# Flooring for goats



## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

I am in the position, that later this year I will be forced to build more housing for my goats. Ive been toying with the idea of wooden slatted floors, it gets extemely hot here during the summer, 100 + f and this would give some relief from the heat if they were raised off the ground somewhat. ( on small stilts ) The natural earth just becomes a quagmire when it comes into contact with the rain so dirt floors I dont think are suitable. I also dont want a leave a big footprint where the housing will be built.
Now my problem with the slatted floor idea that the winters get extremly cold and the wind blows down on us from Northern Russia it can get as low as -22f, and if my housing was raised off the ground, cold wind would be a big problem. 
Do any of you have these extremes in temperatures, and how do you house your goats? 
I am an experienced builder, so nothing puts me off, its just getting it right before I start. :/


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

My goats mostly stay outside in the summer when it is real warm. In fact, I will lock them out some days, because they sometimes just want to be lazy bums and stay inside all day. I have seen them lay outside in the coldest weather, just to get some sunbathing in though too. Their house has a dirt floor, but i don't have flooding issues, so I don't know what the solution is there. Even though we get extremes in temp here like you are describing, the dirt isn't hot, especially inside, so I'm not sure what to think of that... In the winter, I use deep bedding, and just keep piling more on. The composting bedding underneath, keeps the bedding on top warm. I would also think if you are building a slatted floor, or any animal flooring, wood would not be the best material, as it will rot over time.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I helped a dairy that uses housing like this. They have slatted floors that are 4 feet tall. This way the soil underneath the housing can be used for the gardens and it was amazing how sweet the grounds around the barn smelled. They have chicken wired frames that are lag bolted, to the sides of the support posts, keeping the chickens in that keep the area under the barn all scratched up, for the 20x60 barn they had no more than about 10 hens living under it...eggs were collected daily. They did give the hens kitchen scraps, but it was all the chickens got except water (what fell through the slats). The hens were butchered when cold weather started, and the chicken wire frames were taken down and replaced with solid wood that fit right onto the lag bolts. It was so easy to do, they were all numbered, that their 12 year old son showed me how easy it was, with no prompting from his parents, taking down one of the panels and replacing it in about 2 minutes. They live in Washington and the area the goats live on floods eaisly during the spring storms, they walk on a raised covered walkway to the milkroom that is the garage on their house, on a higher part of the property.

Off the garage is maternity stalls and pens for kids who are all sold for meat.

The goats for a lot of the year do have access to their heavily wooded property, but most of the winter and spring they are only housed in their barns. It was so ingenious. I have asked them to post photos, to let a me take photos and write an article for UCN or Hobby Farms...they are simply to private. 

They have a cool rotary milking parlor making it possible for one person to milk all the does....just to cool! I would so want to do this, they use zero wormers, zero vaccinations, zero coccidiosis or parasite problems of any kind. They did not use treated material because it was built before they took arsenic out of it. The floors are made of cypress and during the summer when the barn is cleaned they saturate the floors with linseed oil. Being slatted the floors stay dry, and if a board does give or rot, it can eaisly be replaced. 

I would so love to know what you end up doing! Vicki


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## Ping (Jan 21, 2010)

Wow Vicki that is awesome. We are planning our barn right now and have been wracking our brains as to how to combat the constant mud here. We live in the Willamette Valley of Oregon which is very similar to Washington with the constant wetness. We want to do a rotational grazing/browsing of our 12 acres of forestland to cut down on the need for worming/vaccination/cocci treatment, etc and to keep the mud to a minimum. But that will only go so far to keep the girls out of the mud especially in the spring and winter. The system you describe sounds like it might work for us.

Do the goats sleep on the slats then? No bedding whatsoever?

How wide is the slat spacing?

Can you explain the rotary dairy a bit more?

Oh, to pick these people's brains--what a fabulous system!


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Rotary parlors are soooo cool! I have seen one in a cow dairy. The cows come in and walk into the headgate, as the entire thing is slowly turning and they are usually done milking by the time they get back to the beginning, which the exit is just before the entrance. If they're still giving milk, they just go around in a circle again, lol.

One that I have heard of before, that I thought was a really neat idea, was a type of parlor (and it's super expensive as well) that the cows decide when they want to be milked and somehow this machine does everything (at least that was what my understanding was). So then they are never too full, because if they feel like being milked, they just go in and get milked. I have no idea how they train them to do that!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Food Nancy  and the chip reader, reads the info on their collar, it knows how much they should milk and if they have been through in the 12 hour period...if they come through again they get no more food, although I do not know if it would actually milk them again. The company that makes the rotary milk parlor also makes and installs the big ones for farms milking thousands of cows just like that.

You can visit utube.com and see milking parlors being used exactly like this. They milk goats, cows an sheep with all of the different configurations.

The slats on the floors were wide enough that I did notice half a hoof could go in and out of the slats, but the hooves were trimmed and nobody was limping, guess having the slat closer would be to narrow and anything close to the same size of the half hoof could leave some stuck. The only place that had solid flooring was under the large hay feeder and yes goats did lay on this piece of plywood covered in hay....but most were simply laying on the slats. They pitch forked up the hay for the compost pile, otherwise they were having to clean it up down below or it was clogging the slats anyway.

