# Bedding and all info needed?



## brenda (Oct 14, 2008)

:help Good morning I like to say I'm new here and would like some help please. We have two doe's that are pygmies born in the spring. We got them a few days ago, wondering about the bedding? we put down shaving but I find its hard to clean up after them. What do you suggest? 

We had Nubian's many years ago and I forgot everything I learned about goats.

So please jump in and help me with a fresh start thanks..

Blessings Brenda


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 27, 2007)

Welcome!! 

For bedding, I've never found anything that beats good clean straw.


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2008)

Welcome. 

I use straw for bedding. The kid pens gets a layer of shavings covered with straw. Work great here. 

Sara


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Straw I really like the rice pellets if for babies and small areas


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

I use both shavings and straw for bedding...


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## Ravens Haven (Oct 26, 2007)

Straw is what we use here

Autumn


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I use shavings on the bottom to absorb urine, and then add straw or hay on top. Makes wonderful garden compost.
Anita


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## Secondairy (Aug 12, 2008)

I have used wood pellet horse bedding with a good layer of straw on top. I have never had a problem with the goats eating the pellets - they have a dessicate effect and dry their mouths out, so usually they stop after the first sample. On the dirt floors, I use Sweet PDZ, which is an ammonia absorber that is safe for animals (even if they eat it), and put a thick layer of the wood pellets down, and then straw on top of that. This way all I have to do is turn over the straw to one side and scoop off the wet areas, replace the wood pellets, and spread the straw back out to cut down on stall stripping chores.

Now what I wish they made was a scooper specifically for goat berries. I loved shavings with the horses because the wonder forks are great for removing wet areas and getting all of the manure without wasting bedding.


Hope that helps!

Kelly


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

I cleaned the barn out saturday and put a layer of lime down and thick pine needles that I raked , it worked great last year, pine needles dry out fast when wet ,poop works it's way to the bottom and it's natural and free . I do use shavings for the baby kids .


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2008)

I have a wood floored barn (much like a deck with small cracks between the boards that pee goes straight through). I don't put anything down until it gets very cold, which is not very often down here. When I do put something down, I use a mix of shavings and waste hay. I hate the way that all this stuff gets soaked with pee and sours quick. I've found it easier for me to just sweep the barn out every couple of days, rather than trying to clean up that awful mess of pee soaked hay and junk every week or so. If you have good wind chill protection, and a dry place for them to lay down on....they can take on pretty cold weather most of the time.....but cold for me here is only a few nights a winter down in the low teens. If I were to have concrete or dirt floors, I think I would have to re-think my practice a little.....for sure with the very old or when kids start getting here in Jan-March.

WHIM


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

I have a dirt floor so I don't have to worry much about bedding. I have built it up with clay and a layer of sand on top of that. Also I have allowed a compacted layer of goat manure& hay to accumulate. On top of this I have another layer of sand. I can rake this very easily to clean the goat berries out. In winter the compacted & composting layer of manure & hay act as an insulation from the cold ground beneath. The floor sounds hollow when you rake it. The heat from the decomposition helps keep the goats warmer plus the insulating effect of this layer under them. This is an absorbent layer also. They don't have wetness under them unless we get a heavy rain and the roof leaks. We have repaired leaks this Summer from hailstorms. I give them more hay to lay on in the winter. I do clean everything down to the hardened, decomposing layer and lime it from time to time before I add more sand and hay. It really doesn't smell much, unless it gets wet. That doesn't happen very often. The under layer of this just turns into soil after time. (would love to have some of this in my garden) But I compost the raked-up berries & hay and use it in the garden.


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## stoneyheightsfarm (Jan 19, 2008)

Linda, where do you get your sand that you can keep putting down? Play sand?


