# bedding materiel ??



## Douger (Feb 1, 2009)

iv been using straw for beeding in my goat barn wand i keep horse and use saw dust for my horse's but I've been wandering and was wanting input on is can u us saw dust for my goats as well


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Yes, you can use saw dust however the grains get into the goats coats and can be irritating to their skin. The first year Lindsey was in 4-H they used it for the stalls and our goats wound up with it even in their ears. I prefer straw or wood chips compared to saw dust. Tammy


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

I use saw dust all the time...problem...expensive....($25 a front loader full) I clean it down to the pad every other day (in teh heavily peed spots). I usually ahve to get a fill once a month. I also put 2 flakes of straw in the corner for the girls each day. I hate when I milk and there is pee filled saw dust sticking to my does under belly  yuck and smelly. They need a bath practically before I even milk them. Problem with the straw is it is $5 a bail too? Mine are in stalls right now 3 adults in a 12x12 soon to be 24x24. They are let out during the day and brought in at night. I am interested to see what people have been using too. It does not really absorb the pee too much. The odor is why I change it out so much. It gets completely stripped weekly down to the pad. It is concrete floor with the horse pads ontop of that. Haven't figured out a better way of doing it


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## KingsCoGoatGuy (Dec 20, 2008)

We used to use saw dust, no longer as our supply no longer has it. I do have a good couple front end loaders full of sawdust in the neighbor's barn he doesn't want. I have to go look at it to make sure it isn't full of rats or crud. 
I bred the doe herd with shavings, a normal $5 bag you would buy for horses will do the 20 X 16 main stall. The kids get a full bag of shavings with a half bale of straw on top, my kids can't be cleaned out for another month so having something to soak up all the pee is #1 on the list. 
The bucks have the hard life, they have to sleep in what they waste.


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

Have you considered putting down a layer of sawdust, then adding the straw over the top? This tends to make your bedding last a little longer as the shavings soak up a lot of the urine that would foul your straw faster.

LOL...I lucked out this kidding season and was given a LARGE 4'x8' bale of straw! Price was right...free! Anyway, I am completely spoiled now because it's a lot longer stemmed, flakes off in large square flakes, packed more tightly than normal small bales and is beautiful bright yellow! I love race horse people...they're so picky about what goes under their horses. This bale had 1 string broken...it was culled! :rofl Next semi comes in the end of March and have spoken for the *culls*! 
Kaye


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## stoneyheightsfarm (Jan 19, 2008)

A single bag of shavings does a 20 x 16 area?!?! Golly, I use about 5 bags for the same space, and that's just one application. They get that about once a month during the winter! Proof that I REALLY need to get the french drain in behind the barn....


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## KingsCoGoatGuy (Dec 20, 2008)

Oops, forgot that is in the summer with a bale of straw under them, mine spend 90% of their time on pasture so only use it during the night. In the fall I do one last cleaning at the end of Nov and then not again until late March. I don't add anything during the winter as the hay they waste makes great bedding.


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## Judys (Feb 19, 2009)

We also have a concrete floor with stall mats over it. We use pine shavings with straw in the kid stall. The adul does get cleaned every day the kids are still little so they last a couple of days in between. Depends on the weather and how much they are in


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

prairiedog said:


> We also have a concrete floor with stall mats over it. We use pine shavings with straw in the kid stall. The adul does get cleaned every day the kids are still little so they last a couple of days in between. Depends on the weather and how much they are in


It gets expensive doesn't it! Are you looking to change or are you happy with your current situation?


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

Right now I'm using straw since it's winter. Come spring/summer/fall I am not going to use straw because they soil it so fast. Only time will be during shows b/c we are usually penned on concrete or hard gravel/dirt ground.

I'll be using shavings. I plan to lock the girls outside during the nice days during the spring/summer/fall.  

Has anyone used that woody pet or pelleted horse bedding? (I can't think of the name.) It's pellets. I use it for my guinea pig and omg it soaks up the urine soooo good and doesn't have the urine stench to it either. I have my guinea pig cage right next to my computer desk and it needs cleaned out and I can't even smell it!


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## chewie (Jul 26, 2008)

timely thread....we plan to move this weekend. i have a barn with cement. should i put shavings down beore the straw? i can get straw very cheap, so i'd rather just do thicker straw if that's a good thing??


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Faithful Crown Nubians said:


> Right now I'm using straw since it's winter. Come spring/summer/fall I am not going to use straw because they soil it so fast. Only time will be during shows b/c we are usually penned on concrete or hard gravel/dirt ground.
> 
> I'll be using shavings. I plan to lock the girls outside during the nice days during the spring/summer/fall.
> 
> Has anyone used that woody pet or pelleted horse bedding? (I can't think of the name.) It's pellets. I use it for my guinea pig and omg it soaks up the urine soooo good and doesn't have the urine stench to it either. I have my guinea pig cage right next to my computer desk and it needs cleaned out and I can't even smell it!


