# Bedding in 3 sided shelter?  and cleaning manure from yard?



## Cara Peachick (May 12, 2011)

I've had my goats 2 weeks.  They are 2 Lamancha does, 2 year old and 4 year old - 1 is preggers!  They use a three sided shelter.  I have been bedding it with sawdust.  I currently have an experiment going.  I put about 6 inches deep in one side and just barely bedded the other side.  One lays in the deep bedding, and one lays just outside a lot.

How do you manage bedding and cleaning in a permanent shelter? I cleaned it out totally yesterday, but it seemed like a waste.  There was so much clean or mostly clean sawdust in with the poo and pee.  

Also, their yard is mostly gravel and clay.  I tried to rake up their poo, but I just ended up raking rocks.  

I am not feeding hay this time of year because they have so much high quality browse, including dry matter, 24 hours/day.  When I do feed hay, I'm sure the wasted hay will provide a lot of the bedding material :/

Thanks!


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## Renegade (May 12, 2011)

We changed everything over to sand about a year and a half ago and love it. Very easy to keep clean and dry. We rake the poop into a pile and remove it. Urine goes through the sand to the bottom and dries out. We use PDZ on the urine spots to help them dry and keep odor to a minimum.
When we initially put the sand down we put it in thick (about 4"+). We have not had to replenish it yet. The goats seem to really like it as well. I find them laying in it all the time.

Donna Finley
Finley Boers


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## TwoGoats (May 20, 2011)

We have 2 alpine/nubian goats.  The shelter is a 6 x 8 slant roof shed that opens to a 6 x 8 three sided shed.   I add straw bales and pine chips to the shelter every month or so and put the hay bales in the open sided area for feed.  The hay quickly is all over the ground but 20 bales gets me through the Winter.  The other months they graze the land and I feed grain.    You can rake the shelter clean a few times a year but the hay/staw works well as bedding.  A draft free area is essential if you live in a cold climate.


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## PJisaMom (May 20, 2011)

Renegade said:
			
		

> We changed everything over to sand about a year and a half ago and love it. Very easy to keep clean and dry. We rake the poop into a pile and remove it. Urine goes through the sand to the bottom and dries out. We use PDZ on the urine spots to help them dry and keep odor to a minimum.
> When we initially put the sand down we put it in thick (about 4"+). We have not had to replenish it yet. The goats seem to really like it as well. I find them laying in it all the time.
> 
> Donna Finley
> Finley Boers


I'd be interested to hear if anyone else uses sand?  I plan on doing it the chicken coop, but the barn floor is nothing but dirt... and a mucky mess at times... Thanks, Donna... anyone else?


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## Shiloh Acres (May 20, 2011)

I use a sandy soil in one of my coops. I had planned to cover that one and do deep litter as well, but it's ended up just being soil. So far it's working great for me. The floor is raised and drains well, the chickens dust-bathe in there, and it very rarely needs any cleaning. Bugs lie it though -- but then for chickens that is extra protein. 

I had my goats on soil, but I really prefer using extra hay and dried leaves for bedding. It's a lot of work, but at least I get a nice compost pile in the deal. 

I can't use sand where they are now, but I'll be trying it when I get a new shelter built. It does sound like a better option.


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## chubbydog811 (May 20, 2011)

I second (or third?) the sand! Once it gets packed down, it is a breeze to clean - I mean, if you don't mind looking like a fool, you could even sweep up the poop  (I have only done this once, thanks! hehe!) 

But no, really, packed down sand is AWESOME! And it helps keep their feet a little more worn down with out hurting them. Mine is a small pen, and a 3 1/2 sided shelter (it was supposed to have a door, until one of the evil goats that aren't here anymore destroyed it)

I don't bed my shed. I clean it every other week, and let them use the wasted hay as bedding.


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## poorboys (May 24, 2011)

WE ARE GETTING READY TO BUILD A METAL SHED FOR OUR GOATS, THEY HAD BEEN IN A 3 SIDED SHELTER, MY CONCERN IS HOW I'M GONNA CLEAN THE FLOOR, DH WANTS TO PUT A FLOOR IN IT, BUT I THINK IT SHOULD BE ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD WORK BEST FOR CLEANING, LIVE IN INDIANA, NOT SURE ABOUT SAND WORKING???? I WOULD HATE TO HAVE TO SHOVEL PILES OF STRAW OUT ALL THE TIME TO KEEP IT CLEAN. ANY IDEAS???  SORRY TO BUTT INTO THE CONVERSATION???


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## Margali (May 24, 2011)

Renegade said:
			
		

> We changed everything over to sand about a year and a half ago and love it. Very easy to keep clean and dry. We rake the poop into a pile and remove it. Urine goes through the sand to the bottom and dries out. We use PDZ on the urine spots to help them dry and keep odor to a minimum.
> When we initially put the sand down we put it in thick (about 4"+). We have not had to replenish it yet. The goats seem to really like it as well. I find them laying in it all the time.
> 
> Donna Finley
> Finley Boers


This sounds like it would work great for my situation (in town, need a permit). When you say urine dries up, does it break down the ammonia? My lot is a top of slope with a creek at bottom so worried about that. Do you use barn lime to neutralize the urine?

