# Cleaning out a deep litter barn.



## NachoFarm (Jul 24, 2013)

We've been tossing straw on the barn floor for the past year trying to use the "deep litter" method.

Well kill me now because I attempted to start cleaning it out today because I'm sick and tired of not being able to get our doors open and not only does the pitchfork practically bend when I try to dig it out but the smell underneath the surface is enough to knock me out.  

So now I've started, I have to finish but if I do it by hand it will take me six months.  We don't have any equipment or machinery here that could help, if I was going to rent something to dig out the barn what would I look into?  Would a skid steer loader be what I'm after?


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## DonnaBelle (Jul 24, 2013)

Funny you should post about what we done this spring.  We cleaned all the wet straw and muck down to bare earth.  We now have a hard surface packed down earth floor in the barn.

We also have one side of the barn with packed earth, and we have put 6 inches of sand on that side.  We are going to see which side we like best.

DH was picking up the berries and with them some straw and cleaning out the barn every day last winter.  It's a mighty chore.
When it's cold here in Oklahoma, no big deal, but it's 100 degrees here today, sooo the new method we are trying.

Since the floor on one side is hard, we just sweep up the berrries in the am, and put a little Stall Dry on the wet spots.

The goats are outside most of the day, 7:00 am till 8:00 pm this time of year.

We hired a couple of guys to help DH completely clean out the barn this spring.  He would never have got it all out by himself.  They loaded it on our flat bed trailer and hauled it over to the big compost pile he turns with our tractor.

DonnaBelle


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## NachoFarm (Jul 24, 2013)

So you're saying I should hire a bunch of guys to do it while I nap and/or sip lemonade and then claim exhaustion when my husband gets home because I did it all myself?  
It's packed down so hard at this point I'm not sure it can be done by hand...


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## bj taylor (Jul 24, 2013)

"turn the compost with the tractor" - now that's some compost.  lol


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## DonnaBelle (Jul 24, 2013)

Yeah, something like that. LOL....

We have such a problem here with flies, especially when it rains through summer, which is what's happening this year.

I know what you mean about the stuff getting smelly and molding underneath.  Thats why we cleaned it out down to bare dirt and are trying this method.

We'll probably put a light layer of straw down in November when it starts to cool off.  Perhaps just on one side of the barn.

If you don't want to have to hire some extra help, work on it for an hour or so each day.  It's so hot here, we'd have to do it at 
6:00 am every day.

Do you know someone with a small tractor with a loader on the front end?  Or a bobcat with a small shovel on the front??  It will have to be small enough to maneuver inside the barn.  It wouldn't take long with a piece of equipment.

DonnaBelle


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## Beekissed (Dec 15, 2013)

Take a tamping pole in there, make some holes in several places and put whole corn down the holes, then cover it.  Get a couple of young feeder pigs and turn them into that space and let them get to work.  They will shovel through that manure pack better than you ever could, loosening it, drying it and moving it until they find all that corn.  Keep throwing corn into that mess until they have completely till it up and rooted it around to make it dry and easy to move. 

Salatin uses pigs to work up his manure pack each spring and I've seen it when they are done..even picked some of it up in my hand.  No smell, light as a feather and dry.  

Old timers who needed stumps dug out of the ground would often drill several holes around it, pour corn in the holes and then pen pigs in that area.  They soon have the stumps rooted out of the ground.


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## Andrei (Dec 16, 2013)

Well, the legendary Hercules had one of his works dealing with some very dirty stable and his method is still working today.
Of course in the winter should not be attempted but warm time coming with some modifications no job can be too challenging. 
One can even design animal enclosures with water cleaning in mind.


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## koop (Apr 18, 2015)

IMHO straw is like laying rebar in the manure, you get one monolithic slab.
I keep telling my wife no straw in the chicken coop. Shavings can be shovelled and turned periodically.


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## Onyx (Apr 18, 2015)

Two components of rock-hard cob are straw and manure so... I can imagine what kind of chore you have on hand!  I agree with beekissed. If you google "Salatin pigaerator" you will find a number of youtube videos on using this method.

I am going to try the bare ground with stall dry method myself, I think...


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## Pamela (Aug 17, 2015)

Go hire some teenagers that know how to put in a hard day's work.


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## Latestarter (Aug 17, 2015)

Good luck trying to find those LMAO  BTW,  @Pamela ! Good to have you here!


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## Bossroo (Aug 24, 2015)

Grab a pick axe and start swinging, next grab a shovel and start shoveling into a wheelbarrow.   Repeat untill task is done !


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## goatgurl (Aug 24, 2015)

cleaned out two years worth of deep packed bedding this spring with a spading fork, a wheelbarrow and a lot of tenacity.  not easy but i do like the deep litter bedding best of all I've tried.


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## Bo Peep Soays (Mar 2, 2016)

How often do you muck your barn? Put lime down before the straw.


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## goatgurl (Mar 3, 2016)

@Bo Peep Soays I usually clean the barn out every two years.  I've cut way down on the numbers of does i'm keeping so it doesn't build up to fast anymore.  once its cleaned out I let it dry out for a day or so, put lime down and then put down a layer of straw.  I've been doing it this way for over 25 years and have never had a problem.  hope it works for you.