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

All our soil here is clay/silt because we live close to the mouth of a large creek (Salt Creek :biggrin ), but we happen to live just a couple of miles from the Arkansas River and there is a sand dredging plant there. We own a 3 and a half ton wheat truck with a dump bed (being small farmers) and we take it down there and get a ton or two of sand for maybe 20 dollars. We bring it home and dump it in a pile next to my garden. (I am always adding sand to my garden too.) I have a yard cart to move sand, hay, garden refuse, clippings, etc... When we do a major clean out of the goat barn we use our quarter ton pick-up and truck that to the compost pile by the garden. My DH helps me with a lot of this heavy-type stuff so I won't end up hurting my back, as i have had back surgery before. NO FUN :nooo


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## MeadowValleyFarm (Oct 21, 2008)

We use corn stalks for bedding around here, lots of corn fields = lots of corn stalks. Last year we small sq baled around 200 bales and right now we only have about 30 or so left. We use the bales for the horse, cattle, pigs, and now the goats. They seem to love it, they play in them, and will eat some of the stalks more nibble, and they absorb lots.


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## Haglerfarm (Aug 11, 2008)

I quit using straw years ago. You get too much mastitis using it. Or I did. If I use bedding, and I usually don't, I use grass hay. Even at shows if possible. I love Sweet PDZ and use it often.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I have a dirt floor that's had lime added and finished compost so that the floor is pretty hard. No bedding except when the kids come because the goats seem to dislike straw and shavings. Now what I would love to have is giant scoop made like a cat litter scoop to get the berries but haven't found one.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

yeh me too Michelle I rake then sweep


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## Guest (Oct 28, 2008)

You guys live in Texas. For us Northern folks, bedding is a must. 

Sara


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## MeadowValleyFarm (Oct 21, 2008)

Amen to that!!!!!!!!!


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## Haglerfarm (Aug 11, 2008)

Absolutely, Sara, you guys certainly do need bedding. We used to in Tennessee, but not anymore, it seems. When I first got goats it was in the early 70s. We had frigid winters. I was surprised it was that cold in Tennessee. We had temps below zero very often and a lot of snow. Times sure have changed. Now we only have a few really cold days.
Les


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Damp cold dirt is where you harbor mastitis. I can't imgaine getting through our feb rains and muck without a deeply bedded barn, even down here.

Since we can't really get rid of parasites with our non freeze we can at least start kids out and keep does up out of the dirt with their just fresh udders. During the peak of lactation you simply dont' want them leaking on that dirt floor. Vicki


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

Think Vicki actually has more wet cold rain than we do up here. Now if I am freshening out does in the winter then of course I put bedding in (straw)


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Right. I put out bedding as part of getting ready for kids.


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## MeadowValleyFarm (Oct 21, 2008)

We use corn stalks in the pens, and will be using a corn stalk and straw mix for kidding and the kids.


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

Our goofy does have a nice clean pine needle barn and they are laying out under the pine trees and its cold . 
I do like to use natural free bedding and we had a lot of cornstalks that we burned, duh .. I will be gathering them all up this next summer as I didnt even think about using corn stalks ,THANKS for the tip Justin .


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

Here in Montana, we let the older goats sleep on dirt floors until it starts to get really cold out. Even on cold winter nights, some goats choose to sleep out under the stars on the hay they have pulled from their feeder. When the weather gets nasty, we put down a layer of pine shavings and top that with straw. We continue to bed that way when the babies start coming. Right now, my doeling house is the only one I've strawed. Kathie


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

"Even on cold winter nights, some goats choose to sleep out under the stars on the hay they have pulled from their feeder. "

Reminds me of our doe that we brought down from Maine at 6yrs old...on the coldest days here the Texan does were huddled together in the deeply bedded barn for warmth. Miss Maine was lying stretched out in the pasture as is soaking up all the cold that she could get!


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## MeadowValleyFarm (Oct 21, 2008)

Its funny how that there are those goats that seem to rather be outside no matter what the weather is like.


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## Suthrn (Oct 23, 2008)

quick question

Can we even get Straw here in Texas (east)???
Linda/Suthrn


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I got mine over in Conroe. You are north of me? Vicki


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

yep you can get straw but it isn't cheap anymore.


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