I too have wondered about using that too, wonder if my goats would eat it. :/


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## Douger (Feb 1, 2009)

my problem with the straw it is 8 bucks a bale and when i built my barn for my goats i built a wooden floor about foot above the ground and i got my door to go in and out of and a small door for my goats to go in and out of as well with a wall going about ten feet in beside there door for a wind break and saw dust is free around here


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I wish I had some sawdust. I currently use shavings, lots of them, and then add straw over top. The shavings are expensive and don't soak up the urine like sawdust does. I don't think I'd use the sawdust alone as it does too much sticking and I worry about it getting inhaled and in the animals eyes. I'd love to do sawdust, then shavings, then straw. I'm deep bedding this winter as my stalls stay completely dry, except for the doorways. I add more shavings/straw, or both every week, or whenever I see poop pellets sitting on the top..then I know they've packed it down too much. I have clay floors raised up above the outside ground. There is no smell, and I can wander around on my knees without getting wet, providing the bedding is deep enough. Last year was a nightmare as the floors kept getting wet when it rained and soaking my bedding and I'd have to constantly replace it. This year I hope to have wonderful garden stuff to add to the garden in another month or so. Have no idea about the summer. Probably would just use the sawdust/shavings mix in the summer and clean more often. I HATE flies and am NOT looking forward to them at all. I have used the pelleted horse bedding many times for horses. Not yet for the goats. I loved it, but it is expensive and it is just sawdust in the end. I've also used it for years as cheap cat litter. It can go in the garden without the poop. You have to add water to it to fluff it up. It's a very finely ground sawdust. I mixed it with shavings for the horses and it worked great. Really, though, it probably is too expensive if you can get something else cheaper.
Anita


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## Guest (Feb 20, 2009)

If you are going to get sawdust from a sawmill...be sure and get aged sawdust that is on the blacker side of things. Green dust will burn the udders and hooves of some animals.

Ken


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## Guest (Feb 20, 2009)

:yeahthat
I have also heard that sawdust that is not kiln dried will harbor bacteria.



> Has anyone used that woody pet or pelleted horse bedding? (I can't think of the name.) It's pellets. I use it for my guinea pig and omg it soaks up the urine soooo good and doesn't have the urine stench to it either. I have my guinea pig cage right next to my computer desk and it needs cleaned out and I can't even smell it!


I Love Woody Pet!!! There are other brands available too. It is bacteria resistant, clean and keeps things smelling good and dry. It is very expensive to keep up with. I rotate with wood shavings, straw and dirt.

Christy


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

aRealdairyman said:


> If you are going to get sawdust from a sawmill...be sure and get aged sawdust that is on the blacker side of things. Green dust will burn the udders and hooves of some animals.


Green? Mine are pine shavings I get from teh saw mill.


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## Secondairy (Aug 12, 2008)

I use Sweet PDZ in my kidding pens, layered with wood pellets over the top of that (use softwood for animals rather than fuel pellets, as hard wood does not absorb as much). I top it all off with good chopped oat straw. The straw lets the urine filter down to the pellets and PDZ. The pellets absorb the urine, the PDZ neutralizes ammonia, and the straw on top keeps everything dry.

Kelly


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

The more I hear about your prices everywhere else I am glad to live in the PNW. Bales of straw go from $1.50 to $2.50 a bale here. I still have half a ton in my barn. I suppose it isn't easy for you all on bedding with those prices. Tammy


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## Madfarmer (Nov 18, 2008)

Yeah, Tammy, I hadn't even seen straw here in 20 years till Vicki had it in her barn last time I was there. Grains are a secondary crop here, except for rice, & no one bales rice straw. And alfalfa is15 bucks for a square bale. Send us a rail car of both, wouldya? :crazy

Tom


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Even if I could send you a rail car of both you would still pay out alot of money for it just for transportation cost. I don't think we would be able to stay in goats if we lived anywhere else. I do feel bad for you all...but jump for joy when I can pay $240.00 for a ton of top notch alfalfa and $ 150.00 a ton of straw. Then I have DH asking why I need alfalfa pellets :rofl. I just tell him "look at the goats compared to the last two years". 
Ever hear of the "cosmic wand"? We need one of those for everyone who lives in central, south, and east America, "I the all granting wand give you affordable livestock alfalfa and straw" POOF and your barns would be full. :lol Tammy

And Lindsey adds, "lets borrow Papa Smurfs magic fertilizer, there would never be a shortage." (We still watch the Smurfs).


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## mill-valley (Feb 22, 2008)

I use sawdust and straw...usually put down a little lime on the cement, then a layer of sawdust, then straw over top. I don't like them laying on straight sawdust. It isn't as warm, comfortable and it sticks all over them. The neighboring dairy farmer told me that laying on straight sawdust caused mastitis issues for his cows, I don't know how much truth there is to that though.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I use shavings in most pens, and straw with the milkers. I will be cleaning out the really dirty straw and bedding this weekend, then put shavings down with more straw on top of it since we start kidding. I use shavings for the babies. My barn floor is sand/dirt, I couldn't afford to have cement that would need stall mats and so much bedding cleaned all the time. It would drive me crazy. Flashbacks of the horses when I was a slave/child 

I am lucky to have one of the only sources of straw in the area, I have never seen it before in any feed store, and whenever anyone comes over they are always shocked when they see the straw.

We got rice hulls when we dairied, that was a very nice product also, very easy to clean out and lightweight.

Truckloads of sawdust, is cheap at the mill right down my road, but several gals who went through some horrible mastitis problems with the only link raw shavings, makes me go and pay money for kiln dried  Get the compressed bales, they contain soo many more cubic feed than the loose fill ones for the same price. vicki


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## chewie (Jul 26, 2008)

hmm, i am very lucky then, i got a 1600lb round bale of very nice straw, delivered yesterday for $20. so i hope using nothing but straw is ok? i'd hate to have to pay more for shavings too.


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## homeacremom (Nov 6, 2007)

chris, I think straw is fine. Nothing prettier than deep, fresh, clean straw! I buy kiln dried shavings for the baby pens, but otherwise it is all straw here. I can get a good deal on straw buying straight out of the field.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

$20 dollars for 1600 pounds of straw...DELIVERED??? Here we get 30 pound bales for $5. Some of it is really nice, some of it is not. Tammy, wave that wand over my way please. :sigh
Anita


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

Anita that is what we pay $5 ofr a 30 pound bale  I'll take that wand too


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