Moldy bedding

[Sheepish Goat]

Hello! This is my first post. I'm a brand-new farmer of a mixed herd (sheep & goats, 8 total) in the mountains of North Carolina. This is my first winter with them.

We've been chasing leaks in the 2 barns, and I just found mold in the bedding in one barn. It looks like one leak was coming down and soaking the lowest layers of straw/hay, while the top layer stayed dry. It's a dirt floor.

Should I dig it all out and put in fresh bedding? We're due for a cold snap this week, and I don't want to take away the warmth of the deep bedding if I don't have to. But I also don't want a bunch of sick or dead animals. Should I treat it with lime or something and fresh bedding on top?

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Hello! This is my first post. I'm a brand-new farmer of a mixed herd (sheep & goats, 8 total) in the mountains of North Carolina. This is my first winter with them.

We've been chasing leaks in the 2 barns, and I just found mold in the bedding in one barn. It looks like one leak was coming down and soaking the lowest layers of straw/hay, while the top layer stayed dry. It's a dirt floor.

Should I dig it all out and put in fresh bedding? We're due for a cold snap this week, and I don't want to take away the warmth of the deep bedding if I don't have to. But I also don't want a bunch of sick or dead animals. Should I treat it with lime or something and fresh bedding on top?

Sawdust and Wood shavings are probably the most commonly used bedding. Changing and cleaning will depend on how many "animals" you own. twice a week is advisable depending on how messy it is.

 

[Sheepshape]

Personally I'd clear out any and all mouldy bedding......whilst wearing a mask which can stop mould spores. If the top layer can be salvaged, then great. If your animals are not eating any of it, theoretically there shouldn't be a problem, but I don't think it's worth the risk. Horses are very sensitive to moulds. If there's a small patch of mould and persisting dampness the mould will rapidly spread.

DO take the precaution of wearing the face mask if there is other than the smallest bit of mould. Though you may be totally unaffected, you may be hypersensitive to certain mould spores which can lead to Farmer's Lung.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Personally I'd clear out any and all mouldy bedding......whilst wearing a mask which can stop mould spores. If the top layer can be salvaged, then great. If your animals are not eating any of it, theoretically there shouldn't be a problem, but I don't think it's worth the risk. Horses are very sensitive to moulds. If there's a small patch of mould and persisting dampness the mould will rapidly spread.

DO take the precaution of wearing the face mask if there is other than the smallest bit of mould. Though you may be totally unaffected, you may be hypersensitive to certain mould spores which can lead to Farmer's Lung.

For me. The best way to deal with this is to clean it all the way. yeah... sounds like a lot of work, but the feeling of having no worries is just priceless.

 

[Sheepish Goat]

Thanks for the comments. I ended up stripping down to the dirt floor, spreading a bit of lime and letting it air for a day, then covered over with fresh straw. The critters weren't eating any of it, I was more concerned about them sleeping on it (even though the mold was well down below the surface layer).

I realized that the winter has been so mild here that no one was going to suffer from a chill, which is why I was hesitating to do a full clean. Temps have been near 50 at night! I think it's overall too warm here to do the deep bedding method.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Thanks for the comments. I ended up stripping down to the dirt floor, spreading a bit of lime and letting it air for a day, then covered over with fresh straw. The critters weren't eating any of it, I was more concerned about them sleeping on it (even though the mold was well down below the surface layer).

I realized that the winter has been so mild here that no one was going to suffer from a chill, which is why I was hesitating to do a full clean. Temps have been near 50 at night! I think it's overall too warm here to do the deep bedding method.

That's right!! A full all-round, good ol fashion cleaning... No hassles, No worries, No Hesitations... Just continue doing so and your herd will be thriving and healthy

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

Thanks for the comments. I ended up stripping down to the dirt floor, spreading a bit of lime and letting it air for a day, then covered over with fresh straw. The critters weren't eating any of it, I was more concerned about them sleeping on it (even though the mold was well down below the surface layer).

