# Cleaning out barn/bedding stalls



## Daniel Babcock (May 28, 2008)

I have a dirt floor barn, and use straw as a bedding however I am worried about cocci and parasite carryover in between times I clean out the stalls.

I have heard of people putting lye or Diatamacious Earth on the ground before covering with straw, to 'sterilize' the ground?? 

I live in a very dry climate, how often do you clean out the bedding in the stalls? What do you use to 'sterilize' or clean the ground in between cleanings? 

What else should I be doing to keep parasites etc down?

Thanks in advance


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2008)

Wizard said:


> I have heard of people putting lye or Diatamacious Earth on the ground before covering with straw, to 'sterilize' the ground??


*NEVER lye! *

I am going to assume you meant barn lime.

DE or barn lime will not sterilize the barn dirt floor, nothing will. It will however, keep the moisture down. We use barn lime in any damp places and bed with straw. I am pretty fussy about things so this is done twice a day. You will also never find poop in our goat pens.  We scoop all poop out of the pens 4 times a day. Did I mention that I am very fussy? It would drive me crazy to see poop on the hooves of my milkers on the milkstand! :crazy

My girls always get 'clean sheets' before bed. 

Sara


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## VickiLynne (Feb 8, 2008)

Sara, 
So let me get this straight. Are you saying you strip your stalls of bedding 4 times a day? or are you doing something else? 

Vicki in NC


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2008)

No, I scoop all poop out of the pens 4 times daily. The entire barn is cleaned out (all bedding removed) weekly or bi-weekly, during the spring, summer and fall (depending on need).

Sara


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

Sara, do you have hay laying inside the stalls then? I have saw dust and I can't separate it from the berries. So I scoop out everything once daily What kind of pitch fork do you use?


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2008)

I use a feed scoop and a five gallon pail... really high tech. 

I then dump the buckets of poop into our manure speader that is parked outside the fenceline.

Vicki or Kaye will probably come on and tell me how crazy I am. :lol But I just hate poop in the pens! I look at it like, I wouldn't want to lay in it, why should my goats? Yuck!

Sara


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## stoneyheightsfarm (Jan 19, 2008)

Sara, what kind of floor do you have in your barn?

Do y'all like lime, DE, or PDZ better for dirt floors?


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2008)

I have dirt (class 5 gravel) floors.

I use barn lime. I don't see a reason to use a more expensive product when barn lime works equally as well.

Sara


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## Bilrite Farms (Oct 26, 2007)

She has to keep it clean in case she forgets her shoes :crazy


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

OK....now to come over to the dark side 

I strip my barns down to dirt in Apirl, everyone is through kidding. The baby pens remain in shavings that get completely cleaned out about every 4 weeks, between times I add fresh shavings to freshen up the look for buyers 

The main stalls which house milkers are dirt, I use a leaf rake and rake up berries and wet spots every few days. If I am swamped with customers, it may be done on the weekend...when I can't even do that I hire it out to one of my children who wants some money 

I don't rebed the barns with shavings until Christmas...we don't freeze and it isn't really cold here. I do compltely clean and rebed the milkers barns before kidding the first of March.

My cleaning daily when the girls are in milk, until it's warm enough to pull out the shavings, is called "fluffing the barn" But running your pitch fork through the shavings to fluff them, it moves clean shavings to the top and the berries underneath where SARA can't see them  

I don't have a manure spreader, I have a wheelbarrow and a compost pile.

Vicki


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## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

I am liking this thread! I am no help, but am learning....scoop and bucket method...wow I am too lazy for that...yard rake I think I can manage! 

Sarah


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## Daniel Babcock (May 28, 2008)

Wood shavings are far more expensive than straw. What are the advantages of woodshavings?

A feed scoop to scoop the poop? Sounds like it would work, I dont know how one could pick up the berries with a rake? 

Vicki do you use lime? 

thanks


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2008)

Bilrite Farms said:


> She has to keep it clean in case she forgets her shoes :crazy


Ha, ha.

Trisha was tired of seeing me in flip flops in the barn and barefoot while milking so she bought me a pair of Crocs. I LOVE them! 

Sara


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## Bethany (Jan 9, 2008)

BlissBerry said:


> No, I scoop all poop out of the pens 4 times daily. The entire barn is cleaned out (all bedding removed) weekly or bi-weekly, during the spring, summer and fall (depending on need).
> 
> Sara


Man, when do you ever sleep Sara??? 4 times a day! Wow!


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## chewie (Jul 26, 2008)

i think i wanna live in sara's barn--its prolly cleaner than my house!! LoL!


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## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

I was thinking the same thing!!


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## Ravens Haven (Oct 26, 2007)

We clean the barn really clean the barn 3 times a year with the tractor. I use dirt floors until late November/December, rake pellets and wet spots several times a week. When I need bedding I use straw.

Autumn


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

:biggrin :really Sara is not kidding one bit about scooping poop!! I watched her at Nationals with her high tech "feed scoop" and bucket scooping poop! Continuously...to the point of OCD.

Me?? I cleaned my pens on Wed. down to the concrete and rebedded DEEP with straw & shavings. I kept hoping Sara would take a cleaning spell at my pens..but didn't happen. 

I'm with Vicki. Dirt floors, nothing in the summer and swept with a broom...(no, I haven't mentioned the leaf blower yet) after the am milking. Winter is straw over a layer of shavings and it's cleaned about once a week. This year will have to be more often...more goats. The SB2 will help this year with the mud, I hope.

During the last 4 days of rain...we've used 15 bales of straw to keep the "kid houses" clean/dry and milkers dry. Just cleaned out quaranteen pen houses for the umpteenth time tonight. BUT...there was a peek of sunshine about 5:30pm! YEAH!!!
Kaye


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## Halo-M Nubians (Oct 26, 2007)

Well, I might have to try Sara's bucket idea. I've done both regular cleaning in the winter and deep litter. We get to -25 below 0 and the deep litter does really seem to keep the girls warmer, that frozen ground is so cold! I hate it tho..by spring my head is almost hitting the ceiling and so this last year I tried cleaning regularly..and we had like 9 ft. of snow so couldn't move a wheelbarrow to save your life! even on the paths. So I ended up with huge compost piles right outside the barn doors in the paddock. Then had to wait for snow to melt and finally got the bobcat in there to move them in early June.
In the summer I don't bed and I rake and feed outside and the goats sleep outside all summer long by choice. When we build a barn it will be large enough to drive the bobcat right in then I'll feel better about the deep litter thing. It takes a LOT of straw tho to keep it smelling nice and the top dry.
I really like Barn Dry..the pellets and thats what I used most of last winter to keep moisture down.


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