# changing bedding



## scgirl (Nov 3, 2009)

Can anyone give me a general idea of how often to change bedding? I had read (somewhere) that it should be left in the winter to help provide heat, just adding onew stuff on top. Not sure if I like that idea though. Part of the barn is raised with a wooden floor, then we added on to it, but no floor, just dirt. 
Thanks,
Amber


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## Hollybrook (Jul 17, 2009)

I change it every other day completly unless its raining then it needs daily i also imagine size of area, number of goats and what you are using? Wood chips seem to absorb so much more than hay. We only have 1 doe in milk now so usually add extra hay to her bed on the off day. 

Dave


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## scgirl (Nov 3, 2009)

Thanks, Dave, I'm using hay, but it's really expensive here. What kind of wood chips would that be, anything specific? 
Thanks,
Amber


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

How about just cleaning the really dirty areas, or wet areas? I simply can't afford to clean out my shavings or straw daily, and it doesn't need it, although I have friends who do this also. I also am not dealing with the cold, I am dealing with damp chill, so for us it's much more about keeping the bedding dry, rather than making a manure pack so it keeps the barn warm. I still rake and put down clean shavings in areas that are icky, at least weekly...but I won't even be bedding the barn with my shavings and straw until end of January when does will be heavy bred. Then instead of about 3 or 4 inches of shavings over the sand there will be a good foot of so layer with another foot of straw.

Hay makes for some awful bedding, it does keep the girls up off the wet and damp dirt, but it a pain to clean out, all that matted urine soaked pats it forms. It also means composting all of it because of seeds, where straw and shavings both can simply be put right onto the garden, right around trees, so my compost pile stay a manageable size  Like 5 feet tall!

Rethink the hay, but hopefully one of the gals in your area chime in. Vicki


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## Painted Pony (Apr 12, 2009)

If you do the deep bedding method (leaving it in and adding to the top) it is a PITA to dig out come spring unless you have a bucket or something to do the work. I pick the wet spots and large clumps of berries daily and add new bedding, I clean it all out once or month depending on the particular stall. My bedding is a mix of shavings and the hay the goats waste. I compost it for the garden and pasture.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I change out whatever is wet every day and as much of the berries as I can get, and leave the rest. I do a complete change whenever it looks or smells like it needs it. We use paper shavings from the feed store; they absorb very well. I was introduced to them before we lived here, when we had to board our horse at a stable. The feed store ran out of wood shavings temporarily but they had paper shavings still so I got some of those to use for my horse. They absorb better than wood shavings and break down more quickly in the compost pile, and they cost less, at least here, for the same amount. (Maybe if I could get wood shaving type stuff from a saw mill or something in bulk, that would be cheaper, I dunno.) 

When I had babies last winter, I put hay on top of it because it looked like the babies were thinking about "sampling" some of the shavings, but I have not had problems with the older goats doing that. When I had hay on top (which is nice for keeping them off of the wetness and keeps the babies warmer) a lot of the wetness would go through the hay and leave the hay relatively dry. Only issue there is that you need to rake the hay aside and get the wet shavings from underneath, then put down more shavings. And if the hay looks wet, then that goes, too, but it stayed a lot drier on top with the very absorbent shavings underneath. But it does form those big unwieldy mats Vicki mentions if it gets wet or full of manure.


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## jcran (Feb 17, 2009)

We live in the northwestern coastal area of California. Old redwood forest turned to pasture makes for some awfully wet clay soil in the winter. We bed with straw and then "deep-bed" all winter, putting dry on top, until spring dries things out. Realistically a truck just cannot get through the mud to the shelters (10 feet diameter half pipe culverts) until things dry out. The important thing is to keep things DRY on top. By spring though, the 5 1/2 foot head room is down to about 4 1/2 foot clearance. The only downside to this that I have found, aside from the HEAVY lifting job that we have every spring, is that my 9-year old daughter has internalized this philosophy in her own bedroom maintenance. She had baby goats born yesterday and wants to have all her friends come over and see them. NOT UNTIL YOUR ROOM IS CLEAN!!!!!! I think Jimmy Hoffa is under her bed. Wish us both luck; its gonna get ugly around here today. I think we'll both be whining by the end of this day (my whine might need to be wine, though)


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## stacy adams (Oct 29, 2007)

It also depends on how high you want to go! :biggrin I've done the deep bedding as well as cleaning it out every day, and frankly, I prefer the deep bedding. No, it's not because I'm lazy, but that is a considering factor :rofl I just like how warm it keeps the barn and the cost of materials was down as well. I wasn't too thrilled at how messy/poopy it stayed when I kept it cleaned to the dirt and it just seemed to smell more and I guess because I was cleaning so often, how much higher the compost pile was :O

I'm deep bedding again this year, removing on a daily basis the piles of berries that happen at night, wet spots and depending on the weather that tends to keep 'em in, will usually drop down a layer of PDZ, some shavings and then straw on top of that about every other week. I'll do a heavy cleaning out in the spring and find most of it's already composted. 

Also what Dave said, you have to consider the size of the area and the number of goats you have.


