Just a lament about converting barns

[Oakroot]

So we have had our land for a little over 2 months now. We have a great barn that used to be a horse barn. Sadly all the stalls have been stripped out and the whole floor filled with 8 inches of gravel. We have *fingers crossed* baby goats coming in a few months so I am digging out all the gravel in one section to build a stall for them. 14 x 14 + 8 inches of gravel. *dies* At least my biceps will be rocking after this. I also have to dig out the sod where I am dumping the gravel to make garden paths.

So all whining aside. I am looking for ideas to outfit my new goat stall. What have you guys tried that has worked well or not worked?

 

[Roll farms]

I'd love it if our stalls had gravel...they're all on clay and the liquids do nothing but sit on top.

I'd be real tempted to put stall mats over the gravel, straw on that, and clean them out as needed. The urine should run down / drain out and you can clean up the solids periodically.

Of course that's just my theory, I wouldn't know anything about having stalls that drain. :/

 

[promiseacres]

ya those would drain great! I would add some sand or other soil on top then your bedding. Or just dig out 4 inches of the rocks then soil and bedding?

Of course I'm a horse person so maybe this would work for goats?

 

[Oakroot]

The problem us this is not nice gravel it is all large 1 to 2 inch rock chips and they put it over saw mill left overs. Not wood shavings these stuff is a mix of shavings, dust, chunks of wood. Nothing would ever drain past the shavings and would just rot. If it was nice pea gravel it would be staying.

ETA: Thankfully most of the rest of the barn is in good gravel. (It is of course the spot I want to use that is bad) I will probably spread some of the good stuff around in there with some sand to form a base then put down stall mats. The barn it's self drains really well so I am lucky.

 

[Nathan Sampson]

In the stables that I used to work at we had gravel in all the stalls under 4 inches or so of shavings and we of course mucked out the wet spots and scat everyday.

 

[Oakroot]

It is the other way around Nathan. The gravel is on top with the wood chips/shavings below that so there is no way to clean them.

 

[promiseacres]

guess I missed the part about the sawmill "junk" that is annoying! but then I've discovered to never expect anyone to do things like we do....especially non animal people

 

[Nathan Sampson]

Oakroot that totally sucks. I have dug out completely all the way to rock a bunch of stalls that have flooded to re bed them.

 

[Oakroot]

An update. So I dug the floor of the stall out. I found a bunch of old metal species and huge shards of wood. So glad I removed it. I have gotten both gates hung and set the poles. The cement is going to take days to cure in this weather. As soon as it is set enough to work with, hopefully tomorrow I will start building the wire sections. So progress!

 

[Alice Acres]

Good news!