The biggest issue people will raise regarding small acreage goat ownership is the pasture itself — goats need space to browse. And since most of our land is devoted to hay, that doesn’t leave a lot of options for setting up large areas of fencing. So what do are goats do for grazing? The front, side, and back yards surrounding out home, of course! Using four 16-foot metal cattle panels, wired together on the corners, we’ve constructed a lightweight, movable pen which contains enough “pasture” to last the goats one day. The pen is moved each day to a new spot in our yard, slowly traveling around out house until its gone from one side of the driveway to the other. Because our yard is slightly bigger than most, it takes the goats about eight weeks to completely around the house in a typical grazing year with average weather conditions. This is almost ideal for rotational pasture and parasite-prevention as the goats never return to the same spot for another eight weeks. Each grazing location is then marked on a map of our property to ensure that the goats aren’t returning too soon. During the winter, after the last hay cutting has been harvested, the pen is moved to the hayfield, giving the yard three months without goats to recover and to kill off any leftover parasites during the winter.
When the goats want more grass than is in the pen, they stick their heads through the fence to eat on the other side. After all, to a goat, the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side! They can also push the fence to allow more grass in their pen — and believe me, they can push it far! If there is something on the other side of they want, all they have to do is push with their shoulders and the fence goes with them.
The only problem in the system occurs when we have a drought year, such as the Mid-West experienced this year. The grass grows slower and is thus shorter, so the goats move much faster through the cycle than usual. This is where we get inventive with grazing. Sometimes the goats are given hay in their pens. Other times they are moved to unique locations, like overgrown weedy areas, dirt piles with grass or even the leftovers the horse won’t touch in their own pasture!
Since the goats are grazing in the yard, which is connected to the hay field, there isn’t a lot of shade options due to the lack of trees. So that means that during the extremely got summer we get here in the Mid-West, there aren’t very many ways for goats to keep cool, especially when the barn is too far away for them to go in and out. So, as usual, we’ve improvised a little! Wooden electricity spools, left over from area wiring projects, are placed in the pens to allow for a movable shade option and a sense of shelter during normal days. And when the temps really rise up, a large breach umbrella is placed in the pen to keep the goats cool. When the heat is too much to handle, the goats are taken back to the barn where their stall is equipped with a high-powered fan.
In the barn, the goats are set up with a very unique living situation. Our barn was built with the intention of five horses and an arena. But for years the fifth stall has sat empty. So, it soon became the goats’ home. Its filled with a wall of wooden spools to allow the goats to climb and see over the high walls. Each day they are led from their stall to their outdoor pen with leashes.
Their favorite part about this living situation is standing on the stall wall to greet people as they walk by. The spools are just high enough to allow that goats to put their front hooves on the top panel and look out to see everyone!
Raising goats on a small amount of acreage can be challenging at times when you are limited in your resources. But when you’re creative and inventive enough to find ways around the limitations, you end up with a pretty cool set up and some very happy goats! And if you’re lucky, you might just end up with goats outside your window for a few days! Life on a small acreage farm sure has its benefits!
I appreciate the way you give newbies some creative ideas for raising goats. What you didn't point out is that these ideas are also low cost and the fence panels last a long time. I use the panels for my primary fencing and utilize a similar program fir rotational grazing which is critical on a small scale.
We only have an acre and a quarter and that quarter is the steep bank down to the river. The goats graze on it but it's completely unusable for anything else. We have a small barn for them to go into at night and three pens for during the day. We use large dog crates for shelter during the day.
We have a very large garden on our land (80 x 100') plus the house, the barn and two sheds. Our goats are happy and healthy so our little Happy Goat Farm is a perfect example of what you are explaining. I've got one buck, three milking does, one retired doe and a baby doeling. There are currently four whethers; three are bound for the butcher and one will stay 'cause he stole my heart.
I’ve been trying to convince my SO that expanding to goats is a good idea. We live on just under 2 acres and he’s concerned about space among other things. I’m so glad to find a post on keeping goats on smaller acreage! I linked this page to my blog post http://wp.me/p8Qzqz-4k so others can learn from your experiences too!