Our new (amazing) hoop house

We've been working off and on for a couple weeks building a hoop house for the goats, and it is almost done. I spent the last few months researching the best/easiest shelter to build for the winter. We were soooooo close to buying a kit to build a small shed, and then I found plans for a hoop house here.

Instead of spending $1000 on a 5x10 shed, we built an 8x16 hoop house for about $250! The breakdown: We spent about $40 on lumber (we found a whole bunch of warped 2x10's at Home Depot that were on sale-perfect for a goat house!), $100 on cattle panels, $50 on a huge tarp, and $60 on screws, locks, and extras.

I am very pleased with what we created. It is twice as big as anything we could have afforded to buy, and for a lot less money. The structure wasn't too hard to build. The most time went into getting the tarp on and secured, at the very end. Here is a broad overview of what we did to create this casa de capri.

We framed in the bottom, then braced 3 cattle panels inside the frame and secured them to it with screws and metal straps. We zip tied the panels to each other where they overlapped. The frame isn't really square, and it is sitting on uneven ground, so I didn't want to do anything too permanent or hard to realign.

We stabilized the cattle panels by building door frames on each end of the structure, and then braced the cattle panel around the door frames with 2x4s.

My husband build a door to fit into the door frame on the front. The door was a custom size and shape, since the entire structure isn't level or square. It looks square enough though. The goats haven't complained yet, anyway.

We went ahead and built a door frame on the back so if we ever want a door there, we won't have to take the tarp off to add one.

Even if you think you won't need it, it adds nice structural support. The cattle panels

want to wiggle and dance around without it.

Later we used more cattle panels to secure the front door and the back wall.

My mom had recently taken down an above ground pool at her house, so we had lots of free metal panels laying around. (That is what you see in the picture above, and the orange in the picture to the left.) We decided to use it to help protect the tarp from the goats. I had images in my head of the goats trying to climb up the outside walls, and putting their hooves through the tarp.

The last step was adding the tarp. I picked the silver because I didn't like the idea of a big green monster in our yard. However in a couple years when this tarp needs to be replaced, I'm going to switch to green. I realized when all was said and done, the green would have been a perfect match for all the cedar trees on our property, so it wouldn't have stuck out so much.

Note: A few weeks after we finished and took all these pictures, we took the tarp off and redid the back wall/door framing so that the top part of the frame is under the cattle panel hoop instead of on top. I originally thought it wouldn't be secure enough, but it is fine. And it looks nicer without those points sticking up under the tarp (see the picture to the left.)

One extra thing that we did after we were finished was to add a ratchet strap to the front and back, holding the tarp in place. If you have ever been outside in a snow storm, trying to work with a tarp that's come loose, you'll understand why.

Over the next few weeks I added things like a hay rack and mineral feeder inside. We had some old hay that we used for the bedding. We just keep adding more, so it will be pretty thick by the end of winter when we clean it out.

It isn't much to look at, but it gets the job done and then some. It is a great wind break, and inside it can feel 20 degrees warmer than outside. It is a comfortable space in which to work and 6 ft high in the middle. It is perfect for us, as we are a short people.

We like this hoop house so much, we are planning a large one like this for garden/lawn equipment and a smaller one for chickens.