Cement floor, wood, or dirt in your barn?

[Stubbornhillfarm]

We do have a few rubber mats. We used them when we first got out two Jerseys. Kind of thought they were a pain and got moldy underneath. Maybe if we add some stone for drainage and then put the mats on it would be better. It would be under $300.00 to get the rest of the floor poured concrete, but I do understand about icy build up, etc in the winter. I will have to check into the limestone as two of you have suggested it. Thanks! You don't really hear of it around here, but maybe we can get hold of some. I appreaciate all of your comments and suggestions. Hopefully we can find a solution that works well for us in our area. And I love the idea of Galloways!! Maybe someday...

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I would go for cement. It's used all the time with large dairies and they just groove it so it's not as slippery. There are times when a cow will panic and slip, but if you're just doing it for your own cows (which are likely more tame and less likely to panic) they'll probably be fine. Even the occasional slip or two would be offset by the ease of cleaning. Since your area is under shelter, the only wetness you'll have to deal with is from urine. You can do a light layer of sawdust/shavings over the floor and then scrape as needed. You can get one of those nifty barn scrapers and scrape the floor out and just reapply a thin layer of shavings/sawdust. Or, chopped straw is nice, like Goodhors says, but you'd need to buy a bale chopper.

 

[goodhors]

I use a leaf shredder for chopping my straw. But the chopper used for silage would work if you own one, or a small wood
chipper is also good. Chopping straw is a bit dusty, so have good ventilation. I have friends who use the silage chopper and
send all the chopped straw up into the barn mow for bedding use later. They say it saves time and work, only handle the straw
once into the chopper and then down thru holes in the floor of mow for stalls. No stacking, moving bales to bed and chopped
straw is WONDERFUL as bedding with much more absorbency than baled straw. Chopped has lots of exposed ends, which will absorb
liquid fast, while baled straw doesn't have that many ends, has the slippery coating on stems (wheat straw) which prevents
any absorbing.

Forgot to mention the grooving in cement, but aggieterpkatie did. I worked as "milkmaid" after school doing dairy cattle on cement.
In our bad weather, the grooves got filled with ice, frozen urine, so they were not helpful all the time. Grooves may also snag the
pusher tool shown. We still had cows slip and fall at times on the grooved cement, which is why I really didn't recommend it. Cows
slipping hard, or falling on cement, can be fatal by badly pulling or breaking something, so they don't recover from it at times. Wrenched hips, broken
shoulder were two animals that got sold for meat. Cattle are big and don't fall well or gracefully, it is a BIG thud on hard surface. I
would think the OP gets some bad weather up in their area over winter, so this could be a problem for them. Maybe those mats at the
entrance on cement, then grooved cement inside with deeper bedding out of the weather could work.

I have been using some rubber stall mats outside our large barn doors for a couple years now, instead of putting in grooved cement ramps. The winter
ice around here can be very nasty, and even cleaned cement will get wet and freeze quickly. The rubber mats in black, seem to quickly absorb
any sunshine and are often the first place melted clean in the AM, for good footing leading animals in or out. Husband and I talked about doing
cement ramps again, have decided to leave the mats in place instead. I am not seeing any slipping animals or ice build up, mats are certainly easy
to maintain and don't hold the cold, like cement will in winter for frozen surfaces. I disregard any mold on the bottom side of mats, wet and dark
places will grow mold whatever you do. Benefits of softer surface, non-heat conducting mats, ability to move them readily, long use life, really
makes stall mats useful to me for quite a few purposes around the place.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

aggieterpkatie and goodhors, Thanks to both for your added info. We do get some nasty winter weather. Even though, the shelter does have a roof on it with some of the panels being clear to let the sun in, the entire end is open, so a bit of snow, ice, etc will get in there. Not to mention frozen urine. They are really starting to eat a lot more and spend more time in there, so I am thinking we are going to put the mats back after some crushed stone, compacted as best we can. I would never have thought of a wood chipper or leaf shredder for chopping straw. What a great idea! My husband has just built a firewood processor, so soon, we shall have some free sawdust as well!

 

[kstaven]

Mats will help over concrete. One other thing to consider is swimming pool paint over concrete. Is is a rubberized no slip surface and stands up to uric acid and seals the concrete well. Ice doesn't like to bond to it like bare concrete and it cleans up easily.

Benjamin Moore sells the best one by far.

 

[Berner Mom]

I like the swimming pool paint idea! I have a small concrete pad outside the shed which was the worst mud/manure mix. It just ate any stone I put there. Even though it is small at about 16 square feet I do worry about slipping on it. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Egg_Newton]

I have dirt and really like it. But we do have stone layered underneath also. I don't usually use bedding but had to this winter because of the bitter cold and don't really have odor issues. I just use a shovel to scrap up the goat berries and hay. We are planning on building a new barn this summer and I really like the idea of using limestone.

 

[greybeard]

I have dirt and really like it. But we do have stone layered underneath also. I don't usually use bedding but had to this winter because of the bitter cold and don't really have odor issues. I just use a shovel to scrap up the goat berries and hay. We are planning on building a new barn this summer and I really like the idea of using limestone.

Same here. Most of the things we do "for livestock" has as much to do with our own comfort or convenience as it does the animals. Except in the harshest weather cattle will choose to be outside rather than inside. They can handle a lot of cold, and a lot of wettness but not much of both at the same time, tho it is worth noting that cattle and bison not only survived on the open range for hundreds of years, they prospered and multiplied.