Cement floor, wood, or dirt in your barn?

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I am hoping to get an idea of what the ideal flooring is for our set up. We have essentially a 3 sided structure off the back of the barn for the cows. Currently, the hay and their feeding station is up on cement. Where they stand is dirt. It is getting smelly and although we clean the area both evening and night, we are now wondering if there is a better answer. We are in a position to make the floor what ever is the best all the way around right now and want to get it taken care of before winter. What do you all have for flooring in your inside cow area? And or, what do you feel is easier, better, etc? Thanks for your input!

This is what we have so far.

 

[elevan]

Wood imo is bad because it will eventually rot. I currently have dirt and don't like it...what I will be doing in the future is taking out several inches of dirt and layering first sand then heavy stone then pea gravel followed by crushed limestone. The crushed limestone will be compacted which will allow for great drainage and yet still have the durability of cement.

 

[DonnaBelle]

We have a set up similar to the one in the picture. We too have dirt, but with a light layer of straw on top. We pick up the nannie berries each morning. I sprinkle the wet areas with "Stall Dry" or Sweet PDZ. They are they same product. I like the granular kind rather than the powder.

You have a lot more "barn smell" when you have a lot of moisture in the air. I could tell a big difference after a rain.

I really think Elevan is onto something with her plans to 'redo" her barn floor for drainage. Hmmmmmmmmm.

DonnaBelle

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

elevan, thanks for your response and idea. Limestone may not be readily available to us up here, but I'm sure we could come up with an alternative. Dirt is no good!! :/

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

DonnaBelle, I am guessing that "Stall Dry" is close to or is Dianthimus (sp) Earth, that some use for chickens to take out the moisture and keep the odor down. That would definately be a good short term solution. I will certainly investigate that at the feed store!

 

[Royd Wood]

Just get some Galloways as they dont like barn life even in a minus 40
For our early calving cows its straw beds but I can clean these out with front loader

 

[DonnaBelle]

The only thing I don't like about DE is the dust it puts in the air. Plus, you are NOT SUPPOSED TO BREATH IN THAT STUFF. It can do damage to your lungs.

As I stated before, I like the stall dry because it is GRANULATED. I use an big old strainer and sprinkle it on the wet areas.

DonnaBelle

 

[DonnaBelle]

If you don't have "limestone" then "screenings" from your local gravel pit will work. That's the "fines" left over from the rock crusher.

DonnaBelle

 

[currycomb]

with cows, thinking concrete all the way. you can add a rubber mat and sawdust if you want to make a softer bed, but no mud and gunk once the ground gets saturated with urine or water. much eaisier to clean out too

 

[goodhors]

Cement has always been popular for cattle flooring around here, easy to clean, stays in good shape forever. My issue
with it is how frozen liquids make cement slippery in cold weather. Especially true if you clean with a scraper or loader, don't put
bedding down. I HATE watching the cattle hurry out of the way, then slip or fall on the icy places. Rubber mats over
cement does not offer good drainage for liquids unless covered with a deep layer of sawdust or chopped straw. Chopped
straw is REALLY absorbent, makes great bedding. Lots better than speading baled straw which is also slippery under large
animals on cement.

We have the crushed stone, power compacted with rubber mats above in the horse stalls. Mats are warm to lay on, non-conductive
of body heat in the cold weather, frozen times.

Having learned from our mistakes of the past, I would STRONGLY suggest using larger size stone down against the dirt. I would
also suggest you get some geotextile fabric for keeping layers separated. I would put fabric down on dug out floor. You will want
at least 6" compacted on the dirt, fabric layer, then the finer stones as your next layer, probably a compacted 4 inches. Then
you could put rubber mats above. Geotextile fabric can often be found at Landscape places. We bought a whole roll, used it
to stabilize the stone for a parking area. That dirt had ALREADY eaten two semi loads of fill, couldn't even find the gravel. We
laid the fabric, put crushed asphault on it 10 inches deep, NO MORE PROBLEMS!! The semi truck and trailer there never sink, never
stuck at all. Same with the two trailers beside the semi. Fabric made all the difference. Fabric is very thin, light, easy to work
with, easy to cut with knife or scissors, some sort of plastic felt-like stuff. Just amazing the differences fabric makes to keep
dirt, rock, fill, levels apart. Our clay dirt just eats fill without layering in the fabric. You do want a good deep layer above, to
keep animals from getting down into the fabric and tearing it out. We have used parts of the roll all over the place, to hold gravel,
stone in place to prevent mud. We just looked online for Geotextile fabric and ordered online. No one local had any.

Using the limestone if you can get it, helps keep smells away, sort of self cleaning. If no limestone, the other crushed rocks
suggested will work, but you will probably be putting lime down for smells now and again. Get heavy, thick rubber mats that
will stay in place under cattle. Fit them well on LEVEL surface, and they should be good for you. Some folks remove the mats
yearly, add stone to any low spots, get floor level again, put lime down if not using limestone, put the mats back in.

Power tamper will do a MUCH superior job to any hand tamping, driving machines on stone, to get the packed down floor. We
rent the power tamper at the Rental store.

The advantage to stone is good drainage, less chance of slippery floor for downed cattle in cold weather. Plus you can take it out
if you should want to change things at a later point in time. Rubber mats last pretty well under hard use, can always be moved
to another place or use, if cattle cease to be fun at your house. Easily resold. I put my worn mats under gates here, so no sinking
into mud!! However shod horses do age a stall mat faster than bare hoof cattle ever will. I love not losing my boots at the gate while
bringing horses in!!