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Well, it took nearly 8 months, but here on the day before my Mini LaMancha goat doelings arrive, I have finally completed the goat shelter!

The shelter is 8 feet x 6 feet and is on skids so that we can pull it around with our tractor. I got the basic idea for the shelter from pictures on the internet, then put it all together in my head about fifty times late at night before I bought my first nail. This is the first structure I've ever built, so I wanted to get it right!

I started in late August of last year with a load of 2x4s that Home Depot was kind enough to cut for me at no charge.

The boys and I started framing - here is Caleb helping out:

Framing was a lot of fun. I used nails to support cross pieces. Caleb's job was to remove the nails, while Lucas hunted lost nails with the metal detector.

I installed a metal roof, then became ill with food poisoning, which kept me down a month. Before I knew it winter was approaching and I still needed to put up the walls. I used OSB - it may not have been the best choice, but we will see how it holds up.

I used TrimLoc around the edges of the sheet metal to protect us from the sharp edges.

The boys were a big help painting the outside with KILZ, then a coat of paint.

Everything sat through the winter and held up very well. Then the doelings were born in early February, so I knew there wasn't much time left!

Time to get off my tush and back to work.

We painted some 1x4 boards to use as trim and to protect the edges of the OSB.

When the ground was dry enough Dan used the tractor to haul the shelter into the horse pasture onto a sand heap.

I finished securing the trim this morning, and this afternoon will hang buckets, feeders, and a hay bag then fill it with straw for bedding. We will enclose the area with field fencing temporarily to give the horses a chance to become accustomed to their new pasture-mates and to give us time to secure the paddock.

All ready for the babies to arrive tomorrow!

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