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## scgirl (Nov 3, 2009)

Thanks for all the insightful replies. I meant to say I use straw instead of hay, but the straw is still more expensive than the hay here, at least what I've found. I'll be checking into the other alternatives today. Again, thanks for the help. I just don't want my girls to get sick or develop problems from mismanagement on my part.
Thanks,
Amber


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## Painted Pony (Apr 12, 2009)

Amber have you asked around at local stables to see if they can recommend a wood mill or something near you as a source of bedding? I used to be able to pull up under the hopper and fill my truckbed full of shavings for a few bucks.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

If you have to clean the pen by hand, then I wouldn't suggest just putting fresh bedding on top...did that once and omg it was so hard to clean out. I clean the pens out when they get dirty and wet. I strip them out, lime them, put shavings down and straw down...as spots get wet I pick them out and put down more bedding but eventually the whole pen needs stripped out...like right now, Im just waiting for it to dry up enough outside that I can actually get the barn cleaned out...wheelbarrows and mud do not like one another!! lol


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Yep Amy I am a wheelbarrow or pay for labor gal myself! Vicki


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## jcran (Feb 17, 2009)

Local 4-Hers are inexpensive labor. I pay about $8-$10 per hour when cleaning time comes. TOTALLY worth it! I usually am adament that none of them comes to my place with a bad case of STDs though...................S.=Serious T.= Texting D.=Disorder What did you think I meant? :biggrin Have any of you encountered it? I've had really great helpers disabled by it.


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## MiaBella Farm (Jul 22, 2008)

LOL...I love that one...I think both of my children have that...therefore, children's phones are forbidden in the barn. Mine is allowed because it is the only one that will receive a call worth answering!


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

jcran said:


> S.=Serious T.= Texting D.=Disorder Have any of you encountered it? I've had really great helpers disabled by it.


That is so insanely annoying. My sister was having a conversation with my mom the other evening and she got a text and stopped mid conversation, mid sentence and friggin replied....then finished talking. OMG it was all I could do not to say something...and then I have another family member that has her friggin phone glued to her.

Now I do have a phone and do txt all the time (well use to, not so much any more) but I would not answer my txts when I was talking to someone. Or if I was helping someone I wouldn't answer them. It's so annoying.


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## tinygreenfrog (Feb 19, 2009)

we do deep bedding because its all wasted hay :/ my goats just waste enough to keep everybody warm and dry, so i dont see the point in pulling it out and putting something more in. Its so dry infact that my toddler plays in the goat pen while i feed/milk. 

BUT the amount of work come spring is crazy! :down wish i had a better method. or more money to spend......


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

I totally agree with Vicki on the deep bedding. I lived in VT for over half my life and deep bedding it was, purely out of necessity. It's hard to maneuver through feets of snow, ice and or mud. But, come spring I would have to take a good week picking with a maddox, ice pick and manure fook wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of yucky, matted hay, shavings and poop. And the ammonia!!!! Bent 2 good forks one spring and it took a good deal of torch heat to unbend them, plus I weakened the tines. Now, I have a different situation and we clean out regularly if the does are indoors like lately due to all the rain. And we bed down with pine shavings, I do get many a FREE truckload from the local mill and planer shavings at that, but I have to do the work and shovel them into the truck. I definitely would vote for cleaning stalls sooner rather than later. Vicki is also right on about the shavings and garden. Do not put the matted hay etc on the garden the first year or you will regret doing it due to the incredible numbers of weed and grass growth. There are still tons of viable seed in that manure! The shavings do not do that. Jennifer


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## scgirl (Nov 3, 2009)

Thanks again for all the wonderful information. I decided to try some shavings and see how that goes. 
Amber


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

Regarding texting, some people are just ridiculous about it. I had a young woman put her purchases and credit card on my counter and then proceed to start texting. I rang up and bagged her stuff, ran her card and put the slip on the counter for her to sign. She ignored it to keep texting. When I politely asked her to sign the slip, her reply was to ask me if I was having a bad day. I was sorely tempted to reply "No, at least not until you were so rude to me".
As far as bedding goes, I let it build up somewhat in the goat houses to keep them warm and also to keep their sleeping area than the yard in front of it to keep water from running in and making puddles. In spring, my neighbors come over to help clean the goat yard. I pay for fuel and give them goat cheese along with the yard cleanings for their gardens. Then DH and I clean the houses. I bed with pine shavings and straw. I've noticed that if I use old hay, that makes for more ammonia odor due to the way it composts with goats peeing on it.


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I am using hay and I don't clean out in winter... I MUCH prefer kiln dried shavings and believe me so do my boys, but we can no longer get them at the price we used to by the trailer, can't afford the bags, and the hay is free from a neighbor.... so we use hay now. 

All our shelter floors are bare dirt.


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## Bernice (Apr 2, 2009)

Like Jennifer I too lived in the north, in western NYS where snow can be as deep as 8 ft or more in areas. Growing up all the animals spent their winters in the barn, the snow was just way too deep and over the fence tops. So we would do the pack method. It was a pain in the butt to clean out come spring, even with straw! That wa sfor horses and goats, now cows were different. 

We clean out about twice a week and use straw. I also like a product called "Pit - Pen" it helps with the bacteria count and amonia smell. I use that more in the winter than other months.


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