I am not doing it justice explaining it, clean, airy, perfect for the foggy muggy climate when I was there! Vicki


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## LSP Farm (Dec 4, 2011)

This is a really neat ideal, I love the ideal of raised barns.. I wonder how expanded metal flooring would work? Possibly with a rubber coating.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

The raised floor sure sounds very neat, but, to keep it simple, Quentin, have you thought of using plain course sand on the floor in the summer and straw in the winter? The sand is much cooler and very comfortable. I used that system for calves and it worked great.


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

Today I have discovered 1 inch thick rubber stall mats!!!! I plan on laying down about 4 inches of gravel beneath for drainage, making cement gutters to hose out waste through along the edges and laying the rest of the sand I have beneath for drainage and then laing down the stall mats on top of all. They can even be scrubbed with bleach. Clean barn.  The ones I bought at TS were 27.00 each for a 4 by 6 foot mat. They are heavy, almost 50 pounds per mat. I will let you know how it works. The mats have grooves to let liquids drain away and provide better footing. I'm sure bedding will be needed but not a lot, and cleanup after a messy kidding will be a snap in the kidding stall. A push broom to scrub and bleach/soap solution should take care of many problems with pathogens.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

I read yesterday ( but cant find it now ) that the floor frame should be made of 4" X 2" lumber, to your required lenght and cross braces should be placed every 3 ft across the width. On top of this are laid the slats which should be placed with a gap of no more than a match box ( on its side! ) Ill try to search out exactly where I read it, in the meantime more info at;
www.burundigoats.tripod.com/Project_Training/Housing/housing.html


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

It would appear the link does not work. So if you google slatted floors goats it is the 5th one down entitled housing


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I have gravel on my barn floor, raised about a foot above the existing ground. I put mixed shavings and wood pellets on top of that. So far so good. All liquids drain thru the gravel and the shavings stay pretty clean.


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## cheesemoose (Jun 23, 2010)

do a serch for " goats cut and carry " and check out videos of Orion Farms. Raised slat houses. Split bamboo I believe


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

There's a woman in N CA who has shared links to pics of her slatted floors on another list. I have them bookmarked or saved, I'll try to find them and post. Its too late and I need *not* to start searching now. 

But I saw this thread and couldn't resist, its a topic dear to me.

I bought a couple panels recently, called VersaPad, I'm planning to test them to find out how much weight they will take with various spacing for support joists. They look super safe for hooves, will let goat berries thru freely, etc, Here's a link to them http://www.buytack.com/products-ranch/dl/versapad.htm

That may not be an exact option for Quetin, but might get him to recognize something similar he has access to locally.

And it might be an option for someone reading this, or if you've tried it and have info that can save me some experiments, that would be appreciated if you could share about it.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

They look really neat! I can get that sort of thing, its not for pets, its for driveways, let me know how your weight test goes on. The fact that are made of plastic and modular, would ease cleaning greatly, what a good idea!


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## PrairieTrail45 (Nov 28, 2011)

Some people I bought some goats from last year recently sold some to the Phillipines. There they also keep them off the ground, high enough to get a bobcat under the pens to clean them. It looks like they have mats down that have little holes in them for the berries to fall through. Here is a link to their page about their export, if you scroll down they have a pic of the man with the goats he sold in thier pens, look in the background and you can see how high up they are http://goddardfarm.com/philippine_export All of their pens are made out of steel and concrete though, so might be more than you want to do. Slatted floors would be really neat though.

I currently have a dirt floor, but don't have to deal with flooding or a lot of mud. My goats do like to spend sunny days in winter out in the sun, in the summer they lay under the trees instead of in the barn.

I would also like to see what you end up doing, sounds very interesting!


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

In amongst this bulletin are some good pics off slatted floors, which I hope to re-create, also a design for a simple square building for goats, which is exactly what I am aiming to build. It says for 40 goats. but I think its a litle small for that amount.

http://www.esgpip.org/PDDF/Tecchnical bulletin No.32.pdf


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Again an incorrect address given Ill try again
http://www.esgpip.org/PDF/Technical bulletin No.32.pdf


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Well the time has arrived to " Design & Build ". Im using scrap wood donated to me as much as possible,and using as much exixting infrastructure to reduce costs. I am going with the slatted floors, this is my progress so far.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

More pics


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

Looking good!


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## lorit (May 10, 2010)

Love the slats but also like that versapads that Lacia posted about. Easier and more portable for cleaning. How did they hold up to weight? Determine a max pounds?


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## informative (Aug 24, 2012)

You might want to look into earthbag buildings. The natural earth berms and retaining walls stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter by using geothermal heat storage properties - another concept to look into is the earthship concept. These earthship structures have most (all) windows facing south to absorb heat and store it in the earth in winter like a greenhouse and a vented roof that tips open to allow heat to escape when it builds up to help keep it cooler as needed. Might be a bit pricey for livestock housing but some of the concepts can be incorporated in a simple earthbag housing.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/39495056171/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eekim/5750540583/


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

No offense intended Ray G, but what does Earthbags have to do with floors? Its cleaning the floor/ground, not the walls that are such a topic of conversation. 

