need recommendation for dry lot

[Gregg Heath]

I've got a 30x42 barn that I'd like to surround with a 16 ft wide area of some type of material to create a dry lot. My goal is to keep the sheep in this area while the pasture comes in the spring and keep ewes just before lambing. I'm needing some ideas for material to lay down for the dry lot surface. I can use dense grade but it's $400 per truck load. Bank gravel is only $160/truck but I'm worried that it'll get muddy and not hold up well in heavy rain.
Any ideas or other options?

Thanks

 

[Athena2344]

Why don't you do sand? It's what we have in our pens for the show animals, it drains liquids and is easy to maintain and clean up poop from

 

[Mini Horses]

Probably less expensive than gravel, too.

 

[greybeard]

Bank gravel is only $160/truck but I'm worried that it'll get muddy and not hold up well in heavy rain.

Depends on what is available in Gregg Heath's area.
Generally any given media is pretty cheap at it's source, but getting it from it's source to your location is what raises the cost so much.

Here, there is a lot of iron ore and it's cheap. Sand and un-screened/unwashed bank gravel is cheap too, but it can have a lot of dirt and other organics in it as well as sand and gravel.
Clean gravel is a bit more expensive because there is a big demand for it from the concrete plants that feed the ever hungry beast that is Houston construction.
Finer crushed limestone 3/4-1" tho is very expensive as the nearest limestone quarry is hundreds of miles to the west and northwest, and it weighs a LOT per cu yard.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

We use chapel hill grit, though it goes by many names (brain dead and can’t remember the other names). It packs down well. Once it’s packed, you can easily rake and sweep it to keep it clean. It drains very well.
BUT you have to keep up with it or else you will have a heck of a job cleaning it.

 

[greybeard]

Chappel Hill grit is Granite fines. There was lots of it used at the Marine air station I was at Cherry Pt and at Camp Lejune. Probably all cemented over now.
Because the little particles aren't round, and aren't all the same shape or exact size, each particle tends to stay in one place, nestled in tightly next to each other.
Good clean iron ore and crushed coral work the same way..the sharp edges,corners just seem to interlock.