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## BrenM (Jun 24, 2020)

NachoFarm said:


> We've been tossing straw on the barn floor for the past year trying to use the "deep litter" method.
> 
> Well kill me now because I attempted to start cleaning it out today because I'm sick and tired of not being able to get our doors open and not only does the pitchfork practically bend when I try to dig it out but the smell underneath the surface is enough to knock me out.
> 
> So now I've started, I have to finish but if I do it by hand it will take me six months.  We don't have any equipment or machinery here that could help, if I was going to rent something to dig out the barn what would I look into?  Would a skid steer loader be what I'm after?


I know this is an old thread
But have to tell you about my alm time favorite tool onnour farm. The MATTOCK!! If I could inoy have one tool- it would be this one. Absolutely essential in the ozarks with all these rocks. We also use the deep litter method with a once a year clean out in the spring. We add lime and wood shavings to keep it dry plus what hay the goats pull down and waste (too much!!). Two teenage grandkids were trying to use shovels and pitch forks - a LOT of work. So I (59 years old) went and got my trusty mattock and had had that bedding busted up  to shovel out in no time at all. They were like- wow Nana! I wish you would have thought of that a lot sooner!!


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## Baymule (Jun 24, 2020)

We use the deep litter method also. We cleaned out a pen this morning. In the past we have used a pitch fork. Today we ran a tiller through it, scooped the loose manure and hay, which was well rotted, and loaded the Kawasaki mule. It rained last night, this pen gets rain blown in, so it was wet. The tiller busted up the manure pack, it was great. We will use a tiller from now on!


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## Ridgetop (Jun 24, 2020)

This is an old thread!  We have used the litter method when we have El Nino rains so bad that it floods the barn.  The only way to keep it dry is to continue packing straw on top.  

Straw layered with clay, urine and manure becomes smelly adobe.  they used to build houses with that stuff here!  The only way to get  it out is using the mattock, then prying up long flat layers and tossing them,  Our barn does not have any access other than wheelbarrows.  We use minimal straw now and only in very cold winters for lambing.  

I would go with the pigs doing the work.  They are the heavy duty diggers of the animal kingdom and would really do the job.  Keep removing the loos pack to the compost pile, and keep them at it until you are down to the bottom.  don't keep them in once you reach the barn floor though since they will keep excavating.  

I wonder if we could get a little feeder pig and try it on our barn where we now have a solid adobe layer.


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## mendofarm (Jun 24, 2020)

BrenM said:


> I know this is an old thread
> But have to tell you about my alm time favorite tool onnour farm. The MATTOCK!! If I could inoy have one tool- it would be this one. Absolutely essential in the ozarks with all these rocks. We also use the deep litter method with a once a year clean out in the spring. We add lime and wood shavings to keep it dry plus what hay the goats pull down and waste (too much!!). Two teenage grandkids were trying to use shovels and pitch forks - a LOT of work. So I (59 years old) went and got my trusty mattock and had had that bedding busted up  to shovel out in no time at all. They were like- wow Nana! I wish you would have thought of that a lot sooner!!


One of the first tools my DH bought when we moved to our rocky hilltop 3 years ago. Invaluable.


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## mendofarm (Jun 24, 2020)

Baymule said:


> We use the deep litter method also. We cleaned out a pen this morning. In the past we have used a pitch fork. Today we ran a tiller through it, scooped the loose manure and hay, which was well rotted, and loaded the Kawasaki mule. It rained last night, this pen gets rain blown in, so it was wet. The tiller busted up the manure pack, it was great. We will use a tiller from now on!


Bay, do you use straw, shavings or wood chips for your goat stalls? We are enclosing a lean-to with rough concrete floors (already there)  for our first herd. Plan on deep litter with sleeping platforms. PNW so does not get below 30 usually but I like the idea of lotsa compost, nice heat for them and less work for me (60+).


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## Beekissed (Jun 24, 2020)

I'm currently letting the chicken flock break up the sheep DL for me.   Each day I throw a little layer mash in there and let them dig it out a little more and a little more.  Then I scoop the drier, fluffier stuff up and transport~ wash, rinse, repeat.   They get to have fun, I don't have to do as much work and they also discover more organic food under the pack that they can eat.  Lots of worms in there.


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## Baymule (Jun 25, 2020)

mendofarm said:


> Bay, do you use straw, shavings or wood chips for your goat stalls? We are enclosing a lean-to with rough concrete floors (already there)  for our first herd. Plan on deep litter with sleeping platforms. PNW so does not get below 30 usually but I like the idea of lotsa compost, nice heat for them and less work for me (60+).



I have hair sheep and I use waste hay, their round bale is under the lean to roof that is their barn and they drop a lot of hay. I use leaves and pine straw, sometimes pine shavings, straw is not available here. The barn has a dirt floor.

We have chickens and a flock of guineas that keep the top layers turned and dry. Sometimes I rake up the loose hay on top and spread it over the pastures. If I scatter it thinly, it doesn't smother out the grass, but it shades the roots from our ferocious heat. I am 65, husband is 75, we are not going to run around, stricken with OCD on Poop Patrol, grabbing every berry before it hits the ground. LOL LOL Deep litter is a wonderful tool that provides ready to use compost for the garden and pastures.


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