# Show me your dry lots!



## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

We're working on plans to put gravel in the heavy traffic areas around the barn (have been using hardwood mulch) and I want to set up a small gravel and/or sand dry lot/loafing area for the goats. I want clean and dry! I suspect sand is the better choice, but we're working with a steep slope and even with the terracing we're adding it's going to be too sloped for sand to hold on its own.

I'd love to see pics of everyone's loafing areas around the barn, dry lots, etc.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I'd like to see them too, mine is still a work on progress!


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

Maybe posting the work in progress ones would stimulate ideas and get things going? Its a great idea to see different setups and ideas. Someone was talking about pea gravel working well, has anyone tried that?


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

We have what is called blow sand, it is mainly silt sediment and sand. I have tried gravel and despite my efforts the ladies always sift it here and there or it sinks in the ground. We sweep our yards most of the time as it is easier to do that than pitch fork or rake it. It the winter we just leave the hard packed stuff and sweep off the loose until spring, treat with a bug killer and put wood pellets down. The rain washes through the wood pellets dispering a nice ground of wood. We have found palattes with wood screwed on to be beneficail in the wet seasons but the goats will not use them in the dry seasons or winter. They are tricksy :twisted, them goats  Clean it all up and in five minutes you have to redo it all over again. Sorry, not much help here...them goats just like to play heck with everything, even trenches dug and filled with gravel soon becomes the best spot to make a messes and the bucks like to dig holes to China in their houses and we have holes every where the goats want one. I fill it with gravel, they knock it out and make their cozy lovely hole again 
Tam.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Lacia- pea gravel is what we're considering. I found a picture of a barn that used pea gravel for their horses in the loafing area. Right now we have just bare dirt which works great when it's dry- easy to rake up the berries and waste hay to keep it tidy- then it rains. And it is a proper mess. Even with the good drainage we have with the slope... mud city.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Tammy, we have wood decks for the goats to get up out of the rain and mud and the goats love them!


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

I don't think pea gravel would work well for goats. With horses it's something you want to pick the manure out of often, with goats you won't be able to because the manure is the same size. It will get all mixed in with the pea gravel.


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I've talked to hubby about putting sand or gravel in the goat yards. He doesn't think it will work because of the goats pooping, peeing and digging in their pens. I was wanting the pens to stay dryer in spring, but DH thinks they would still get muddy.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Anyone out there making it work? Sand would be my preference, but it will be impossible on a slope. When it rains here in the South it's not a gentle drizzle, lol, the first rain we had would wash away a lot of work and $.


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## happy vagabonds (Jun 24, 2012)

what about the stuff called crush run? it's grey and used for driveways a lot around here. 

i was considering sand as well, but someone mentioned that i should be concerned about the goats ingesting sand and having it accumulate in their rumens. i could see it happening easily enough with their grooming practices. i can't imagine a gut full of sand would be healthy.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Pea gravel was all the rage for horse paddocks and even stalls a few years back when I was training for Natural Hoof Care, but honestly, I've seen paddocks done both the pea gravel and regular gravel, and they are a nightmare to clean. You cannot remove manure from the gravel without removing gravel....and most people don't want to spread gravel around their pastures. If the animals didn't pee and poop in it, drop hay into it, etc. it would be perfect, but once the pee and poop in it, feed gets in it, etc. there is no real way to clean it. You need something that packs down like crushed stone or even sand, that doesn't pack, but is easier to clean. Or concrete that can be hosed and rebedded.


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## cvalley (Apr 15, 2009)

We use the crush -- it packs down, no mud-- with good results for the past ten years. We haul it with our little open trailer and take it to the gravel lot - saves much $ but must invest labor yourself. Forty plus inches of rain a year out here. Before, tried pea gravel -- not good-- difficult to clean.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Our driveway is crusher run. It does pack down almost like pavement. That might be something to consider.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Hmmm, even ours I am sure ingest some sand, there just isn't any way of getting around it...but we have had no impactions. I would think that it would pass through just fine. I know Vicki uses sand in her barns and replaces it now and again. I like our sand lots, manure breaks up as it dries in the summer making it easier to sweep and put on gardens and such for fertilizer. I know concrete holds bacteria, so you may want to use your cruch run and disinfect it once in a while.


What about using vegetation that is good for goats AND for erosion control? Black berry and Raspberry clumps and such can be used to hold soil keeping tender roots and shoots protected by livestock wiring. Stuff like that? I am working on that very idea just for shade walls for the goats (except our ducks ate all but one blackberry...bad yuckies!
Tam


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

How about a mix of pea gravel and sand? We do that for the horses and it works pretty well. Unfortunately, the horses paddock (dry lot) slopes towards the barn. When it rains heavily, there is an ocean. We sump pump the water out. Our does are in a large area, maybe 1/8th an acre? 1/4? I don't know. They do have browse. Dirt. It can get muddy around the gate area, but in general, it is not bad. We put down old washed-out shavings (from the horse stalls after they've been in compost-mode) which sops up the mud greatly. We do this in our hog pens, as well. Works great.


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## Twillingate Farm (Oct 26, 2007)

We too use a form of crushed run for any area that requires cleanup and is expected to stay hard even when wet. I simply run my loader blade across it with a bit of down pressure and it scoops up all the manure that has built up over the recent months. Where we keep the cows with the goats, you can imagine what it would look like if it didn't stay firm! The particular name here in New Hampshire is 3/4" ledge pack and is frequently used in driveways since it becomes very, VERY hard.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Yes, Allan, 3/4" ledge pack. It's called something different here (I forget what), but I'll bet it's the same thing. We use it on our driveways.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

I know someone in TX that used crushed limestone in her loafing areas, she said it packs like concrete, but still drains. 

I have thought of using mesh mats, like they use in wash racks, that can hold the ground together like roots, grass could grow maybe (lol), and it would still drain and be easy to clean...just no tractors I guess


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Limestone is good when you are going bare dirt, and sweeping it. Not so good with bedding on it. Stays wet underneath.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

Great suggestions folks! We're in the process of building terracing with landscape timbers and back filling to create swales on the the uphill side of the barn- this will help direct the flow of water from the area above the barn around the outside of the barn and dry lots. We will do the same thing with the loafing area; raise it up a few inches on the top side of the slope and at least a foot on the back side. It still won't be anywhere near flat, but might slow the water down a bit. The rest of the slope will be grass/vegetation but the loafing area around the barn will have to be substrate only. I'll snag some pics of the walls before we back fill completely.


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## fattyaddie (Oct 24, 2011)

We have been using gravel dust (like crusher but finer) for years and LOVE it. I use my leaf blower to blow the berries and hay waste. I couldnt be without it, so easy to maintain and the goats dont get muddy and nether do I.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

My barn is higher than the grade around it, the bedding inside is higher for the winter also. I then have a mote dug around 3 sides of the barn and all sides of the barn but one have lean-to roofs so the rain sheds 10 feet away from the enterior of the barns, they make great shade also for when the does are kicked out of their stalls. Rain sheds off the main barn, onto the lean-to sections and into the mote, rain coming from the pastures toward the barn go into the mote and everything is flushed around the barn including manure.

To keep the barn higher than the grade around it, I have to fill the barns with sand about every 10 years. Vicki


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