Has anyone tried using sawdust as a bedding or as a base under the straw bedding? Does it keep flies down? I keep goats, and their barn is in one of the lowest sites on the property,we have a high water table, and it is muddy down there a lot of the time. I know the ideal thing would be to build a new barn on higher ground, but for this year, what can we do to keep the flies down? I was thinking of cleaning the barn right down to the dirt floor,and putting 8-12 inches of sawdust down, packing it down well, and putting straw on top of that. We have been using just straw and alfalfa stems that have been chewed over well, but the bedding gets muddy and dirty within a day or two.Also, the flies lay eggs under the bedding.Their udders get all muddy and that's not very sanitary on a dairy animal.I have thought about making raised platforms in the barn for them to lay on out of the mud,but it would take up more room in our already small barn, and they'd be a hassle to clean under.Has anyone tried the platforms? They are kind of like bunk beds withhout the mattress, and not so high up.Supposedly, the dominant doe likes to have the highest platform.But it'd be too drafty in the winter,so maybe best to have it as a seasonal kind of thing.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), April 17, 2000

Answers

The best thing I have found to use for bedding for goats is peat moss - those bags you buy at your local garden store. I got this idea from other goat people on a discussion list. It is great. It has much higher absorbency than straw or sawdust, stays drier, lasts longer and is less expensive in the long run. I have two adult goats and found that depending on weather (if it is a cold winter, they stay inside longer, thus soiling the bedding more often), I can use anywhere from 2 - 5 bags in one winter. The bedding packs down well, stays warm and dry, and looks cleaner. When the bedding gets very soiled looking I will just put another bag on top. Then there are two layers of peat moss absorbing. This necessitates cleaning during the spring time only. I don't have to clean daily or weekly. The goats are kind of messy or wasteful when they eat so eventually the peat moss gets a layer of hay on top which I leave, since it doesn't get moldy - the peat moss absorbs everything. The goats certainly don't get muddy, although they do get some peat moss dust on them, but it is easily brushed off. Also, since the peat moss stays dry, I don't have a problem with flies. Give it a try. I won't ever go back to straw again.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 17, 2000.

Wonder if the peat moss would be harmful to horses? We also have problems during wet or inclement weather with the barn floors getting too muddy. The horses are so touchy as to what they can eat without having problems, though, and they will eat anything!! How thick of a layer of peat are you putting down? Jan

-- Jan B (Janice12@aol.com), April 17, 2000.

I don't know about horses. I put down a medium size bale (it comes in small, med and large bales), can't think off hand what the cubic feet is, in about a 5' x 10' stall. That starts off the fall. Then I add a bag as I think it is needed through the winter.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 17, 2000.

Two knew products which seem to be working well is, #1 a cloth which you put over the soil and put bedding on top, I know some one who uses this in her out door stall and it has worked well for her. one place that carrys that is stall skins 800-400-3165 www.stallskins.com #2 this you can buy at most feed stores i think it is called fibar, it smells like cedar and looks like rice and it works ok, used it out side my goat house and the first year it worked good but this year it didnt work near as well so you must have torenew each year, its 4 dollars a sack.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), April 17, 2000.

I have read that sawdust is acidic and should be avoided (more likely to harbor and propagate bacteria). I would think the same would be true of peat moss...although, I like the idea of peat moss since it could be spread and tilled into my garden after it is full of urine and poop...sounds like a winner. I guess I would spread a dusting of dolemite lime each time before applying either of the above--that would aid in neutralizing the acid while building up over time to form a hard yet, absorbant base(pun intended).

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), April 18, 2000.

We use shavings for our horses. WE LOVE THEM. We used to use straw and WE HATED IT. Sorry, a bit of an overstatement, but we did find that the shavings made life so much easier. The shavings absorb MUCH more smell, they look nicer (a minor detail), they are much easier to clean out, because they don't clump together nearly as much a straw, if at all! Of course, its still a little cold for all those barn flies to come, but we find that the flies in the Spring aren't bad, but no flies in the Summer? Impossible. I don't think there is any bedding to help that!! The only problem with shavings is that they are difficult to store. We live fairly close to a mill and can run up there when ever we need some, (except when we have a lot of snow). We transport and store the shavings in wooden barrells and its ok. You really have to find wha'ts most convenient for you. Oh yes, another thing that is good about shavings, is that they are usually cheaper!! So long!

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), April 22, 2000.

Rebekah, we also love shavings, and put alot of them down, when you clean them out just take off the top layer, and don't disturb the bottom layers, they will decompose and make a nice hard layer, building up the level in your barn. The platforms work great, even outside the barn, like pallets with solid tops, the girls will lay on these and sun themselves, and anything that gets them out of the barn! Having their feet up drying also helps. In our pens in the woods, we have a 4x8 sheet of plywood up in the air (like a bunk bed) the kids will run underneath it and the does lie on top. I know that you don't use alot of chemicals, but we make these bullets for the barns. We fill mens tube socks with Golden Malrin (I have called this stuff Golden Marlin for years) I hang these up in the rafters of the barn, and wet them down every night with a catsup squeeze bottle full of water. The idea, is the flys lite on them at night and it sterilizes them. They can't lay eggs and soon your fly population drops, with these, raking the barn, and using stink fly traps, we have illiminated most of our flys. Make sure that these are not dripping in any of your kids pens, the one pen that would like the drops! They drops are dry by morning so the chickens have not been harmed. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 22, 2000.