Jennie


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## Renegade (May 25, 2011)

Any time we see a urine spot we sprinkle PDZ on it. The next day the spot is always gone. We have had no odor in our barn since we put the sand in and stopped using bedding. (shavings, straw, etc) There are no flies in that barn. The other barn where we use bedding has a fly problem.
There are 11 large boer goats using 3- 10 x 12 stalls. If it rains all day they hang out in there all day. All I have to do is go spinkle PDZ on wet spots and occasionally rake poop pellets out. I haven't stripped out a stall in 4 years. 
The sand we put in is basically the same as white beach sand. It does not pack down. It is very loose and soft under foot. My goats love laying in it.

Donna


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## 20kidsonhill (May 25, 2011)

poorboys said:
			
		

> WE ARE GETTING READY TO BUILD A METAL SHED FOR OUR GOATS, THEY HAD BEEN IN A 3 SIDED SHELTER, MY CONCERN IS HOW I'M GONNA CLEAN THE FLOOR, DH WANTS TO PUT A FLOOR IN IT, BUT I THINK IT SHOULD BE ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD WORK BEST FOR CLEANING, LIVE IN INDIANA, NOT SURE ABOUT SAND WORKING???? I WOULD HATE TO HAVE TO SHOVEL PILES OF STRAW OUT ALL THE TIME TO KEEP IT CLEAN. ANY IDEAS???  SORRY TO BUTT INTO THE CONVERSATION???


If you have a solid floor, you will most certainly be shoveling out piles of straw to keep it clean, or piles of something.  No place for the moisture to run off.  Would also need very good air circulation to keep the barn dry.


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## Mzyla (May 30, 2011)

I'm in the process of gathering material to build a small barn for my 2 LaManchas goats.
We live in a cold territory - Upstate NY, so a 3 sided hut won't do...
I'm thinking for the future time; when my goats get babies, when I'm gone milk them ...  

Many plans and ideas crossing my mind; how to do it....
What you guys think about making wooden boards floor, but with small spaces - like porch floor? And fill it up with sand/gravel underneath - between cross boards?
This way the urine can drip it down into the sand/gravel

Something like this? Forgive my crooked drawing


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## Cara Peachick (May 30, 2011)

I saw a youtube about a large goat farm in Malaysia (I think that's right) where they had the goats in open walled, but roofed, "barns" with a floor like you describe.  They cleaned out from under the "barns" though, and used the manure.  The pee might absorb over time in your design, but the poop berries would stay intact quite a while, I think.  In warm weather, I think flies would become a problem, and you couldn't get to the underneath to clean it out.  (At least that's what I gather from your drawing.)  Just my thoughts, though.  I've not used a system like this, so have no personal experience to offer.


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## Cara Peachick (May 30, 2011)

What I have been observing and doing so far seems to be working fairly well.  In my area, sawdust is $10 for a pickup load (almost free) and sand is expensive, so that kind of dictates what I use.  However, I've been observing that my does almost always pee just outside the 3 sided shelter, and often poop there too.  So, I've bedded inside the shelter with sawdust, and I rake a little out for about 6 feet.  About every week or so, I rake up this "abthroom" area in front of the shelter and remove it to the compost pile.  I rake "new" sawdust into this "bathroom" area from inside the shelter.  When I add new sawdust, I add it at the back of the shelter.  So, the sawdust kind of cycles through the system, starting clean at the back and getting dirtier as it comes forward.  So far, it seems to be working.

Also, I did a little experiment and bedded half of the shelter (it is kind of split into 2 stalls) with 6 inches of sawdust and  one side with 1-2 inches.  The goats definitely prefer the shallower bedding, and the dogs prefer the deeper.  I'd bet in winter, they might both enjoy the deeper, but we will see.


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## Mzyla (May 31, 2011)

Cara Peachick said:
			
		

> I saw a youtube about a large goat farm in Malaysia (I think that's right) where they had the goats in open walled, but roofed, "barns" with a floor like you describe.  They cleaned out from under the "barns" though, and used the manure.  The pee might absorb over time in your design, but the poop berries would stay intact quite a while, I think.  In warm weather, I think flies would become a problem, and you couldn't get to the underneath to clean it out.  (At least that's what I gather from your drawing.)  Just my thoughts, though.  I've not used a system like this, so have no personal experience to offer.


I was thinking to make the "gaps" between floring boards little smaller then average "berry".
Liquid matter need only a niddle point gap to sink trough - I guess??


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## crazyland (Jun 5, 2011)

I used to put straw down inside their 3-sided house. They ALWAYS kicked it out. So I gave up on the straw and they now have dirt for flooring.
They also made a dirt pit out in the pasture where they love to stretch out.
I live in an area of sand and clay with some dirt. lol 
There isn't any stench really, just a very mellow goat smell, nothing that makes you go eeewwww. 
I tried to rake but that didn't work either. They have an acre all to themselves so poop is not piling up anywhere and you can walk in there with no big worries.
Come winter I am sure I will try again to make them leave the straw in their houses.


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## Bedste (Jul 5, 2011)

We put a layer of crushed limestone over the entire pen floor and then covered it with several inches of sand.  This works very well.  I have been having trouble raking the poo up because it is so small that it passes right through the rack prongs, but after reading this thread I am planning on trying the broom.  I think it is a great idea..... sweeping sand.  The limestone was to cut down on the smell and help with the flies.


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