I realized that the winter has been so mild here that no one was going to suffer from a chill, which is why I was hesitating to do a full clean. Temps have been near 50 at night! I think it's overall too warm here to do the deep bedding method.

Congratulations on the new animals! I don’t have sheep, but I love my goats to pieces!! And I’m glad you were able to clean out their bedding pretty easily.

 

[Baymule]

Thanks for the comments. I ended up stripping down to the dirt floor, spreading a bit of lime and letting it air for a day, then covered over with fresh straw. The critters weren't eating any of it, I was more concerned about them sleeping on it (even though the mold was well down below the surface layer).

I realized that the winter has been so mild here that no one was going to suffer from a chill, which is why I was hesitating to do a full clean. Temps have been near 50 at night! I think it's overall too warm here to do the deep bedding method.

I live in east Texas where it is hot and humid, much the same weather as yours. I practice the deep litter method also and have for the 5 years that we have had sheep. I practice the deep litter method with chickens too and have always had great results. I have some free range chickens and they scratch and turn the top layers so that it is always dry. There is no smell, minimum flies in summer and it makes it a whole lot easier on me!

@Beekissed has a great thread going on deep litter for sheep.

Deep litter for sheep...

....anyone doing it? Now, by deep litter I'm referring to a composting type of litter, not merely deep bedding that gets cleaned out in the spring and piled up to compost. I know a lot of folks use deep bedding in the barns for wintering livestock and that's not exactly what I'm wanting to...

www.backyardherds.com

I have a 20'x24' "roof" coming off the side of a portable building that is open on 3 sides. It's Texas......it gets hot! I have the radiant heat barrier under the metal roofing that really cuts the heat. I have the round bale parked under the roof with half cow panels for a home made hay ring, LOL. Cow panels for hay was another great Beekissed invention. LOL Their dropped hay gets spread around for more deep litter. Recently we cleaned out all the manure/compost and spread it on the garden. Then we raked up leaves (10 loads in the back of the mule) and put them in the sheep barn. The sheep love the leaves and snuggle the lambs down in them. It's a win-win.

 

[Beekissed]

If I had to clean out bedding because it got wet, I'd never get done cleaning. Most of my sheep penning/shelter is open to air, so the rain and snow blows in. I just rearrange the dry bedding over onto the wet, put down another layer of leaves and smile....it's all making something wonderful under there!

Scored a whole pick up load of dry oak leaves, all bagged up neatly for me, just the other night. Emptied the whole thing into the coop and sheep shelters and run. Nice, crackly, dry leaves just waiting to sip up the next rain or snow.

As long as you've got really good ventilation, wet bedding from leaks shouldn't be a problem. Just toss some dry stuff on top every now and again and let it help you compost your litter for you. Another thing that will help you in that corner is to throw some small limbs and twigs back there before you cover over with dry bedding...the air spaces will help it from going anaerobic in that mass, allowing it to compost in a healthy manner. It also helps to use bedding with different particle sizes and density of carbon~leaves, woody stems, straw, hay, twigs and branches, even chunks of bark and wood chips. You name it, I've got it in the bottom and in the middle of my litter mass....pumpkin and squash vines, corn stalks and shucks, big pieces of bark, branches, etc.

 

[Sheepish Goat]

I have some free range chickens and they scratch and turn the top layers so that it is always dry. There is no smell, minimum flies in summer and it makes it a whole lot easier on me!

Definitely getting chickens at some point. Really, no smell? My animals waste a ton of hay (working on better feeders), and I was letting it build up as litter. And when it's rainy and warm, boy does it smell. So if I reduce the amount of hay on the ground, and keep topping up with straw instead, will it not stink so bad?

@Beekissed has a great thread going on deep litter for sheep.

Yes! I read that, and I love the idea, but I'm not there yet. Still learning the basics of keeping the critters alive and healthy.

Thanks for all the suggestions, @Beekissed . I'll be gathering twigs and leaves tomorrow! So if you found some mold in the wet lower layers of bedding, would you leave it alone? How do you know if it's a potential hazard?