# Ugh - more rain - what do you do with mud problems?



## shawhee (Jun 28, 2008)

What do some of you do to try to combat the muddy conditions? We have had a lot of rain; not complaining we need it here in N. Texas, but OH MY!! I am in slop city! Part of my barn even flooded. What do some of you do to try to get it dry? I am had 4 loads of roadbase brought in today with 4 more coming tomorrow, but that is for the drive and part of my horse pasture. Do you bring in sand or dirt for the goats? Any other ideas would be great. Property is pretty level no drains to really put in or trench - just a darn mess at the moment. 

Thanks
Shawna


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## stoneyheightsfarm (Jan 19, 2008)

You can still do a french drain... but you have to contour your trench so it drains, and then have something for it to drain into... a wet weather pond or something. Right now, we're just spending a fortune on shavings to keep our barn dry, bedding it really deep so the bottom layers soak up the water and the top stays dry. This summer's project for my husband is a french drain behind the barn and we've been talking about adding sand. I have pushed for gravel, but DH doesn't want that. Other than that, I just let them out of their pen every day so they can roam about on dryer land and they stay where I can see them. That way, I'm only having to soak up rain water and a minimal amount of urine in the barn.


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## catdance62 (Mar 2, 2009)

It's bad here too, but fortunately my barn is staying dry because we have trenches around the back of the barn (the part that would flood). It makes the goats SO bored though! And with 11 kids in there to bug the adult does everyone gets a little cranky when it's raining so much they can't go outside to play. OUr chickens have had it the worst though--the coop that is on the ground got flooded, poor little chickens all huddled on the upper part in the nesting boxes. 
I am ready for the rain to STOP!


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

I had some similar problems...but I got a bunch of palletts from my feed store and they stand on those and keep out of the mud and ****. I have drainage all over and we are on a hill so it is easier...


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I know the feeling well and is now raining. Yuk everywhere. looks like we might have a couple days reprieve with 90's so maybe will dry out.


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## Agape Oaks (Oct 30, 2007)

I came home from the shows in Little Rock to a mess of a flooded area in my barn. Mon morning I called to see about ordering a load of sand, figured I could get the sand in there, raise the level & dig trenches so it wouldn't do that again. I removed fences so the tuck could dump it right into my barn. I assumed it'd be like a pickup truck load....was shocked to see a HUGE dump truck come up my driveway! It was too tall to fit into my barn so I now have a mountain of sand at my entrance. I spent all day Mon shoveling (instead of clipping bucks, so am not entering buck show) & it now nice & dry, drains well...but they track in sand into the milk area- picture a beach setting in my barn . I still have a mountain of sand too. I have enough sand to last years!


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## Leo (Mar 10, 2008)

IDK, all this mud is new to me. I hate it! The goats and I aren't used to all this rain or wetness! In Fl. it only rained once in seven months, and it drained fast. If there is dew on the grass they won't leave the barn. :nooo
Ugh!
Megan


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

It is flash flooding here in Louisiana. We had buckets full of rain over the weekend so the ground is saturated. I had to dig trenches around one of my barns today to get it drain off. Even then 1/3 of the barn was flooded. This is a great time to take note of what drains to fix and to prepare for this so it will drain properly in the future. The problem with this barn is that it was recently moved and we haven't had this much rain to know that it needed a better drainage system. I promise, it will be fixed by the next rain storm.


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## ldoran (Nov 6, 2008)

After our last rain (5 inches in 24 hours) we were in ankle-deep, suck-your-boots-off clay mud in the pens. The digging of the trench got put at the top of my "honey-do" list so that's our next big project. In the meantime, though, here's a suggestion.

This is what I do for my horses, and I did it for my new goats too and it works fine. Fortunately, this is cattle country and if you can find a really crappy old (mold-free) round-bale, you can buy it cheap (maybe $35 here?) and spread the hay REALLY thick on the floor. It absorbes some moisture from the mud and more important, the "cross-weave" of a thick layered mat of stems keeps boots and hooves from sinking into the mud. Helps keep hooves dry too. You can keep layering it as the hay sinks into the mud or as muddy spots show up where the goats dig to lie down. The most important thing though (and the most time consuming) is to get it out of there quick once it stops raining so the ground dries out. It will be a mess. You have to do it layer by layer because the wet hay is too heavy for any rake or pitchfork to pull out, because it will be soaked and be half mud anyway. So take out as much as you can, set it out, let that hay dry and let the next layer in the barn dry, and keep doing this till you hit the ground and then let that dry out too. You've gotta do this as quickly as possible so that mold doesn't have time to build up and so the ground dries out. If you can spread out the hay to COMPLETELY dry, you will even have some for next time.

My .02 worth.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I have a mote, literally 3 feet deep on the north side of my barn, keeps the barn dry, I also put in a 10 foot overhang on the north side to keep the roof runoff away from the stalls on the north side. It works, no more blowing rain in the barn, no more runoff flooding stalls.

