How much space do goats need?

Answer 1

"Goats need approximatelley 50 acres to graze They need a minimum of 15 sq feet for housing. If goats are fed quality hay they have no need to graze. A one acre pasture of quality grass, well taken care of, can support 8-10, but with hay, inside, also available."

^^ Incorrect as hell.

At one point growing up my family had over 40 goats, we only had 35 acers. As of right now, I have around 20, on 30 acers. Yes they need space in a barn to sleep in but they are primarily outdoor animals, the only reason you would ever need to totally close them in is if you have predators that could hurt them, but you still would only need to put them up at night. Or if you live in a cold climate with snow and ice, as goats need to be protected from the elements just as much as any other animal (most of the time they don't mind the rain though) For your barn, if you have around 10-15 goats I would suggest a 4 stall barn, each stall being 15-20 sq feet. Most of the goats will sleep together, however you may need to confine some of them or if one of your females is kidding, she will need a separate stall, closed off from the rest of the goats. As the person above said, they do need to graze, but goats DO NOT prefer grass, they like to strip the bark from trees, and eat the leaves off of them if they can, they also like bushes and weeds, therefore we've always had around half of our pastures in a wooded area. Goats will learn to graze on the grass, but do not expect it to be "mowed" it will be as uneven as uneven gets. Also, I assume that you know the GOATS CANNOT live alone, they have to have goat friends.