As y'all know we've had our goats for about a month. They're coming around nicely. We can pet them now and handle them some. Hopefully by the time they're ready to breed and have kids they'll be mellow enuf to milk. So far, so good.

Anyway, I've got a question. My wife and I have been debating, how often do you clean the barn? It has a dirt floor that we cover with a little straw now and then. I haven't limed it yet nor have I sprinkled diatomaceous earth around for bug control. Do you let the floor build up some, adding straw, lime etc once a week or so and clean it in the spring and fall? or do you clean it to the dirt floor weekly or something else? Thanks

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), April 15, 2000

Answers

It's probably best for the goats, in the winter, to let the bedding build up, if the urine can soak away in the dirt. Diatomaceous earth would probably be a good idea, and maybe a little lime. A deep bedding pack helps the goats keep warm in cold weather. Personally, in summer I prefer to have them out of the buildings, on pasture with shade and water available. But if I had to keep them in I would keep the floor clean and give them sleeping benches to get up on. You'll get a lot of other opinions from other people, as we all do some things differently -- fortunately, most of them work!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 15, 2000.

John, I try to clean out the barn pretty thoroughly about every 6 weeks. By that I mean take the bedding out down to the dirt and rebed with fresh straw. In between times, I try to get all the droppings off the floor whenever I am out there, or at least in the morning when I turn them all out (they sleep inside during the winter and during lambing times). I bed down at least 6 inches, and sometimes over the winter it builds up to about a foot. The straw bedding adds up, $ wise. I have a friend with the best custom built barn that he designed...it has a metal grate type floor in a large portion of it where the sheep can hang out when they are inside. All the waste falls into a pit below. The sheep don't mind, in fact the grate probably helps keep their hooves hardy and more trimmed. Also, it doesn't smell... Don't know if he throws lime in every once in a while or? I should remember to ask him. Every season, he kicks out the sheep, pops up the grates, and scoops out the pit with his front loader (designed the pit to fit) and has manure to compost. I wish my barn was this easy, but it isn't, so I just resign myself to doing what I can for now. I really try to keep it cleaner with the little ones in it...they seem to plop down and stick their nose right into anything whether it's clean or not. Mostly I have to deal with wet straw (from wet wool) and with short stalks of straw and chaff (not good for wool). However, my chickens do a fair job of turning it to dry, and cleaning up the chaff... but they add their own deposits.

I would love to hear how others clean their barns. What a great question to post. Thanks

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), April 15, 2000.

I'm getting senile....I keep forgetting to finish things like this that I start... I also (this is important) add fresh straw to the bedding (just throw it on top) when it starts getting nasty....so they have clean, dry bedding to lie on. That's what I do in between deep cleanings.

Glad you are getting on so well with your new charges, BTW.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), April 15, 2000.

Hi, John. My barn has a dirt floor for half the barn, and concrete in the back half.

I threw down hay and bedding all winter to keep them warm, and as a result, have a lot of work to do now. I am in the process of hauling that all out to compost and till into the garden, with a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow. This will take me quite a while.

My goal is to completely clean it out, and keep a minimum of bedding in the stalls during the Summer and into the Fall. Then I will rake it out again, and rebed for winter. But, this coming Winter, the hay goes OUTSIDE at feeding time. If they want it, they can eat it outside. That would have saved me the hauling of these 50+ bales of hay that they rejected all over the barn floor.

I will have this barn cleaned out before the goats kid, no matter what. That's the plan, anyway. Then I will need the stalls. (I don't lock any of the animals into stalls. I only lock up the big barn doors. The sheep and goats and birds all run together.)

I only wanted to add here that the dirt floor is better on their hooves than the concrete, and that wet bedding is particularily bad for their hooves, as the urine softens and gums up the hoof. So, whatever you decide to do, your lucky to have dirt.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), April 16, 2000.

This is another one of the regional ones! We live in Texas, so come November just before kidding starts we fill all the stalls with shavings. Adding new shavings, and digging out the gunk whenever it gets nasty. Come last weekend we cleaned out the whole barn, 30 loads and filled the raised beds, and started the compost pile for the year. Every day after chores (course this is what I do, goats) I take a leaf rake, rake a stall, pick it up with a scoop shovel, wheel it to the compost pile. This takes maybe 10 minutes. I have 6 stalls, so each one gets done at least once a week. This really cuts down on the flies, worms, coccidia, and since the majority of my milk and kid sales are now, a clean barn helps sales. Be careful of using lime, without throughly raking it into the ground, it can burn udders, and ears, and inhaled it can also cause mechanical pnemonia. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 16, 2000.

