deep litter method questions

[Suburbanfarmer]

Ok, I have two ND does in an 8 x 8 stall/shed. Basically they have half my large shed and the door can close, but we prop it open for them to come and go at will.

I have used the deep litter method with my chickens and love it. I would like to try with the goats, but I'm running into trouble.

I'm finding that I have quite an ammonia smell in there after only a week. I put down a layer of stall dry and then pine shavings over a sealed wood floor. I've since just thrown their wasted hay into the mix as well.

I have tried to turn the bedding every day or two to keep it dryer. Is that my problem? Should I just leave it alone and add bedding on top?

Also, is the hay causing more problems? I see where some people say that straw does not cause as much ammonia smell as hay.

I am in Seattle, so it gets wet and rainy and we will get some snow each winter, but it doesn't freeze hard and stay that way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-K

 

[SheepGirl]

Wet hay smells bad and it starts to ferment, so that may be part of your issue. If you can I would use straw.

 

[Alice Acres]

I'd say it's the stirring up that is causing troubles.

We just keep layering ours, and clean out the barn every couple years. It is on a dirt floor - if you you are over cement it doesn't work as well. We had cement in our barn at home when I was a kid and we had more ammonia smell, if I remember right.

Living in MN, I was a good 4-H sheep owner as a kid, and got yelled at by my vet for keeping my barn too clean. He stressed how a deeper bedding layer would be healthier for my sheep, especially lambing in MN in January. Sure enough, more bedding actually worked better.

We just use hay, not straw. It's a a plain grass hay.

 

[Harbisgirl]

I dunno, I would think you would need to stir it a bit. That's how it works in the chicken coop - I use the DL method in my coop as well. The chickens scratch around and mix it up which is a key part of air circulation and keeping it dry. I use pine shavings - I've heard that hay can be pretty nasty. If it doesn't get stirred up it can get rancid and moldy which is bad. Not sure about goats, but thats how it works for the chickens.

 

[Suburbanfarmer]

I dunno, I would think you would need to stir it a bit. That's how it works in the chicken coop - I use the DL method in my coop as well. The chickens scratch around and mix it up which is a key part of air circulation and keeping it dry. I use pine shavings - I've heard that hay can be pretty nasty. If it doesn't get stirred up it can get rancid and moldy which is bad. Not sure about goats, but thats how it works for the chickens.

Yep, that's what I do for my chickens too. I sorta just carried over the thought to the goats. I think I will try not stirring it up and see if that helps.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Last year I deep littered our little goat shed. It worked fine for us. The main reason I did it is because the front area just outside their house stays wet and when it rains or more often is just super wet from crazy amounts of fog...I wanted their bedding higher than the ground.

This spring when we dug it out, it did come out in layers, the bottom most layers were nice and composted, some middle layers had some moldy bits in between wet mucky layers of hay, and the top several layers were just hay and poop. We just used wasted left over hay after the initial straw. My goats don't really dig at the bedding so the mold a few layers down didn't seem to cause them any problems...

Oh and after we scooped out all the compost, the goats were in another area for a few months to dry out and freshen the shed. I think we ended up with about 2 feet of litter in the end.

I can't say I remember an ammonia smell....It did smell like warm animals, but once we started digging, we did find a few yucky smells.

 

[GoatCrazyLady]

So how long can you deep litter the chicken coop for? I've been cleaning mine out at least twice a week. The goat shed has been done daily because of the parasite load, so I'm waiting for freezing temps to start the deep litter for them. I use wood chips on bottom and grass hay on top for both.

 

[Goatherd]

Deep litter method is not for me. I've done it and it's far more work than cleaning a stall regularly. I did it over one winter and the removal/cleanup in the Spring was horrendous. Physically, it's a tremendous amount of work to remove straw that has been down for several months combined with feces and urine.
For me...never again.

 

[Alice Acres]

We clean ours with a friend's skidloader and a manure spreader

 

[cementitiousman]

So how long can you deep litter the chicken coop for? I've been cleaning mine out at least twice a week. The goat shed has been done daily because of the parasite load, so I'm waiting for freezing temps to start the deep litter for them. I use wood chips on bottom and grass hay on top for both.

I use the DL method for the coop and only clean it once a year. Stir up the old stuff then add more shavings and diatomaceous earth when it gets stinky. I hate the straw or hay which doesn't seem to work as well.