I have read much and received good advice concerning goat stuff from y'all or you all or as we used to say in Milwaukee, yous guys. Many when describing bedding refer to shavings for bedding. Some say cedar some pine. I cab get all the free pine sawdust from a neighbor who does lots of woodworking and there are oodles of Amish sawmills around. Is saw dust good bedding or too fine. SHould I stay with good old straw? Did anyone ever use the -excuse spelling- diatamachious earth mixed in with lime method of keeping the fly population down?

-- Paul (pbray@tds.net), April 12, 2001

Answers

Paul we don't use bedding this time of the year, preferring to be able to leaf rake down to nice fresh dirt each week. I do keep shaving in the infant pens. I don't get shavings/sawdust from a guy who makes cabinets because he always has cedar in them and it makes me sneeze, otherwise I would definetly go with them. We don't have straw here to use for bedding, but mucking stalls with heavy hay or straw is alot more work than shavings.

We used the DE in the barns over the winter, the thing I noticed most was when we had the barns cleaned, we had no grubs in the bottom of the barn like we always had in the past. The hens love the grubs, and honestly I haven't a clue what these things mature into! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 12, 2001.

Vicki, the old timers around here used to say the grubs grow into "june bugs", those guys that start hitting your windows and screens in the evenings come about May;-)

-- mary, texass (marylgarcia@aol.com), April 12, 2001.

Damn Mary don't you just hate June bugs! We already in April have June bugs, if they would just not bomb you, sticking into my hair! If that is the only thing DE works on I will be buying stock in it! Course as soon as they are gone come the love bugs :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 12, 2001.

Now I hate to admit that I've always actually been fond of them;-) Associate them with happy childhood memories in Texas, I guess..(They are annoying when they get in your hairLOL)

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), April 12, 2001.

If you use wood shavings, don't use cedar. The aromatic oils in cedar that makes it smell good and repel fleas, will irritate feet and udders. We use a layer of white wood shavings under a layer of straw.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), April 13, 2001.

Skip...I use mostly cedar shavings for my goats and haven't had a problem so far. But years ago when I had Saanens the cedar did bother the udders on them. Do you suppose it was because the skin of the Saanens was more delicate? I have American Alpines now.

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), April 14, 2001.

We are just beginning an experiment with sand, which we were introduced to by someone who has a very profitable dairying business. The ground of your barn should be well covered with lime, then the sand layered about 4-5 inches deep. It works like a kitty litter box, and the urine will percolate through leaving the surface dry. Then you use a large kitty litter scoop to collect the nanny berries, which can then be put straight into your garden. The person who has the dairying business says that she only has to replace her sand once a year, thereby eliminating all that once a week mucking out and wasting of hay or other material. Hope this idea proves helpful.

-- Sarah Turner (HopeofIsrael77@hotmail.com), April 18, 2001.

I have worked on a farm where the paddocks were sand and while the urine did percolate through, the nanny drops were almost impossible to clean up. Our goats just refused to drop those little pellets in neat little piles and when I tried to rake up at all it would drive more into the sand than out. Also, the waste hay matted into the sand. I use miscellaneous shavings/sawdust from a cabinet maker for bedding. They are very absorbent because they are from kiln dried wood. I have used raw shavings from a mill before, but they soil much more quickly because they aren't as dry to start with. The only problem I have run into with the dry sawdust is when I first put it in the pen I need to wear a mask because it is fine and I have asthma. I do not allow the goats into the barn until the dust has settled.

-- Sheryl Adams (radams@sacoriver.net), April 19, 2001.