[SalteyLove]

I have 5 goats in a 15x25 area. At most I would keep 6 and would actually prefer 4. My goats are locked up at night. If we have bad winter conditions I will also keep the door closed. I have 4 small hay racks. If you are going to lock them up, you want plenty of space for them to eat and get away from each other. You also don't want overcrowding. So that 8 ft per animal is very reasonable.

I think it was 8 SQUARE feet per animal in that article @ksalvagno ! Which is not enough! But 8'x8' would be.

@Dylann - I had done a lot of the same research you are doing, and all those published square footage numbers are way too low in my opinion. They don't account for the herd pecking order, bullies, or brutal herd queens. I think Karen is saying for her herd, being locked inside, 60+ square feet per animal is what works. I have to agree with this. I have a 16'x32' portion of my barn for the does with nearly 16 feet of hay rack. Damned if I could lock more than 8 does in there without a brawl. I hardly ever lock them in, they always have access to at minimum a "dry lot" area of approx. 20'x32'. Overcrowding is the #1 cause of health issues in backyard barnyards, so be generous, and have less animals than you think. In my opinion, 12 goats in an 10x16 barn is WAY too many for any period of time being locked up. The constant stress of trying to maintain herd order without the option to get away will wear on them. There is a super great article that I'll try to find for you.

The best advice for outfitting a new barn is to plan for raised sleeping platforms to increase the square footage vertically. This really helps the goats.

 

[SalteyLove]

Here is that article: https://backyardgoats.iamcountryside.com/feed-housing/how-to-house-goats-harmoniously/

It's geared towards larger dairy producers but still great information for any goat owner to understand how housing them in the human created environmental affects their goat social skills.