The first time you loose a doe or have an abortion storm from listerosis, you will never keep spent barn on the floor of your barns ever again, in our humidity, let alone if your using it to sop up rainwater, one bite and you have sick goats. They are soo much more likely to come down with listeria due to mold than all other species put together. A farm down the road two years in a row bedded her barn with spent hay from a feed dealers barn sweepings, and two years in a row she lost a good amount of does and all her kids from listeria. Dig a mote, kind of pain to either walk into it, or hop over it, but the goats don't mind and it works. Vicki


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## ldoran (Nov 6, 2008)

Good to clear that up, Vicki.

By "crappy" I meant a lower NUTRITIONAL quality bale -- not an old dusty moldy thing that's been left out in the pasture to rot and breed _Listeria _ for five years. It is VERY important to choose clean hay from this year's cut to begin with -- same as usual, no weeds or molds or moisture or anything else suspicious -- and to get it back out of the barn before the ever-present bacterial population in the moist soil has a chance to take off underneath it.

I do like the idea of pallettes -- but how do you keep their hooves from getting caught in them?

If your barn is always getting wet, then you absolutely have to dig a trench to avoid all kinds of health problems from toes to nose anyway... and if you're feeling adventurous go ahead and add an alligator to your moat. I think Vicki's got one. :crazy


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## laughter777 (Jun 16, 2008)

Vicki would have to have a gator in her moat, with all the poorly raised pit bulls and strays around her, wait she has Ridgebacks, they ate her Gator!


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I know what you don't do. you don't turn on the hose and forget it and flood even the baby pen.


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## shawhee (Jun 28, 2008)

> I know what you don't do. you don't turn on the hose and forget it and flood even the baby pen.


 :yeahthat :rofl Ummmm Sondra do you speak from experience?? he he he too funny. I run the horses water over alot of the time. I normally stand at the goat pen though as there troughs are not so big that I get totally bored. The horse troughs ugh they are huge!!

I had some issues with a doeling and one pen of babies is on dirt already. The other had some straw and shavings. But I think I will strip it and bring in sand. I have had 8 loads of roadbase delivered in the last two days, he is going to come spread that tomorrow. I have a pole barn (enclosed on three sides and a nice overhang in the front) I have RR ties in front of the stalls, so he will take the roadbase and make it slope outside the stalls into a run off and away. The pens outside I just dont know - maybe I will bring in a few dump trucks full of sand for them too??

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I am open to most anything - but no hay just turns nasty and stinky in any of the pens, goat or horse so nah that wont fix it here.


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## MDR Farms (Apr 17, 2009)

Yeah,
I have to tell my siblings when they help with the watering not to use the hose for that reason... and I don't like hose water.
I have the same problem with water fludding the barn, Its a three sided pole barn with an four foot overhang, the water runs of the overhang and back into the barn.
Lately I have been trying to find a solution.
Here is an idea:

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplie...01&langId=-1&division=FarmTek&productId=85798

I have not calculated what it would cost, I would imagine its pretty pricey.
If any one has any other ideas I would be interested.

Robert


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## shawhee (Jun 28, 2008)

The railroad ties in front of the barn keep that from happening at mine. You may be able to find them free on craigslist - I have seen some on there. That is what I made my raised bed garden out of last year and I picked them all up free; so just an idea. My water has come in the back side - which is my neighbors property. I may be able to put some dirt back there to build it up as I dont think he would mind. And should have sand here tomorrow for the stalls so that is good. Farmtek site is down right now but I will go look tomorrow and see what that was.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Yep I leave the hose on, course I am supposed to have auto floats so no water hoses, so when reminded that I left the hose on I get to remind him that my faucet is still leaking so I can't turn on my float instead 

Love Farm tech!

Hmmm, wonder if Troy has any gators left on his property (the guy before him raised gators!) but yep, I don't think I could get the ridgebacks used to a gator! Vicki


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

Well, I can tell you right now what you're going to get when you combine alegators and goats on the same farm. Bigger alegators. So now you don't have to try it. If you throw ridgebacks into the mix you might get bigger ridgebacks until one survived to get larger than the dogs. With the cost of those dogs, I wouldn't want to chance it. :nooo Sure would like to get me one of those dogs someday.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Grandson would just make pets of them and have them hanging off the dogs ears instead of lizards! He is getting a tiny chihuahua pup for his 4th birthday from a forum member, he is naming her Princess Darkness, we are all going to call her Princess until he grows out of all this Darkness idea  Course 4 weeks ago he wanted to name her King Kong  The pup is black.

He is inthralled with the ridgeback pups we have right now, oh and of course the goatlings, course the only goatling he cares about is Candy, and she lives with Troy and Michelle, he thinks she should come back home! But no, no aligators, if I had to take care of one more breathing anything, me and my goats are leaving. Vicki


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