# Mud Control



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

What are good, inexpensive methods in helping control/cover muddy areas? We've had yucky mud issues in the past, but the barn area is a true nightmare right now, and I'm worried about the girls coming up with hoof issues over it. There's no way to take care of it all, but if we could make a decent walkway, that would sure help.
I don't have much $$ for this project <have a ton of stuff to get/do before kidding season starts in a few weeks>.

The ground is somewhat level, but we live in a low lying area, so when it rains, there just isn't anywhere for it to go. A raised walkway would really be ideal.

Would gravel be the way to go? If so, what kind?

What about mulch, shavings, or landscapers bark?

I'd toyed with laying old tires and filling them with dirt, then getting rocks to put on top of it, and/or shavings. But don't know if that would work?

I'd also considered taking wood from the brush piles, and making a walkway using the old tree trunks if there are enough back there to make something decent.

Now that Christmas has come to a close, I really need to get working on this.

Thanks for any suggestions, I'm so fed up with the mud :dazed:


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

I think I'm going to go with bark and/or chips for the goat area. I use gravel for horses, but the key to maintaining it is to pick the poop religiously and that's not an option for goats. I have a big low spot right at their gate that's just a big mud hole, I threw some moldy hay down which works for now but I think using bark and just adding more as needed will be the best option. Haven't tried it yet though so hope someone else has input.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

My pen is small, but we bought inexpensive concrete stepping stones at Home Depot. They were only a couple of dollars each and get the girls up out of the muck. They also make it nicer for us going out to do chores.


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## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

groovyoldlady said:


> My pen is small, but we bought inexpensive concrete stepping stones at Home Depot. They were only a couple of dollars each and get the girls up out of the muck. They also make it nicer for us going out to do chores.


I did that too -- bought the square ones at Lowe's. They were less than $2.00 each. (Maybe $1.50 something.) Bought a few and the goats liked them so much that I went back and bought some more.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions. I am so frustrated with the mud, it's everywhere 

The stepping stones, any idea how big they are? The areas we need to cover are probably going to be too big & make it too expensive  The area's I need to cover are roughly... 12' long, by 12' long. I'm not as worried in front of the barn, because we don't allow them up there all the time. So even if I use some old hay, it takes a while for it to need to be cleaned out.

I may make a small walkway using the tires, dirt, and breaking up some large rocks from the creek <there are a lot of big stones in the creek>. Then do something else for the area that's behind the girls shelter where their doorway is at, leading to the adjacent pen where 2 does stay at night.
I don't like letting those 2 girls out and them walking through the mud 

Going out in just a few minutes to start figuring things out. The sun is finally out today, and it's going to warm into the lower 50s, perfect day to do stuff outside!


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## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

The ones I got are 12"X12". I didn't cover the whole area, just made walkways, because, yes, that would be too expensive. You don't have to put them right next to each other either -- leave space. They are easy to clean off too.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

We use straw. It gets smushed into the mud at first, then starts to build up a layer that stays above the mud. It can still be "squishy" to walk on, but at least it's not muddy. Needing to add a bit more since our last rainy days...

ETA: this is ankle deep mud without the straw, I can go out in tennis shoes now with the straw down.


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## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

I debated between straw and stepping stones. In my situation, the stones are working out well because I can clean between them. With close neighbors that can be important.

Also, I just bought some Sweet ZPD which I'll spread around to help with odor control. It's just zeolite! If I had known that before, I would have purchased it long ago. It does get rid of some moisture as well, though in a large really muddy area, it would be too expensive. I have sprinkled a little human grade zeolite in the dogloos before. Never again! This is much cheaper.

http://www.sweetpdz.com/our-products.html


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## LadySecret (Apr 20, 2013)

You could use pallets and cover them with particle board so the goats can't fall through. That would be pretty cheap.


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## Brink4 (Apr 29, 2013)

We have a creek bed on our property that has huge skinny paver style rocks that we have utilized in our pen area to keep them up out of the mud (these are big and are just like using pavers from Lowes but much cheaper). If you have a creek or know someone who has one on their property try this before buying any.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Particle board lasts about 2 minutes in the rain.


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## LadySecret (Apr 20, 2013)

Wild Hearts Ranch said:


> Particle board lasts about 2 minutes in the rain.


I've got mats on mine instead of particle board. I just thought it would be cheaper. But it's not worth it if it won't hold up to rain. Thanks for pointing that out.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Ok, I'm beyond fed up with mud LOL My son did make a tire walkway for the goats on the side of their shelter, nothing great, but gives them an option to walk on I guess....

