# ShelterLogic Shelter Questions



## Painted Pony (Apr 12, 2009)

Hi All,

I was recently reading a thread where the person has a ShelterLogic shelter in her pasture for the goats. I'm wondering how many of you use these? Seems like a fairly inexpensive way to add cover to a pasture that isn't away from the barn. 
A few questions:
Do the goats eat the fabric sides or chew the zippers?
Do the shelters withstand high winds if staked down really well? We can get 50-60mph winds in my area so that's a big concern.
How hard is it to really install one, say a 10X10X8 size one? There's only two of us.

I have a large barn but will be moving the bucks out away from the main barn this winter. If one of these ShelterLogics will work then I could save myself a lot of time & work setting up the new buck shelter.

Any ideas or suggestions on something this simple that offers four sided protection would be great to hear.


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## ezekielsgarden (Nov 2, 2009)

I'm the one that uses the Shelter.

Something ate the zipper on one side. I can't remember, but I think it was the dog. Nobody's eaten anything on it since we got rid of the dog. The worst thing they do is to go out the back, where there's no opening. I don't know why the silly girls do this, but they won't be able to after today - we're going to line the inside of the shelter with bales of straw stacked 2 high.

If you buy the longer stakes, they withstand the winds pretty well. Those are a pain to put in, but if you have something big to help you screw them in, it will help. You will also need to make sure that you get it tied to the stake well. Ours doesn't move at all, even in really strong winds, since I put the longer augers/stakes in.

It's hard to install one by yourself, but with 2 people, you should get it done in an afternoon.

We're in Indiana, and it can get cold in winter. However, this provides shelter from the worst of the wind. We put the entrance facing south, so it's usually dry in there, too, unless we get a storm from the south.


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## Rose (Oct 26, 2007)

http://www.shelterlogic.com/

My question is how long do they last? Is it a good value if it only lasts three or four years?


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I had one a few years ago, but it was a different company. I had the peaked roof type and I was using it for hay storage.

I worked fine until one day, about 5 months after I got it and installed it, when I woke up to find my hay alone and exposed in the back yard. My shelter was about 30 feet up in the air, impaled on a pine tree branch.

I had this shelter staked down with cement blocks, tree trunks, long thick pipes, short ropes, long ropes, bungee cords, you name it. The wind picked it up like it was nothing. 

However, I set up what was left of the metal frame in the goat pen, and covered just the top with a tarp. I don't have it staked or tied down, its just setting there. It has lasted for 3 years now without the wind destroying it. The horned goats (Boers when I had them) ripped the tarp and shredded it, but I am going ot rpelace it this year and hope for the best. There are no sides to it, which may be why the wind doesn't mess with it.

The ShelterLogic ones look much sturdier though, so maybe they will work out better than mine did.


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## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

My friend who keeps horses advised to build the following shelter and it has been god sent to us this year. We stood up up wooden pallets on 3 sides - as walls (lenght is unlimited and the width will depend how high or low you need the arch) and arched 16' cattle panel over it and nail to the sides of the pallets. Heavy duty tarp over it.


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## ezekielsgarden (Nov 2, 2009)

Jana - that is somewhat like we were considering for a kidding pen, if we could find the pallets for free (lots of places around here seem to want to make you pay for them). Definitely cheaper than the ShelterLogic.


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## Bernice (Apr 2, 2009)

What a novel idea! But I think my goaties would have it trashed in no time! I see they had greenshouses.......I'll have to look into that. 

Amy: do they get hot at all inside with the heat?


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## ezekielsgarden (Nov 2, 2009)

Bernice - the greenhouses run about $200-300, IIRC for the smallish ones.

My girls prefer to lay in the shade down by the creek in the summer. We kept the south-facing flap open in the summer. I know they went there to bed at night. I can say that it is still quite chilly in there in the winter, but it does a great job protecting from the wind. We'll see how warm it gets when we bolster it with straw tomorrow.


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## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

Amy, keep checking CL, we got ours free and most of the time someone has free ones listed.


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## Feathers-N-Fur (Oct 4, 2008)

My "barn" is made of greenhouse hoops in the middle for hay storage, then I have 4 portable carports, 2 on each side, for the goat stalls. This gives me a 36'x40' barn that I have about $600 total into. It is temporary, I will have my pole barn someday, but I have just added to it bit by bit as I needed more space. The latest addition was 2 large tarps to cover all the sections, which also work as the rain gutters between the hay area and the goat areas. 
I am not the only one I have seen with this type of arrangement. The last goat I bought, she had a similar set up made of 6 carports. 
To secure them down, we tie a long piece of wire around the base of a t post, drive the t post in, put the carport leg over the post, then tie the wire to the cross piece of the carport. I am pretty well protected from wind, but my FIL gets 70 MPH wind and has never lost a frame. With his wind, his tarps only last about 2 years, mine are 4 years old and still in good shape.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

I have a shelter logic 10X20 carport from TSC, we dug holes for pier blacks & screwed the feet onto those, then made plywood walls 4' high that we used pipe fasteners (the u shaped ones) to hook to the wall with. I have the one with walls, the goats & LGD ate the bungies that hold the walls on, but they are nice to roll up in the summer, the tarps it came with lasted 2 years, the must be replaced this year. we do have to go out and use a broom to get the snow off the roof when it is snowing, snow weighs too much for the frame.

our hay 'barn' is an arched 10x20 carport from costco. the original tarp lasted 8 years, the replacement I got only lasted 1 winter  

our winds are 45-60 sustained sometimes in the winter, and sometimes we have 80-90 mph gusts


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

For two of the new houses we went with the Costco carports as well. Since we had three used ones we made one that was broken down to half and the other one is the full sized 10 x 20. One word of caution with these is to place them facing east to west. Most prevailing winds come from the west here and every now and again from the east. They do stay up just fine. We also gave them wooden walls and use tarps over the top. 2x4's help strengthen and hold the wood and make a nice place to attach a mineral feeder. Ours are buried however down about two feet so you have to duck to go in. Here I was griping about the small barn entrances! Geez. But these do make nice shelters for goaties. The newest one is going to be my kid pen, not close to the outside fence where some dummy can reach over and grab a kid. Tam


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## Painted Pony (Apr 12, 2009)

Thank you for all your replies. We do get high winds in my area so I'd have to stake it down well or risk it ending up down the street.


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