I have my little ones (13 weeks now) in a horse stall that has pads in it. I am using straw for bedding. It gets kinda stinky from pee, even if I'm cleaning it alot! I pressure washed the stall out on saturday, and it is smelly already. Is it ok to use stall freshner with the straw? Will it hurt the goats?
Thanks!
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Where I purchased my does, wasted hay was the primary bedding at their farm. I've found that works best for me as well as it is much easier to clean out. Not sure about the moisture retention but the straw that I had didn't seem to absorb much of anything but the initial layer of pine shavings most definitely did. It was also more difficult to clean out. Perhaps the type of straw or hay matters? With all that has been said, perhaps I will try again and pay closer attention.
I think Suzanne and/or Margaret may have meant "straw" when they said "hay" because straw is typically used for bedding, and hay is used for feed. (I have sometimes said the wrong one accidentally myself.) Straw is cheaper and more absorbent. Hay doesn't really absorb moisture.
I agree with Suzanne, I feel the easiest and best thing for them is a dirt floor and sprinkling hay to rake up in the am works great for me. Much easier and easy to keep fresh that way. I am not in favor of hard floors that cause stress on the bone structure. Wood harbors bacteria and I feel that the pads etc. just do the same thing. They keep to much moisture and therefore bacteria trapped in/under them.
Are you asking about the safety of barn lime? If so, it is fine to sprinkle barn lime on dirt, a stall pad, or a concrete floor and then put straw on top. We've done all three and I don't see much difference between the smell of any of them.
lol.....I knew what you meant. Yeah, maybe i'll leave half the stall with pads for now, so I can hose it down, and on the side where they sleep and pee I'll pull out the pads. We'll see. Good luck trimming!
Dirt floors are the way to go, much less maintenance and less smelly! I made a mistake, I use baking soda not powder:) I know, I have to sweet talk my hubby into helping me clip my doe's hooves this weekend as well(it's a two man job to do her hooves, unlike my wether!).
That is great info! Thanks so much. Thought the pads would be easier to clean/wash off....but I think it's gonna be more of a headache! Gonna have to see what the hubby can do this weekend! :)
I don't know about the stall freshner, but if you could take the pads out and leave it a dirt floor it would be so much easier for you. I have a dirt floor that I keep bare in the warm weather with a sprinkling of baking powder on the areas that are used the most, and put hay down at night and during the cold weather months, and change it once a week (during the cold months! In the warm weather I put just put a sprinkling of hay down on the places they use frequently and rake it up in the morning). Hope this helps!