New to Goats-Barn and bedding question.

Hello all,

I have enjoyed reading this site and have learned a ton so far. My wife, and little one, Ava, and I are highly anticipating the arrival of our baby goats near the end of next month. We are planning on accepting a bit early and bottle feeding the two does that are reserved but not yet born.

I have a lean-to shed that we plan to take the floor out and convert into a goat barn for our 2 little ones. Initially, we have a spot set up in the garage in which we will place them in an igloo dog house and bottle feed through the end of spring. We live in Alaska, and I must convert the shed in early spring for permanent housing.

Some questions for the group. I saw mention of pine shavings and straw (which is tough to get in AK). What is the draw back with Cedar Shavings? It is readily available here in state, and I have used it sparingly in our chicken tractor in the nest boxes to cushion the eggs.

Would it be appropriate to use the extra large igloo to move around our 2.5 acre property to keep the area more clean? The shed is 12 X 16, and I plan to use 4X12 of that to make a tac/feed room, and take the rest of the floor out and have them on dirt. I mentioned making a 6" level area of pea gravel, but a friend with goats state that this would constantly stink due to urine and the gravel would be really tough to clean. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help!

Steve

I'm basing this on the fact that we have a gravel driveway and live on a gravel road, so maybe it isn't exactly parallel, but shoveling and plowing snow is really annoying because it's impossible not to wind up shoveling and plowing gravel off the road or driveway. It seems to me that cleaning up a stall could be even tougher. I honestly don't see how you could do it if you're using shavings. If you use straw, you could use a pitchfork, which would mostly pick up the straw and leave the gravel behind.

We use deep bedding in winter because it does keep the goats warmer, but once we have kids, it is really important to keep their area as clean as possible, because of the risk of coccidiosis, so before kids go into a stall in the barn, it is scraped down to concrete or dirt, so I can get all the old poop out. If you have gravel, the poop will fall into the gravel, so it would be a lot tougher to get it clean -- I'm thinking impossible.

We have mud issues here in spring when the snow melts (NOW!) especially because we have a lot of clay in our soil, but the inside of our three-sided shelters don't have trouble with drainage because the ground in there has built up higher than the surrounding ground.

Replies

Deborah Niemann-Boehle February 19, 2011 at 9:37am

I'm basing this on the fact that we have a gravel driveway and live on a gravel road, so maybe it isn't exactly parallel, but shoveling and plowing snow is really annoying because it's impossible not to wind up shoveling and plowing gravel off the road or driveway. It seems to me that cleaning up a stall could be even tougher. I honestly don't see how you could do it if you're using shavings. If you use straw, you could use a pitchfork, which would mostly pick up the straw and leave the gravel behind.

We use deep bedding in winter because it does keep the goats warmer, but once we have kids, it is really important to keep their area as clean as possible, because of the risk of coccidiosis, so before kids go into a stall in the barn, it is scraped down to concrete or dirt, so I can get all the old poop out. If you have gravel, the poop will fall into the gravel, so it would be a lot tougher to get it clean -- I'm thinking impossible.

We have mud issues here in spring when the snow melts (NOW!) especially because we have a lot of clay in our soil, but the inside of our three-sided shelters don't have trouble with drainage because the ground in there has built up higher than the surrounding ground.
britt greenland February 19, 2011 at 1:09am

This is really timely! I had looked up ways to improve drainage under a goat shelter, and one website recommended digging down DEEP to remove all topsoil, then filling in with the pea gravel, and then putting your bedding on top of that. I was planning on using hay or straw (sometimes hay is cheaper here) for a deep-bedding method, so scraping all the way down to the gravel to clean would be infrequent. Does that sound like a bad idea?
Steve K Rayes February 17, 2011 at 4:49pm

Thank you both so much. I will plan on excavating to dirt and leaving that as the primary area. I can get shavings fairly cheap, so I will make a switch. I didn't realize the potential for respiratory problems.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle February 17, 2011 at 1:19pm

I think your plans sound good, but I wouldn't put down gravel. I agree it would be hard to clean. It would be tough to separate it from the shavings when you're mucking out the area.
Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres February 17, 2011 at 11:28am

Gravel would be pretty cold in winter too.

I buy cedar shavings for my chicken shed, and use hay for my bedding in the goat pen. (my FIL hays his own fields so I don't have to pay for it) I think the main concern with cedar is that it's strong enough to damage the nose if your area is not ventilated well. This can lead to respiratory problems like pneumonia. I haven't had any problems, but I'm very careful to keep air flow up.

Do you have access to a saw mill? A lot of mills will sell shavings for cheap. When your does kid, if you're using shavings, you may want to keep some extra towels near for the kids to land on and dry on in order to keep the shavings from their nose and mouths. I don't have personal experience with this issue, but that's what most people seemed to find to be the downfall of shavings from what I can tell.

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