Deep litter(bedding) in the barn.

[DonnaBelle]

I have my first barn. It has a dirt floor. We put down old hay for bedding. The goats are outside during the day, brousing in the large brouse/pasture area.

I put down fresh hay every few days. I call it "hay" but it's really mostly old grass hay that we just use for bedding. I've been putting out a little alfalfa in the evenings, but mostly they brouse.

I sprinkle "stall dry" on the bedding usually every day. I don't have any odor in the barn, but it is well ventilated.

I call this a "deep litter" method. Does anyone else use this way of keeping their barn??

DonnaBelle

 

[20kidsonhill]

I have my first barn. It has a dirt floor. We put down old hay for bedding. The goats are outside during the day, brousing in the large brouse/pasture area.

I put down fresh hay every few days. I call it "hay" but it's really mostly old grass hay that we just use for bedding. I've been putting out a little alfalfa in the evenings, but mostly they brouse.

I sprinkle "stall dry" on the bedding usually every day. I don't have any odor in the barn, but it is well ventilated.

I call this a "deep litter" method. Does anyone else use this way of keeping their barn??

DonnaBelle

Yes, we do, I put bedding down as needed during the winter, we don't clean out for a couple years, we don't use hay as bedding we use only straw or corn fauder, I find hay stays too wet and smells more.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

I do the same...but I use straw in the barn as well. But I clean mine every spring. I dont let it go a couple of years because of worm loads etc. I like them to start clean every winter cuz in NH they dont really go out much in the winter.

We also put a layer of sand on top of the soil so the liquid drains better. The add straw.

 

[phoenixmama]

That's about what we are doing. We live in the low Sonoran desert in Arizona, so I don't worry about things getting too wet in the barn. I throw down wasted alfalfa, cheap cow hay, and Sweet PDZ (like stall dry). No odor problems here. I just wish there was a rake that wouldn't let the goat berries slip by...

 

[helmstead]

I tried that this winter and will NEVER, EVER EVER do it again. It took me TWO DAYS to clean one 12x12 area and I had to get the tractor with the scraper blade to clean the loafing shed outside. Back breaking and GROSS. The smell would gag a maggot on a gut truck.

After dealing with a particularly persistent staph a. on my milkers, my vet also informed me that 'deep litter' methods can harbor not only lice/mites, but also are the perfect 'holding tank' for heat and moisture loving bacteria like staph a.

As I said, never again. Blegh and ouch.

 

[julieq]

Our ND's are in the barn full time, so we use pine shavings and clean every few days down to the rubber mats. We tried straw but it was just too heavy to lift and clean out after it got wet.

 

[carolinagirl]

We did the deep bedding thing with our goats and it was the worst thing to clean out when the time came. As helmsted said, it was backbreaking to clean it out. I won't do that again. When I get my sheep, I do plan to have a barn for them but they will have access to a pasture too so don't expect them to foul up the barn too bad. I'll clean it as needed, with a nice fresh bed of straw when winter and gets here.

 

[warthog]

Yep I do this too. I do clean out every 3 months or so, and last time it did take me most of the morning to clean out a 16 x 8 area.

I didn't find it smelly at all.

I start with wood shavings on the base, followed by hay, then all the hay they waste goes down as bedding too.

This will only be my second time of doing this, and we are into our hottest months now, I will be cleaning out again before we get into our wet season, and see how things go.

But up to now it seems to be working OK.

 

[sunfisher]

I also agree with helmstead.. I will never let the barn get that far again! It was back breaking cleaning!! my husband did get a good laugh at me as I tried to put nasty stinky straw in the wagon..I was yelling "oh gross, oh the smell, this is so nasty..It was my idea so my job to clean it :/ plus my goat had lice and mites (yucky) I now clean every few days as needed soooo much easier!

 

[phoenixmama]

This really seems to be one of those things that will work or won't...depending on your climate. Take the lice and mites, for example. It gets too dang hot here in the summertime for lice and mites...they die off in the heat of summer. It easily hits 130-140 degrees inside that barn depending on the time of day. Good luck, lice...thanks for coming out!

The hay has been down in our 8X14 barn for about a year. I was curious to see what the smell situation was, so the other day I dug down to the dirt in one spot that is frequently urinated on. It was dry as a bone and smelled a bit ammonia-ey, but not overwhelming.