you would need. I did see the panels at TSC but they were out when I went to buy them. Actually, that worked out better for me because TSC wanted $90 per panel and I got them for $75 from the leather store.

The 4x4's were added. They were 12 ft and they buried about 2 feet into the ground.

The panels were attached with fence staples. The hinge extensions were an improvised idea. The hinges I bought were too long and extended beyond the 2x4 frame without support. He wanted to "cut" the hinge and I suggested using extended wood to just offer support to the extra hinge. He screwed the extensions on to the hinge and I think he put a nail or two into the extension to give it some support and attach to the frame. Whatever he did, it's really tight and strong.

The whole idea to these new pens were to make it easier for me to clean them out. The former plan didn't allow me to push a wheel barrow into the pen and that made cleaning the pen a real chore. The old pens were comfortable for the goats, just not me. Also, all of my does were together and I wanted to be able to separate the two mother/daughter pairs. They got along for the most part, but the herd queen was very hard on the others, except for her own daughter who can do no wrong.


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## Mattie420 (Apr 2, 2013)

Looks great!!! Keep up the great work!


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## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

Need to give an update.

I had to reinforce the panel in the "quarters of the palace queen." For two days she rammed her head against the panel to try to get to her nemesis on the other side. If I did that I would have a pounding headache, but I digress...Keep in mind that they were together before in one large pen and spend their days together in the pasture.

She pounded so much that the panel was almost off of the frame. To remedy this I use metal pipe clamps on the top and bottom of the 2x4 and then put a staple into each square of the panel all the way around. That seemed to solve the problem as it's solid and not moving at all, although not for her lack of trying.

I just don't get it why it bothers her so much that she and her daughter have their own space and don't compete with anyone else for their space.
During the day when she's in the pasture, she gets along with the others for the most part but isn't above letting her position known.

Always a learning experience.


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## Kittikity (Oct 21, 2004)

Sounds like separation anxiety to me. She just wants her companion back. Maybe take out the panel altogether and let them share a bigger stall.


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## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

In theory I can understand that, and you may be right, but when they were together they never laid side by side and stayed on opposite sides of the pen. She would also butt the other one every chance she got.
Phase II is going to be where I put wood across the divider to inhibit sight and lessen the blows to the metal.


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