Ask anyone who has kept goats for any length of time, and they will tell you: keeping your goats in place and on your property is a lot easier said than done. The fact of the matter is that goats are excellent escape artists, or jailbreakers as I like to call them, and as a rule, your fences need to be both tall and sturdy to stand a chance.

Much of the time, that means you’re spending big bucks on materials. But the homesteader’s way is to persevere, improvise, and overcome. With the right materials and a good plan, it’s possible to craft an entirely serviceable, durable, and effective goat pen yourself using basic materials.

You’ll find links to written walkthroughs and videos for all sorts of different designs below.

The 8-Dollar Goat Enclosure

For some of us, shabby, improvised homesteader chic is just not an option. We want all of our buildings to be a reflection of ourselves, and if you’ve got the skills, the time and the materials you truly cannot do any better than this bespoke mini barn.

This is the Ritz of goat shelters and suitable both for keeping them put up and in one place and letting them tuck tail at night or during inclement weather.

This design could also easily be expanded with some simple calculations for a herd of any size, and it really does look like an upgrade for your property.

Super Simple Tarp Hoop House