# Keeping the goat house clean



## emmapeep (Aug 12, 2012)

Hi! I'm Emily, I've been lurking here since I got a couple Nigerian Dwarf wethers a few months ago. I love them to pieces, they're the best pets ever. My boyfriend built a pretty cool goat house on a hill, its about 10x10 with four walls, a big door on the side that i've kept open for ventilation. It also has a small "run in" door leading out to a platform built off of it. We call it the "Party Deck." So we've had pretty dry weather this summer, I haven't used any bedding because I find that its easier to just sweep out the poop and let the urine dry up. I'd do this daily. But its rained for about a week straight, and everything is just wet and moist.. and gross. Since it was rainy and cold all week I let the hay waste kind of fill up in their house to use that as bedding to kind of dry out the urine and the poop falls under it. but then it started smelling pretty bad so I swept that all up and the house smells like urine pretty bad. I remember being a kid and my grandparents would use something like lime dust after they cleaned out the horse stalls, but i'm pretty sure thats dangerous for people to inhale, so its probably dangerous for goats. I guess my question is... what do you all do to keep your barns/sheds as clean as possible? 

Sorry for this long post for just a simple question!
Thanks,
Emily


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

There is lime that is safe to put down. You could also use stall dry. Maybe put pine shavings down first and then some straw over top of that.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I have wood floors in my goat barn and yes, the urine can create a problem! I use Barn Lime...it's not like what you would use in a garden nor is it toxic, it works great for keeping odor down and I also use a layer of pine shavings over the limed floor and waste hay on top.
I have found with my does that they may poop all over but there are just certain areas that they pee in, those areas get a heavy layer of lime.

Also...I have deck type floors, there's enough gap between boards to allow urine to flow through, still soaks the wood but enough goes between the boards to run under the shed area which is on a hillside.


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## Farmgirl675 (Oct 21, 2010)

I use lime on the ground after I clean out the straw, then put down new straw. My ground is clay and when it rains gets REALLY nasty so I put a 3" layer of pea stone in the barn and that helped immensely with the muck.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I have my goats resting area mostly on a 10x10 concrete slab. I use pine shavings (I'm using the shaving with the poop and pee in it for mulch on my guava orchard) and I just sweep them up, put them in a wheelbarrow and cart them away. I hose off the concrete with a.. well... A hose! lol Sorry I'm tired. It's been a long day.

I like the pine shavings, they dig around in it making little beds and it's a great mulch for my plants.


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## emmapeep (Aug 12, 2012)

Thanks everybody, I'll be looking for the barn lime this week!


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