Goat Barn

My Christmas present this year from Hubby were our three pygora goats.  Well, when he made the decision to finally do this (I have been wanting goats for years!!)  It was sudden and we just did it.  Unfortunately we didn't have a barn or anything for them.  What we did though has worked wonderfully and we are getting the permanent shelter up this weekend.

When we purchased our house ten years ago, I was 9 months pregnant with our fifth child.  At the time we were living in a two bedroom house and knew we needed something with just a little more space.  Ten years ago the housing market was at the top, and there was only a handful of houses for sale in our price range.  We also wanted to get in the country, but at that time had NO crazy dreams of becoming "hobby farmers".   Real estate in Michigan right now is BAD and we couldn't sell our house unless we were willing to give it away.  So we are making do with what we have.

TED

With about an acre of land we able to add a small chicken coop and have a three car garage that we have our rabbits in.  Part of the hesitation on getting goats was "Where are we going to put them?"  Last summer Hubby purchased what we now affectionately call "Ted" it is not a shed, and it is not a tent, but a mix of the two.  He originally got it to put his lawn tractor, rototiller, and other things that were in the way in the garage.  Well when we decided to get goats we also decided we could keep them in "Ted".  We weren't completely sure on this until I picked up a copy of the Mary Jane Farm magazine a couple of days later and lo and behold look what was in it:

A whole barn made from a tent/shed and pallets!!!  So that is exactly what we did.  We have had two blizzards this year (one was three days after the goats got here) and even though we lost sleep those two nights checking on the goats, the tent held up beautifully.  Over Christmas time we were able to get $100 off another "Ted" and we will be putting that up in the next week, so that Hubby can have his storage back and I can have a real goat barn with pasture area.  We started on the fencing last night.  I continue to be amazed with what you can do with one acre of land, and we are excited about not having to mow so much lawn.  With gas prices pushing $4 a gallon that is a good thing.