The goats really seem to like being in the barn at night: we have spent the last couple of weeks refining the layout and think we now have it right for the winter! Currently the goats spend their nights in three individual stalls: Curds and Pickle in one, the Boer girls in a second and Pepper on his own on the last one. If they have to spend any whole days inside, their stalls can be make twice the size by opening the gates and locking them open using catches on the opposite wall. OR, we can easily remove the gates altogether and have one big communal area with open partitions. The idea is that come the spring, this set up may well do for lambing and kidding too...
On the whole the barn we have inherited is fairly fit for purpose. Ventilation for the goats' stalls is perfect with slatted wooden uprights from 4 foot up, some of which have been put together on hinges so we can open sections like a window! There is a tap just inside the main barn door and we also have two small permanent enclosures, one of which is slowly becoming a store for every day tools etc and the other of which we have set up as an isolation/ hospital stall!!
Ventilation at the back of the barn is not so good but at the moment we have all the hay and straw stored there plus the chickens seem to rather like it and each day at least three of them use the bales to lay their eggs in/ on… bless. Jack soooo loves climbing the stacks of bales each day to look for them...