# Cleaning the Goat House



## Iwantgoats (May 4, 2010)

Hi everyone, just had a few questions about cleaning my goat house.  It is lined with rubber mats and covered in straw for bedding.  How often do you clean it out?  We have 2 babies in there right now and their poo is too small to use a pitchfork.  After cleaning it we noticed pee stains on the mats.  I guess the straw didn't absorb it all.  Any suggestions would be helpful!


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## Henrietta23 (May 4, 2010)

I'm going to need to know this too so I am marking my place!


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## glenolam (May 4, 2010)

I have a dirt floor, so I can't help with the stall mats, but maybe pellets or wood shavings under the straw would help soak up the urine?  (Similar to what you would use in a horse stall)


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## ksalvagno (May 4, 2010)

No, straw doesn't absorb anything. You would need to put something absorbent down. I have a dirt floor too so I don't know totally what to tell you.


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## Iwantgoats (May 4, 2010)

OK, I was thinking about using wood shaving (like I use in my chicken coop).  They are absorbent and it may be easier to see the little poops! lol


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## ducks4you (May 4, 2010)

How big are the stall mats?  If they are 4 x 6, 1/4 inch, simply clean off as much as possible, then tightly roll it as a 4 ft "ho ho".  Move it outside and hose it down, let the sun dry it, clean up everything that was under it, then replace when dry.  If it's 4 x 6, 1/2, they're harder to move.  Still, you can fold in half, and struggle with it. Get it outside and do the same.  If they are smaller than this, they'll lighter weight and easy to move.


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## noobiechickenlady (May 4, 2010)

I'm using pine shavings under dry leaves, but I have a dirt floor as well.


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## cmjust0 (May 4, 2010)

If you go with shavings, you won't be able to use the pitchfork for anything.  It may keep your mats cleaner....but perhaps only by keeping the nasty wetness closer to the surface...which is closer to your goats...which may mean more frequent mucking anyway...

I'm not trying to make a case against shavings or in favor of straw, mind you, because obviously you don't feel like straw's working either..  What I'm basically saying is that using either straw or shavings is kinda like having six in one hand and half a dozen in the other...they each have their own pros and cons.


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## ThornyRidge (May 4, 2010)

I have a dirt floor that I use pine shavings which no matter what ultimately get covered in a layer of wasted hay.. in the summer I frequently keep mine cleaned out scooping out wet areas and stripping down to dirt and covering with a stall dry/sweet pdz to reduce urine/ammonia odor and helps with flies etc.. in the winter since we tend to get a ton of snow (like this year) the barn builds up over the course of a couple months and actually it provides heat..however it is a real pain to clean out sometimes almost a foot or so of compacted hay/waste/shavings..  I love nothing more than a clean barn and tend to go a little overboard when weather is good.. i also love the smell of fresh pine shavings in barn..the one thing that is a bit irritable with the pine shavings isthat they eventually become so compacted that it creates more dust than usual.. i used to have a 6X8 shed for 2 pygmies back in the day and the floor was treated lumber and coated in the plastic used in car wash bays.. a. it was very slippery with nothing on it and wet.. so i put in a few stall mats.. not bad but the urine tended to accumulate under and around mats and that was gross so you need to periodically take mats out and scrub under where they were on floor and also scrub them down because they can become disgusting after a while.


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## glenolam (May 4, 2010)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> If you go with shavings, you won't be able to use the pitchfork for anything.


This is very true - I use a pitchfork to get up all the waste hay/straw, then take a regular yard rake and rake up all the shavings I can.  Once all that's left is dirt (which is still usually wet from the waste/water/etc) I put more shavings down.  It is a constant cycle....but....



			
				ThornyRidge said:
			
		

> i also love the smell of fresh pine shavings in barn..


How true this is!  I don't put enough down, however, to create the dust you were talking about.  I just use a thin layer, probably 1/4 bag over a 8 x 12 barn


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## Iwantgoats (May 5, 2010)

Yesterday I cleaned out the stall and covered some of the wet spots with baking soda, I then did a layer of shaving and then some straw.  I have tons of straw and need to use it up so I think between the two I should be able to figure out _something_.  
thanks for the ideas everyone.

And I was wondering, under the mats is gravel, should I just have a dirt/gravel floor instead of the mats?


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## glenolam (May 5, 2010)

Dirt absorbs the urine, which is a huge help.  I just have to be watchful that the ground is dry every now and then (the ground slopes a little so the drainage is "suppsed" to run out the side of the barn).  The gravel will be like the mats and shavings, impossible to use a hay rake.

It will probably come down to your preference - hosing down mats or hauling up everything and having to use a yard rake to gather up the shavings....


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## grace6691 (May 6, 2010)

I have rubber mats down and woody pet on top of that... it works well because it's really absorbent and it doesn't have big pieces like straw or shavings so you can see where all the poop is


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## aggieterpkatie (May 6, 2010)

When I have my animals inside, I don't clean out very often at all.  I just re-bed as needed. Then I do a major clean out when they're done.  The pack stays nice and warm and I don't waste as much bedding that way.


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