Deep litter for sheep...

[whinneysfarm]

I thought of those when rubber was mentioned. Heavy... but heavy duty for sure! I think they would attach to the wall pretty well. I am day dreaming about this setup as I painstakingly pick up each goat berry and add it to my growing compost pile.

 

[Finnie]

If you are still in the planning stage, my suggestion, which is what I hope to do someday, is to make the doorways to your deep litter area wide enough to fit a tractor in. I don’t know if I have another decade or two left in me for hand shoveling out the manure.

In my case, I only have poultry, so it’s all chicken coops or pens with regular size doors. They are not even wide enough to get my wheelbarrow through. That means every shovelful has to be carried to the doorway to dump into the wheelbarrow. Future coops and pens will be designed to fit a tractor with front loader, or at the very least, an ATV so I can skip the wheelbarrow.

I realize that with larger livestock folks have barns and corrals that are more accessible to equipment, but it’s still important to make sure you plan for whatever equipment you think you will be using. I’ve read lots of times in here where people wish they had put in wider gates to their pastures. The same idea goes for whatever buildings you put up. For instance, goats are pigs are short, so they don’t need a full height roof, right? But how short is the person shoveling out their manure?

 

[Finnie]

Oh, and one idea for preserving the wood of your buildings that you do deep litter in: On BYC, it’s popular to paint chicken coop floors and a foot or two up the walls with a product called Black Jack 57. I think this would be ideal to use in any deep litter area.

 

[Baymule]

Right you are @Finnie ! A high enough roof for a tractor to fit under, wide enough gates and wide enough doorways. If a tractor has a canopy, that can come off, but you still have to think about banging your head.

 

[Finnie]

Right you are @Finnie ! A high enough roof for a tractor to fit under, wide enough gates and wide enough doorways. If a tractor has a canopy, that can come off, but you still have to think about banging your head.

Yup, that’s my dream. 10 giant chicken coops in a row with huge honkin’ Tractor size doorways!

 

[Baymule]

Yup, that’s my dream. 10 giant chicken coops in a row with huge honkin’ Tractor size doorways!

Or just get a small Bobcat. Those are fun!

 

[whinneysfarm]

Great thinking!! I have been considering the extra wide entryways but I didn't think about tractor height. I'm definitely planning for the long term including old age, so convenience and ease are very important for the next builds. That's part of the reason I want to go with deep litter in the next dry lot, instead of everyday sweeping it will be a couple compost harvestings a year. Right now I sweep the poop, cart it over to the compost pile, then shovel out compost when ready - the deep litter helps take out a couple of those steps! The black jack is a great idea, I've seen that a lot on BYC and it seems to hold up great to moisture.

 

[SageHill]

Great thinking!! I have been considering the extra wide entryways but I didn't think about tractor height. I'm definitely planning for the long term including old age, so convenience and ease are very important for the next builds. That's part of the reason I want to go with deep litter in the next dry lot, instead of everyday sweeping it will be a couple compost harvestings a year. Right now I sweep the poop, cart it over to the compost pile, then shovel out compost when ready - the deep litter helps take out a couple of those steps! The black jack is a great idea, I've seen that a lot on BYC and it seems to hold up great to moisture.

Tractor height VERY IMPORTANT !! When we designed our barn we made the aisle wide - 16ft. And the front door higher than the tractor with the roll bar up - now the hay guy can back in with his truck and unload.

 

[farmerjan]

This is why when they built barns long ago, the doors were "cavernous" ... for accommodating a huge wagon piled high with loose hay. Granted, with the machinery of today, those barns with their huge hay lofts don't always work as well... but the doorways were made for anything to be able to get it in and out. Plus, you were working with horses and you had to figure in maneuvering room.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when building things on the farm... NOT allowing enough room. Gates need to be 16 ft unless it is just a small walk through gate from the yard... 10 ft seems big until you realize you have 4 inches on each side to squeeze a pickup through... 12 seems great until you have to make a bit of a turn on a corner and the truck and trailer just can't quite fit. If you get into bad weather situations, especially muddy conditions... having a wider hole to go through allows for a little leeway if it gets slick and you slide.
Also, so it works great for a 12 ft gate now... and you get a tractor and bushhog... okay that works... then you can't do some of the work and you need to hire someone to come in to do something... most farmers that have any acreage nowadays, have bigger equipment.. and it won't fit in these 12 ft gates. Shoot, my OLD ANTIQUE Farmall H with the side delivery rake has to be at the right angle to go through some of the 12 ft gates on one place we make hay...DS has to fold the discbine directly behind the tractor and ease his way through several gates on this place.... all because they built it to only accommodate their equipment at the time... a horse farm that they used a 6 ft bushhog to mow with.... nothing very big or wide....
But it is the one time that you need to get in there that you will be LITERALLY "up against it" and not be able to get a truck/trailer combination through... or the truck load of hay they are delivering....

As was stated also, thinking about height with tractors that have roll bars overtop...and something tall enough that you can stand up in it to be able to clean it out; scoop it out with a front end loader.... or even like a chicken coop that you want to be able to at least walk upright in or a sheep shed that you can stand up in....just because they are only 3 ft high, doesn't mean that you are going to want to try to get in there to catch them or clean it out all bent over....

 

[Baymule]

Huge agreement n 16’ gates! And don’t forget swing room! Our driveway gate in Lindale was deep inset for truck and trailer room, in order to open and close the gate and not be out in the road. We had two 40’ culverts at the road for swing room-and we used it.

Here, driveway is narrow, entrance is a hard 90 degree turn, no swing room, can’t get a long trailer in this place. It will have to be reset and reworked to more of a 45 degree angle and widen the entrance.