We use sawdust for bedding, as straw is so much more expensive. We get it from a local sawmill, who is used to dealing with the local horse folks, and keeps out wood that would be harmful to the animals. I have high sides on my truck, and can fill the thing brim full for about 12 dollars. We add another layer as it needs it, and scoop it out about every other month, or when it gets full.

-- Connie (connie@lunehaven.com), April 16, 2000.

Connie,

I wish we could use sawdust, or even hog fuel...but can't with sheep...all the little stuff gets in the wool. Straw is bad enough. I have been to some fairs, workshops, etc., that use recycled newspaper pellets for bedding. Looks interesting, but I recall it's even more $$ than straw. Sigh....

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), April 17, 2000.

We put our ewes in a lambing pen with their lamb or lambs for 4 or five days before they get out with the other new moms. We rake out all the straw and sprinkle granular lime in the stall each time to keep down on illness. My bottle babies room is cleaned once a week the same way. During non-lambing times, we don't keep straw in the stalls but handy in case of illness in one of the animals. Whatever is wrong, no matter how small, we clean the stall as soon as the animal is removed and almost always it is possible to let it air before being used again after a good cleaning. We also keep water buckets and feed pans extra clean to keep from spreading something. Be extra careful with scours which are usually nothing to worry about. I never put a new mom in a pen behindd another before it is cleaned even if I have to do it in a thunderstorm or snowstorm. And the crib feeder for the babies should be kept clean because at that stage they get a little scours from shots or grass or because they want to give you a thrill. If you did have a little germ, you can spread it to the others or it will multiply. I just can't think that laying in very old urine or stuff wouldn't develop germs or infections. And I sure dont' want to sit in it myself and I do spend a lot of time in there. But I have learned the cleaner I keep that place the less health problems I have. I don't know about all this dirt stuff as I'm not that modern but I will look into it. They seem to know what they are talking about and I know I have never stopped learning anything. That's what really drew me to this site. I have taken Countryside for years and even have back issues before that. And what I have learned from the readers couldn't have been taught in a college. I have never seen a group of people who are so willing to help. And if they can't they will give comfort. I lurked for quite a while before getting active because I noted some sites, they got a little mean. Not for me. I like pleasant. Everyone can have their opinion and they are still friends. And I am wayyy off the subject. Sorry

-- Susie (goodartfarm@msn.com), April 17, 2000.

We are full time farmers. We have several barns, but I will tell you about the big barn where where we winter the ewes. Big, old bank barn. When we clean out the barn, we put down six to eight inches of limestone screenings (locally, called "bug dust") from the quarry down the road.

We clean out once a year. Almost four feet deep by spring and turning out on grass time(yes, watch your head). We keep them bedded up and keep them clean and dry with straw and hay they waste in the feeders. There will be towards 100 BIG manure spreader loads when we clean. It all goes out on the hayfields. Our soil tests rich in nutrients. The manure is priceless.

We always have the mill put feeding grade lime(for calcium), magnesium, and selenium in our feed when they make it. Our fields test rich in those minerals in a county that is notoriously deficient in all three. This is the same manure that we put on our gardens. The medical community is only now coming to understand how important these minerals are to humans. Farmers have known for 40 years that the animals had to have them.

-- homestead2 (homestead@monroecty.net), April 17, 2000.

This is not quite on the topic, but for what it's worth: We have 20 rescued pigs. (No, we do not eat them, breed them, sell them. They just live here and do their "pig thing". No, it does not make sense. Yes, it costs a lot of money!) What I have found over the years we've been doing this, is that if I put straw bedding in the barn for them, they will potty all over it, making a real stink that needs to be majorly cleaned at least every couple months. But, they will not potty in the barn if I just leave the dirt floor, with no bedding. The dirt floor is soft and nice for them to lay on, and for whatever reason, they keep it clean. Recently, I started using a hay rack (for the cows) inside the barn, and right away, the pigs started messing on the hay that fell out of the rack. Something about bedding compels them to mess on it, while for some reason they absolutely DO not go on the plain dirt floor. No idea why this is, but thought it was worth mentioning!

-- Shannon (Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary) (gratacres@aol.com), April 22, 2000.