Is this a thing?

[Genipher]

I'm a bit leery to ask but...is it possible/okay to use old carpeting as bedding in a goat shed? We just pulled out the carpet from one of our bedrooms and it got me wondering if we could reuse it that way.

Our potential goat shed (still waiting on the city to approve my application for backyard goats) has cement floors:

I've also heard of using sand as bedding. If I go that route would I still need to put straw or hay on top of the sand? For all my Google research, I can't get that part figured out.

 

[Green Acres Farm]

We have carpet laying in our pole barn to prevent erosion and one year I set up a stall in there for our goats. It was impossible to clean and smelled terrible. I wouldn’t do it.

 

[Genipher]

We have carpet laying in our pole barn to prevent erosion and one year I set up a stall in there for our goats. It was impossible to clean and smelled terrible. I wouldn’t do it.

I was wondering how bad the smell would be.

Any thoughts on using sand?

 

[CntryBoy777]

You could use sand, but it is heavy to tote and replacing of cleaning out on top of cement a difficult chore....I would go with pine shavings, or hay....or straw.....this would be lighter to deal with and more readily available....plus will increase your compost area. We use shavings and hay....straw is not available here. We have earthen floors....if you provide covered shelter outside....they will tend to spend less time inside...when raining...and have other areas besides inside to relieve their self.....

 

[Latestarter]

I'd be worried that they'd try to eat it... aside from the smell issue and inability to clean it.

 

[greybeard]

Regardless of what you end up using, I would 1st apply some kind of sealer on the concrete if it doesn't already have it done. Concrete is semi-porous and will readily assimilate/absorb urine and other bodily associated things with odors......to be released into your nostrils every time you go in there.

 

[Genipher]

Regardless of what you end up using, I would 1st apply some kind of sealer on the concrete if it doesn't already have it done. Concrete is semi-porous and will readily assimilate/absorb urine and other bodily associated things with odors......to be released into your nostrils every time you go in there.

Yikes! I didn't know concrete would do that! I will add that sealing chore to my list of things to prep before bringing goats home. I want to make sure I'm doing as much as possible to cut down on smells, since we're smack dab in the middle of town.

 

[Genipher]

You could use sand, but it is heavy to tote and replacing of cleaning out on top of cement a difficult chore....I would go with pine shavings, or hay....or straw.....this would be lighter to deal with and more readily available....plus will increase your compost area. We use shavings and hay....straw is not available here. We have earthen floors....if you provide covered shelter outside....they will tend to spend less time inside...when raining...and have other areas besides inside to relieve their self.....

Good point. Can't really compost sand...

So much to think about and plan. Once I get past all these little issues goat ownership should get easier, right?

Right...??

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well, it is very difficult to translate printed words on a page...to "hands-on" action, because somethings just have to be "experienced" for there to be "true learning" taking place. However, there are certainly some things that are better planned for than others......depending on your setting there in Oregon....ya may have a few more predators than ya really are aware of and may need some secure housing in relationship to those predators. By having the goats and birds moving about....those predators will certainly take notice....from the air and on the ground.....this doesn't mean that they will be faced each day, but are a possibility. Your boundry fencing is not only there to keep your animals in, but also to keep predators out. We got our 3 goats basically as an experiment, and they have been our teachers on what owning goats is about.....they are looked at as pets, but they have served a purpose in training us for tending to more and what should be changed in order to accommodate those more. The only real problem we have here is there aren't any vets that treat goats, so there has been a large learning curve....but, thanks to BYH there are plenty that will chime in and help as much as they can if we have difficulties......

 

[Southern by choice]

I disagree with sealing the concrete. We have an entire building that is concrete. In this building we have 3 kidding stalls... all 3 various sizes. A hallway and the whole one side is for baby and juvenile goats. Sealing it causes the urine to sit on top. Yes the concrete will absorb and there is odor. There will be either way. The building must be cleaned. Do not use sand!
Use shavings. We use fine to medium fine shavings. Thick enough the allow for good absorption. Depending on number of goats and weather will determine how often you will need to clean it out.
Our process is shovel out the shavings. In winter we cannot power wash ( we do have a drain) so we take a watering can filled with hot water and a bit of bleach. Using a mop we scrub. Then use a wet dry vac to vac up the water. Then with clean water and little bleach we mop (using a bucket and ringer). It will dry quickly as it is not sopping wet. Once dry replace bedding.
Warm weather we power wash so we can clean walls too (cinder block painted walls) . Again we still have to shop vac. We mop. Fan dry and replace shavings.

Years ago this building housed our goats when we were a small herd of like 9-10 goats. They were all adults and that was the threshhold- once we grew in numbers then yes, having a concrete floor and shavings didn't cut it - it was too much. So we built a barn. We still use this building for the young goats and kidding etc.
I think if your building is large enough 2 goats should do fine. Shop vac is a great thing to have!

Very clean. Very effective.
We just cleaned this side and the nubian baby loves to play in fresh shavings... we ran short so this is a bit thinner layer than usual. You can't see the whole side just the front part... but there are lots of juvenile kids in there and it stays pretty clean. Of course we have had so much rain that they have been in way more than usual... so it really needed cleaned. LOL

This is one of the stalls. from earlier in kidding season.