Goat Pen Spring Cleaning!

[Rose N Lynne Farm]

So I was home sick today and while I was sitting around I kept stressing over how gross the goat's pen had gotten.. So I decided to go clean it! Anyways it took about 3 hours and it's not even done yet.. But I did take lots of photos, so here they are!

Before:

After 1 hour:

After 3 hours:

So it's not totally done.. as you can tell...

I have some other projects that I need to get done before the kid arrives, and I have some questions...!

Questions about laying sand as ground:

1.) Right now I have only dirt as the ground, would I need to put gravel or rock down before putting down sand?
2.) Or can it just go over the dirt?
3.) Will it be easier to clean their pen out?
4.) Are there other ways you'd make the pen easier to clean?

Questions about shed/barn structure:

1.) Is a 4x4 stall okay for her to kid in?
2.) Or would a 4 x 8 be better?
3.) Pallets as walls or plywood?
4.) Straw or Ceder shavings?

Random questions:

1.) How do you keep your pen less muddy?
2.) How much does it cost to pour concrete?
3.) How long does concrete take to dry?

Thank you if you took the time to read this, and answer some questions I really appreciate it Nellie's due in about a month so I really need some answers! Thank you so much!

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Umm, girlie....GO Lie DOWN!

 

[Rose N Lynne Farm]

Oh if only I could!

 

[julieq]

I can't pull up the photos, but I'm impressed if someone has actually got around to spring cleaning goat pens already! We've still got enough snow on the ground that our pens are knee deep in alfalfa stem just to keep them up where it's dry. Not looking forward to digging it out, which will take a couple of weeks at least, although it will be great for composting the garden.

Cement is fine for milking or feed storage areas, but we certainly don't want our goats standing on it full time during the cold seasons. Much too hard on their legs, even if one were to put down heavy bedding.

We don't use cedar, as there is always a chance that an animal will be allergic to it. Pine shavings only. For the actual birthing we have multiple king sized comforters that we alternate out and then wash. We don't want the kids being born on shavings, as they could easily get them in their eyes.

Our birthing pen is 8 x 10, fairly small, but we don't bring them in until we're absolutely sure they're in labor. Hope some of this helps. We all have different ways of doing things.