By Dr. Ruth Waineina
Proper housing is key in dairy goat keeping. It ensures that goats are safe from harsh weather conditions that can lead to diseases such as helminths and pneumonia, which are the most common diseases affecting goats. Proper goat housing can greatly prevent these diseases.
Requirements for a dairy goats house
A dairy goat house should have a slatted floor raised to about 1 m high to allow droppings to fall and maintain a clean environment free of helminth eggs, which inhabit the wet dung. The slate width is about 70-100 mm with a slate space of 10-25 mm. The house should have sides covered to allow free aeration but prevent the flow of strong winds through the house, which predisposes goats to pneumonia. The house should not allow predators in and should be near living quarters and lockable to keep off thieves. House construction using locally available materials (tree branches, offcuts, mud for sides and grass thatch) is recommended to lower construction costs.
Dairy goat housing should be built in a well-drained area, downward from the farm owner’s house if the land is sloppy, near enough to monitor the dairy goats but far enough to minimize odours (at least 50 meters). The orientation of the dairy goat shed depends on the local climate. The house should be built along the east-west axis to contain wind flow through it or along a north-south axis in humid areas to manage heating up.
A goat house should have provisions for goat cubicles (1.2 x2.1 m for a doe and its two kids), a milking place (1.2 m x 2.1m), feed and water troughs (0.3 m wide), and a walking area (1.8 m). The space allowance for the various goat categories is: kid (0.3 m2); doe (1.5 m2), pregnant doe (1.9 m2), and buck (2.8 m2).
A maternity paddock is necessary outside the house. It should be clean, well-ventilated, and with dry bedding, preferably grass hay.