Lori, I haven't really tested them for weight, have been overwhelmed and just have them over pallets, so a lot more support than framing supports on 2' spacing. You might be able to look them up online to see if they have a weight rating, I meant to and never got to it.

Quentin, what's the plan for cleaning under that floor?


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

The " junk yard wars " goat shed is now finished. It was designed to house our replacement weaned doelings, so weight I hope will not be an issue. Also by the time they will be placed in there the weather will certainly be mild/ warm so the floor should aid ventilation for cooling.
Although the photos dont really show it, the slatted floor is quite high off the ground, and I designed it so our garden rake will reach from back to front. So underneath will be raked out regularly, and the manure will be free from bedding so will be put to rot down, and used later for garden compost.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Recent pics, as you can see there is a hinged section at the bottom, for cleanining/ ventilation in the summer.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Keep us posted on how this works for you, Quentin. Because our property is so steep we are planning something similar.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

I can't see the hinged part in the pics, but I believe you and it makes sense that you tested it for rake access.

Thanks! My experiments continue...


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Lacia-First pic, the flap is up, second pic the hinged flap is down (on the bottom).


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

oh duh! 
I see it when you explain it LOL :biggrin

How long have you had it working now? Has it gotten smelly before you cleaned it out?

What would you do differently next time?


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## funnyfarmtexas.com (Oct 3, 2012)

dance:


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

At this point in time in has not been used yet, as I said earlier it is for my replacement doelings, to be born from March onwards. I will keep you posted when it is in use.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

With manure and urine running out between the floor boards, I would say in the end it would be cleaner than a dirt floored barn over time. I know the one I spoke about earlier, was wonderful. Vicki


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

I hope so Vicki, thats the plan, only time will tell. Lacia, in answer to your question. what would I have done different, even that it is not in use yet, is to build it like " funny farms texas " buck run ( in a recent thread) and have all the walls removable for hot weather use, and put back for cold weather use.


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## informative (Aug 24, 2012)

I believe the temperature of homes is much more a factor of efficient "earthship" style design versus everything else which is not efficient.

Heat can be stored in earth floors but is not really a heat source which a raised floor will help with very much.

This earth floor heat is utilized in an "earthship" by way of putting -south facing- windows and an angled roof to allow maximum greenhoused sunshine to warm earth floors in the winter as stored heat to be released in the cold evening.

Hot air in the summer is vented out of the roof and by not having many (any) windows facing the other directions (other than south) which will catch more summer sunshine and heat.

Earth berms to the north are allowed to grow over with grass which converts and defelects sun energy into plant energy and the temp underground remains cool even on 110 degree days usually top out at like 80 degrees F.

This intelligent use of earth as a construction material is widely popular now and can be seen on sites like this one.
http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/history.htm

If you want more links about earthship and earthbag building let me know I have a bunch around here somewhere.


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## informative (Aug 24, 2012)

LLB101 said:


> No offense intended Ray G, but what does Earthbags have to do with floors? Its cleaning the floor/ground, not the walls that are such a topic of conversation.


It is somewhat offensive to have any new ideas shut down because they don't meet your expectations. Inexpensive housing of all sorts can be made almost entirely of earth and is especially useful if temperature controls on a budget are a desired outcome.

The topic initially started with flooring for goats (raised wood versus plain earth or wood that is not raised) and referenced hot weather as part of the logic. Granted that there was some pull in one direction for cleaning and all that you stated so I suppose I should not have replied at all because my thinking didn't follow the lead and same line of thinking as everyone else.

My bad. I apologize and I will shut up. Please go ahead.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

Clovor, here are the pics of the slatted floor goat shed I built, I hope it gives you some ideas.


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## SANDQ (Dec 27, 2011)

In answer to your question Lacia ( sorry its a year late ) it works well we are onto its second season now. I keep the slats clean by using the back of a broom head instead of the bristles, to stop it smelling I sprinkle lime othrough the slats then give them a good brush to get it to where it is needed, eg on the earth below. 
The only thing I would do differently now it has been ion use for 2 years, is not use Stirling board panels ( 4 ft x 8ft boards made up of wood flakes if you dont know what they are ) as goats like to eat them!!!!!


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## quiltstuff (Sep 27, 2012)

"...( 4 ft x 8ft boards made up of wood flakes if you dont know what they are ) as goats like to eat them!!!

Yeah....I've noticed that....


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## clovor (Mar 23, 2014)

Thank you sandq


~ Nigerian dwarf goats (2) ~Coloma , CA. ~ random lady


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## WindmillFarm (Apr 25, 2014)

Your goats will love the stall pads/mats BUT it is difficult to keep the floor dry under the mat and you don't want mold. We have concrete floors and ended up building raised slatted frames of treated wood for under the mats. Worked great!


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