Mobile stable for sheep and goats

Cows, horses, sheep and goats are domestic animals that are often kept outdoors so that grass and bushes can fall. But in bad weather they need to be protected from rain or snow by placing them under the roofs of stables. They also need to be protected at night from various beasts. This is done by accommodation them into pens, or stables.

The problem is that stables don’t exist everywhere, these animals have a long way to go to get to the stables.

In smaller animals such as sheep and goats, this problem could be solved by making mobile stables in the form of a trailer that can be brought to where they are grazing. This makes it possible to quickly and easily drive sheep and goats into the barn. In this way, ordinary trailers could become a mobile home for sheep and goats, as we already have for bees that are transported by trailers where they graze.

For transport to the place of grazing, such a trailer must have a drawbar (1) that can be attached to a tractor, or some other vehicle that can pull the trailer. The trailer stands on wheels (2) and has movable side panels (3) on the side that can be lowered or raised, and have the shape of the inverted letter L. On the rear side there is a rear side (4) with a door (5) . This door (5) can be opened down to the ground so that it serves as a ramp where people or animals can climb on the trailer. Above the trailer in the middle from the rear to the front of the trailer extends a long solid tube that serves as a tarpaulin coil (6). ​A roof tarpaulin coil (7) is wound on this tarpaulin coil (6). The roof tarpaulin (7) is connected at one end to the tarpaulin coil (6) and at the other end to the upper edge of the side panels (3). The tarpaulin coil (6) can be rotated by hand, whereby the roof tarpaulin (7) is unwound or wrapped on this tarpaulin coil (6). When the roof tarpaulin (7) is unwound, the side panels (3) start to descend towards the ground. When the side part of these sides (3) reaches the horizontal position, the lowering is completed, and the roof tarpaulin (7) is firmly tensioned obliquely in the shape of a roof. On the upper part of these side panels are attached hanging sides (8) which hang towards the ground and which, when lowered, both side panels (3) are placed perpendicular to the ground. In this way, these hanging sides (8) close the space below the side panels (3), and turn it into a closed space, while keeping the lowered side panels (3) in a horizontal position. After this, a solid tarpaulin or net is needed. close the openings on the front and rear of the trailer.

In the described way, the trailer is transformed into a much larger space that has a roof, sides and two floors with accommodation for sheep and goats. The first floor is the ground closed by the hanging sides (8) and the lowered sides (3), while the upper floor is the space where sheep and goats stand on the lowered sides (3), and the upper side is protected by a roof tarpaulin (7).

The roof tarpaulin (7) must be made of a solid, flexible, tear-resistant material so that it cannot be torn by beasts with its claws and teeth.

When this mobile extended barn needs to be moved to another terrain, the tarpaulin winder (6) is rotated so that the roof tarpaulin (7) is wound on it. This raises the lowered sides (3) to the driving position, and the barn is converted back into a trailer that can be towed to a new position by a vehicle.

Thanks to this trailer, which can be quickly and easily turned into a stable for grazing cattle in the open, it could be much easier and safer, and shepherds could be sure at night that their beasts will not attack their cattle. In winter, sheep and goats would not have to be kept in solid stables in populated areas, but could be left to graze, and only during the rainfall they could be locked in such mobile barns.

An additional benefit is that in this way livestock manure could be collected not only in winter when the cattle are in the stables, but also in the summer when the cattle are grazing. The cattle would stay in such stables overnight, and a large part of the feces that the cattle create during the summer would remain under them.