# Cement floor ??'s



## Muddy Creek Farm (Oct 5, 2007)

Hi guys. As some of you know our new "barn" has concrete floors, we are having some problems with it. It gets so soiled on the shavings and straw in just a day and is just gross. How do those of you with concrete deal with it??


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

Wish I could help more but never had a concrete barn floor. :sigh: I would say that if you can only put them in at night and in bad weather unless they are young or kidding.I don't know try to litterbox train? LOL!


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## Sonrise Farm (Sep 18, 2008)

Use shavings . . . or mats. otherwise I wouldn't really know. (I have a hard dirt floor in my barn . . . and I use wood shavings most of the time . . .)


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

contact sarah (goathappy) I know she has cement floors


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## dobe627 (Oct 16, 2007)

I too have cement floors in my goat area of the barn. Horses are on dirt. Anyway I put down a thick layer of DE ( it seems to help keep down the smell plus not as many bugs. Then I put a thick layer of pine shavings then the straw. Over the summer the goats are out to pasture and have "huts" but in the winter they are pretty much in all the time. I keep 3 goats to a stall, each stall is about 12x12 maybe bigger. And its usually cleaned 100% every month. Sometimes inbetween I will take away some of the straw if its getting too thick. Because the hay they drop piles up. But I have pygmies don't know what you have. That seems to work for me anyway.


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

Blah, cement floors here too! I use a bag of wood pellets and half a bag of shavings. Lasts a little over a week. I also try to lock everyone out when the weather is good. When I open the door its a contest to see who can pee first and the most. :doh: 

For the bucks I have put down 2 bags of wood pellets and some straw. Since I only have three bucks I am going to try and leave it for the winter and only add straw when needed so it stays warm.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I don't have concrete but I do have plywood and deck floors....the plywood was an issue because even though I used ALOT of shavings the wood would swell and the smell was terrible....so when the addition went up we decided to use treated planks as a deck type floor, even spaces between the boards to allow the liquid waste to drain and it goes under the barn and out to the diversion ditch, really helps as my barn is elevated due to no flat area to build on. The plywood floor ended up getting a few holes bored through it to help with drainage...so far so good, the floor is still strong after 8 years and now all I use for bedding is straw and wasted hay....chips would plug the drainage.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

We put in a concrete floor on one side of our barn, the other side is hard dirt, in which stays drier like forever, we kind of regret the concrete side, when the goats are in, because, over night the little boogers have it so wet, on the other hand it is easier to clean.
How thick do you put the wood pellets and shavings in inches? :scratch:


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## CountryGalwGoats (Sep 19, 2008)

I feel so fortunate -- my husband is getting ready to build us a new, big barn. He asked me if I wanted concrete floors, but I told him no. I'd rather have dirt, and I put in wood shavings when I have them. Sometimes I use sawdust, and it works better than I thought it would. He was surprised I didn't want concrete, but I had read that it is not as good. He said it would be easier, then to just have dirt. I will have concrete in my milking area and in some other areas, like the feed storage area. I am very excited about the new barn. 

I want to start showing one day, but it sure looks hard. :help: I showed in 4H when I was young, but I'd really like to do it now, too. I just found out my new Alpine has done quite well in shows before. :stars:


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

toth boer goats said:


> How thick do you put the wood pellets and shavings in inches? :scratch:


Well the more wood pellets the longer it lasts. I think the stall I have is 12 by 12. I just scatter the wood pellets around. They don't need to cover the floor. Then I put down the shavings for comfort 2+inches. Sometimes I put more, sometimes less... boy those goats are spoiled! lol

At one point I was using all wood pellets. Then you just mix them up everyday and pick the hay out. But the wood pellets are a bit more expensive and they aren't as comfy as the shavings until they puff up from moisture.

These are soft wood pellets by the way. You can't use hardwood. And don't get woodypet, it's more expensive and not as good.


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## all1965 (Oct 6, 2007)

so what are the pros and cons of a concrete floor?
We were planning on concreteing the middle hallway of our barn but some of these posts kind of turn me off to it.
I thought it would be easier to clean, EX: just seep or spray it off.
With my dirt floor right now my goats seem to have major allergies from all the dust and I feel like I never really get it clean.


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## alyssa_romine (Oct 5, 2007)

I agree with all1965. I had planned to concrete my barn also once we get to our property but after reading this topic, I am not so sure I want it now. My goats too have allergies from all the dust. Right now, I am using shavings where needed but in the winter I use shavings and straw. When I clean out my stalls, I sweep out all the poo and bits of shavings then I spread lime, i make sure all of my goats are locked out while i spread the lime, then I put shavings over the lime.


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## deenak (Oct 10, 2007)

I have a concrete floor in my barn. My husband built platforms along the walls a few feet off the ground. I do not put anything on the floor in the summer. My goats are very messy with the hay so there is bit of that in the ground. I clean it out every day by sweeping it. I spray it with barn fresh once a month. In the winter I put straw down on the floor. They usually sleep on the platforms so I put straw on those also.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

thank you RunAround for the info, I appreciate it.


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## all1965 (Oct 6, 2007)

i guess i should have said that the stalls will still have dirt floors but we are considering pouring the floor in the hallway of the barn. it does get goat traffic but they arent locked in it for any length of time. I guess the main thing would be to make sure you have a drain if you want to be able to wash down the floor?


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## Muddy Creek Farm (Oct 5, 2007)

There is a drain here, doesn't help much. We have stall mats down in part of the goat area. But it is way to pricey to put them down all over. And shaving costs are so high, :sigh: I think we will have to build elavated benches to see if that will help.

Thanks


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

all1965, when water spray cleaning the concrete hall, some of your drain off will go into your stalls, unless you make a ridge edge or something like that, just a little idea.:idea:


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## all1965 (Oct 6, 2007)

If it's poured right it shouldnt unless I spray it directly into them. All 4 sides should slant to the center drain.


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## CountryGalwGoats (Sep 19, 2008)

I also plan to have benches all along the sides of each room for the goats to lie on. They like this so much better. 

That is a great idea to have the troughs or little ditches in the concrete walkways (or my milking room) so the water won't go into the stalls when you wash it down.

:hi5:


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

What we do is when the barn has been freshly cleaned, we put down barn lime, that keeps the bedding from sticking to the cement, making clean up easier the next time. Then we put chopped straw down(we have a straw chopper, you can probably use wood chips) We make sure we have a good base of chopped straw then the next morning we put a good layer of just whole straw down. When it starts to get a wet look to it, we lime it and that usually takes care of it, when the wetness doesn't seem to go away we put more straw down. We clean our barn out about every 2-3 weeks depending upon weather, if it rains its sooner. Liming is very important to keep the stink and wet down.

There are a lot of pros and cons for cement floors, I love it in my other barn, in this barn I hate it because the cement I"m on is really old uneven cement. I like smooth floors  Anyhow, cement is really easy to clean and easy to keep, I've never had dirt floors in a main barn so I can't comment.


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