Deep Litter Barn Nightmare

[mysunwolf]

Welp, it's barn cleaning time. We do deep litter for the chickens, goats, sheep, even barn cats (yuck, this last one is just an accident). We do deep litter underneath the wire rabbit cages, of course. I am just lazy like that.

I've had a hard time keeping the dirt-floor barn (10'x12') dry every year we've had animals in it. At first I thought I must just be mismanaging my deep litter. When the barn was a chicken coop, it was always damp, which led to serious respiratory problems for the flock and a decision to cull a large number of chickens this year. When I turned it into a sheep barn this February, it started out dry with lots of deep straw bedding. But as the spring, summer, and now fall rains came on hard, it has gotten wetter and wetter. I have just piled new hay or wood shavings on in the hopes of drying things out, but no luck.

I usually clean out 2x a year, spring and fall. Today, I went down to clean the barn out and it is MUCK. The smell is disgusting, anaerobic bacteria and rot. Granted, it's not like that on the surface. Before I turned the first shovel-full, it was a little ammonia-smelling when I got down low, but otherwise just fine. Every pitchfork load of bedding is so wet it is difficult for me to lift.

We have some drainage problems with the barn because the slant of the roof is the wrong direction for the slant of the hill. Meaning all the water drains off to the top of the hill and slides back down into the barn.

The other problem is that there is no overhang on two sides, so when it rains and there is even a little bit of wind, we get water inside the windows (and I need the ventilation for the animals, so I can't close up the windows).

I would never build this barn again.

Does anyone think the construction issues with the barn could be the main cause of the deep litter issues? I was thinking of installing a gutter combined with a rain barrel for the rood runoff problem. But for the windows, I have no idea where to start on building an overhang that allows for ventilation. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance

This is the sad, ugly barn:

 

[elbesta]

In my goat shed I put down pallets and put plywood on top of them. My ground is wet October through June. You could also dig a ditch and fill it with large gravel for drainage.

 

[mysunwolf]

Woah, I love that idea of pallets and plywood. How well does it work? How often do you have to change the plywood?

We have thought about the drainage idea--do you think it makes any sense to dig ditches on the sides? Or just at the back?

My ground is wet April through October, with a dry spell in July or August.

After some more digging and barn cleaning, I've realized that a good deal of the WET stinky mess is at the entrance where they run in out of all day, especially when it's rainy. So thinking of locking them out of the barn during the day, and letting them in only at night (this is for predator protection). But I want them to have a place to get out of any freezing rain.

 

[Baymule]

Gutter the roof and drain to a rain barrel or to the ground with extensions pointed away from the barn. Windows-build an awning over the top. This could be 2x4's nailed to the barn with a piece of plywood nailed over them to deflect rain, but let air flow through.

for the door way, is water draining downhill into the barn? If so, build an earthen berm all the way across the front of the barn at a slant to the barn so that the narrowest part is at the other end of the barn from the doorway. That will drain water away from the front of the barn and away from the doorway. I hope this helps. I've had builder's remorse too.

 

[mysunwolf]

Baymule, THANK YOU. 2x4 with plywood... oh man. I'm going out tomorrow morning and putting that up. I have come up with so many complicated solutions for the overhang, but that is genius. Just hope it holds up with the 50+mph winds we get regularly in the winter.

The water is draining towards the doorway, sort of. The rain blows in the doorway and the sheep track in wet and mud through the doorway. Most of the water comes down off the roof, falls behind the barn, and slowly seeps through the bedding and through the whole barn towards the doorway. Not sure how to build a berm for all that. I like the idea of digging the dirt floor of my barn at a slant, though.

Thank you both for all the good advice. I'm definitely going to: berm the whole perimeter of the barn, build the window overhangs, and install a gutter and a rain barrel. And then I'll let you know how it goes...

 

[Southern by choice]

I have just recently had the pleasure of visiting a few dairies. Two of the dairies had incredibly meticulous barns. Each one had had different issues and the two had different remedies. We are building a new building and are going to adapt the one dairy's method. I will try and post the details later today but I can say there is no deep litter (I am very opposed to deep litter for any animal) NO odor, No flies either.

We have slope and drainage issues too. This is why we are building a whole new building and relocating the barn to another area.

 

[Mike CHS]

Looking forward to your details about how your dealing with it Southern. I have exactly one flat spot in my 20 acres and it's down in the valley where all the water goes.

 

[bonbean01]

Just finished a 10 by 10 hayshed/shelter on a slope...did fill inside with crushed rock, then dirt over that...let it settle and sheep stomp it down for a week...then put down heavy plastic and pallets where the round bales go. In the front of it, dug out a trench and put a railway tie in there and on the sides built it up with crushed rock, dirt, then concrete blocks. Dug a trench to divert water after this spring's flash flooding, just in case that happens again.

Going through our steady hard rain and flash flood watch now and for the next two days....hoping we did enough...and never again will I build a shed on a slope! The shelter area is divided by cattle panel and that has a crushed rock bottom also with dirt added, and now a little wasted hay. No deep litter here as not sure how to keep that bacteria free? Use hay as bedding and that is easier to get out and replace with fresh, especially at lambing time!

Hope you get it worked out for your situation and looking forward to reading how Southern did it

 

[mysunwolf]

Southern, I'm also looking forward to hearing about what you did...

bon, does all that work?! I also love the idea of the gravel underneath. My problem is the barn is a little lower than all the ground level around it... so thick gravel, with packed dirt above it, would raise the floor of the barn higher than the ground around it, while allowing water to drain beneath it? I can't imagine how exactly it would work. But maybe it'd be different if you had a lot of animals in it, rather than mostly hay?

I think one of the main problems is that the stocking density is really high right now... they are not crowded as far as body size is concerned, and they only go in the barn for a rain shelter and at night. But it's 10'x12' and I have 13 sheep and goats in there right now, mostly young lambs growing out.

This is the mess I shoveled out:

I haven't been able to get out and do any updates to the shed because it's been raining and raining and raining for days. Supposed to rain all week. Arrrg.

 

[Southern by choice]

Trying to work on an update.