I bought Cattle panels for my goats, should I buy the 4 foot gate that is made to go with them?

How do I keep their sleeping area fresh and clean, I read in the book "Your Goats" That you just keep adding fresh bedding and clean it all our once or twice a year... won't it get stinky? I like to mantain cleanliness. What do you suggest- do they poop and pee where they sleep?

Thank you all for all the great advice, I'm so blessed to have all this wisdom.

-- Sarah Brown (joshsarah@bigfoot.com), September 29, 2001

Answers

I use cattle panels - they are GREAT - for my goats but the problem with them is that newborn kids can walk right through them. I wove wire across the openings at kid height until they got big enough to stay in! I use a pallet laid on its side for a gate. Yeah, I know, I'm cheap. If you keep adding fresh bedding you'll end up with a mountain of bedding. Great compost though. I dig it out with a pitchfork every so often.

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), September 29, 2001.

Hi Sarah. I have no livestock experience, but we just started a compost bin at our new homestead. It's primary ingredients are manure, hay, and peat moss. The hay keeps the odors in somehow. So add hay/bedding liberally when you do, and clean out April 1st (or sooner if it begins to reek).

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), September 29, 2001.

Hi Sarah... once or twice a year?!!!! Yikes!!...what a mess that'd be IMO. I rake my bedding areas every day, picking up the loose hay that's fallen from the feeders, and some of the wet shavings...and spread it in our woods and fields. Then every weekend, it gets raked/picked even more thoroughly...sprinkled with "Sweet PDZ"..(a non-toxic all natural stall freshener, much like lime)... and some DE, then fresh shavings as needed. About once a month, I completely strip those areas down to the gravel, and put new shavings down..and some marsh hay in a couple areas where they tend to congregate to sleep in the colder weather. I can't imagine not cleaning it up on a regular basis...although I must admit in the coldest part of the winter months (I'm in Wisconsin... Brrr!), my stripping is more like every 6-8 weeks, rather than once a month, especially if we have a lot of snow. They do poop where they lay, but generally get up to pee in just certain spots... so I've learned over the years to leave a very small pile of wasted hay/shavings, etc. in the middle of the area since they seem to go there to pee generally..kind of a "litter box" ..if you will. Damp, urine-soaked areas and bedding will cause ammonia fumes which can cause respiratory ailments, like pneumonia, and it also causes urine-scald on the skin...so I'd advise a regular cleanup routine for all bedding areas. Hope that helps.. :)patty Prairie Oak Miniatures http://www.minifarm.com/prairie_oak Visit our message board! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Littlegoats moderator

-- Patty Putnam (littlegoats@wi.rr.com), September 29, 2001.

Sarah, when you allow old bedding to build up under new it's called a manure pack. It is a system that has been used historically in my area in the winter since the manure and old bedding compost under the new bedding and produce heat, warming the barn. If you have a wood floor in your barn, this method of bedding can cause the floor to rot. I'm a neat freak in my barn. I clean out every week. I have a friend who swears by the manure pack method and her barn smells like hay, not ammonia. The biggest problems that she has are the BIG clean-ups she has to endure occasionally and the fact that doing a manure pack gradually makes you fences shorter! (Actually, the manure pack builds up, making the floor higher.) If you have goats with a propensity for jumping and wandering this could be an issue!

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), September 29, 2001.

We use straw for bedding, would like to try the sand pits though. I forgot exactly how its done. when we lived in western NYS, winters were hard so every farmer used this method and then in the spring it was spread on the fields. I personally wouldn't let it build up too much as its not sanitary or healthy. however, you can get a product to help cut bacteria and smell. its called Pit and pen and is available from springbriar, addy is www.springbriar.com

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), September 29, 2001.

Howdy Sarah, I bought one of those 4 foot high pre-fabbed chain link gates for about $18 at the local Home Depot. It works great. I stick a hook in the lock hole of the gate latch and they can't open it. If I remember correctly, you're only going to have 3 goats and they will not be making that much mess. Besides, goat manure is pretty clean as manure goes. I don't clean out my barn floor very often and it's not a problem. I think you made a great decision in using cattle panels. Good luck.

-- Ted in North Central Texas (wout@airmail.net), September 29, 2001.

I didn't ever buy the pre-made gates. Just cut a section about 2 goats wide from the end of one...and attached it with hog rings at a corner. Then use two double sided snap hook things ( don't know what they are called..but I sure like them alot) one at top and one at bottom to hold gate closed. hasn't failed me yet. I clean out my goat and sheep pens about every two weeks. Sooner if its bad weather..since it is stinky when wet. My goats never really mess up the little goat shed where they sleep this time of year, but when it rains they won't come out and it needs cleaning once a week. It is pretty big for the ammount of goats I have. I rake it all up and haul it to the garden. Wonderful stuff!!

-- Jenny Pipes (Auntjenny6@aol.com), September 30, 2001.

Sarah, We used what are called combination panels for the goats. The holes at the bottom of the panel are much closer together and solves the problem of babies getting out. Since you may already have the cattle panels, a roll of 18" chicken wire on the outside of your pen will work just as well.

We clean the buildings only twice a year, but we have cattle, horses, and goats. The horse stalls are the only ones that get cleaned daily. Everything else is twice a year. The goat house doesn't smell that bad and letting the manure/bedding build keeps them off of the very cold ground, which they prefer. Yes it is harder to clean sometimes.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), September 30, 2001.

My panels must be combination panels too.They have the smaller holes on the bottom. I did have a little doeling go through anyway last year...she hopped and squeezed through. Didn't have that problem this year at all. I havn't seen the panels for sale around here without the smaller holes on bottom, so I didn't think to specify.

-- Jenny Pipes (Auntjenny6@aol.com), September 30, 2001.

We use the manure pac method. It gets very cold here and the goats need all the warmth they can get from the cpmposting manure and hay stems. Make sure that the ceiling on your barn is high enough though, or you'll have to clean it out right in the middle of winter- not a fun job.

About the gates, I have a milkin gparlor fenced with stock panel that uses cut sections of stock panel for the gates. This has turned out to be a nightmare. They rush through the gate and scrape against the cut egdes of the panel, leaving nasty gouges. Once a young doe was butted into the outside corned on the pen and had a gaping hole that we had to sew shut. Also the gates are flimsy and have to be secured at two places or the goats can force their way through. I use snap clips for convenience rather than tying with baling twine. If you decide to use pieces of stock panel, cut sections of old garden hose or plastic pipe about the same diameter as gardenhose, cut a slit up one side of it, and insert the egde of the panel into the cut side of the hose, and secure it to the panel. Do this both to the edge of the gate that swings open, and the fence where it meets the gate.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), September 30, 2001.