The back of the goats shelter, and space between the barn/cattle panel shelter is just horrible, absolutely nasty  

For that area, I'm thinking we will look into the paver/stepping stones. I'm going to see what Lowe's has, and as soon as I have the money next week we'll get this taken care of.


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

We started getting rocks( boulders) that were relatively flat on one side from our property and a friends and burying them to just a couple inches above ground level in a pathway around the manger and high traffic areas. The goats love it...for under the gates, we used pathway stones from Home Depot....we still have more mud to address....sigh


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

LadySecret said:


> I've got mats on mine instead of particle board. I just thought it would be cheaper. But it's not worth it if it won't hold up to rain. Thanks for pointing that out.


Good idea, I've got extra pallets and mats, the mats just get buried if I put them right on the mud.


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## Greybird (May 14, 2014)

I'm using pallets covered with OSB because it's cheap and sturdy. (It's not particle board, precisely, but it's made out of scraps that are glued together so it's similar in some ways.)
It's not going to last forever but it should make it until summer when I can (hopefully) come up with a better plan. 
Even under very bad conditions it will last a couple of years as long as there's air underneath it, but I hope I have time to replace it before then.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I definitely need a temporary fix to get us by. It's so bad behind the shelter where the girls go in/out, I do have rocks there but it's been a while since I've flipped them so they are nasty. But getting off of those, you sink in ankle deep mud. I was going to get pictures today when I was outside working but didn't have a chance. 

I am kind of thinking a thin layer of hay, and put the paver/stepping stones on it. I'm worried about babies getting in that mess! We have does coming due in 3 weeks, and once we start letting babies out, I don't want them having to get in that muddy mess, or get hurt on the pallets that are there temporarily for them to walk on. I don't have any plywood/osb/etc. to cover the pallets, I've managed to use all the scrap wood I had. Figures.


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## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

We are having the same problem. It has been so bad that we have decided to just bite the bullet and get gravel hauled in. It has been working well so far and everything is a lot cleaner and healthier. Straw works very well too for a temporary fix, but I do find straw hard to clean up and the smell sticks with it.

The problem is all of this waterlogged mud that is such a nightmare! I cannot wait until summer.


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## RaineyDayFarms (Oct 10, 2013)

I feel the pain as well! Its been flooding and we are in for more rain.
I wish we could get some gravel, but its 700-800 a load for what we were looking at it 
We had to get sand hauled in. But it's been too wet to get the sand moved were it needs to be. It drains pretty well and makes a nice clean ground. We also have stone walk ways and it works great for us and them. 

The pallet works good too. We just put treated wood on top. The kids love it. They love logs too


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## BCG (Jun 30, 2012)

CritterCarnival said:


> We use straw. It gets smushed into the mud at first, then starts to build up a layer that stays above the mud. It can still be "squishy" to walk on, but at least it's not muddy. Needing to add a bit more since our last rainy days...
> 
> ETA: this is ankle deep mud without the straw, I can go out in tennis shoes now with the straw down.
> 
> View attachment 84036


Mud is usually not an issue here in the high desert of Oregon. However, this year has been unusually warm and rainy. We are usually frozen solid with maybe a little snow.

My dam and kid pen turned into a swamp! Ankle deep muck. The pen is about 90' x 60'. We brought a big bale (4x4x8) of straw up and spread the whole thing in the pen. So roughly 600 pounds of straw. It has lasted for about 3 weeks, then we got another big rain storm. It is still not as bad as it was, but very wet. Is like a giant wet sponge.

It's freezing a little now, making things better. If it doesn't dry out by next week we'll dump another bale in there.


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## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

RaineyDayFarms said:


> I feel the pain as well! Its been flooding and we are in for more rain.
> I wish we could get some gravel, but its 700-800 a load for what we were looking at it
> We had to get sand hauled in. But it's been too wet to get the sand moved were it needs to be. It drains pretty well and makes a nice clean ground. We also have stone walk ways and it works great for us and them.
> 
> The pallet works good too. We just put treated wood on top. The kids love it. They love logs too


We use pallets and logs as well! They help strengthen those little goats legs too 

Sand sounds like a great alternative! How expensive is it versus gravel?


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I have a barn full of moldy hay, so I've been putting that down in the really muddy areas...


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

The bad thing about hay and straw is that it not only soaks up more water, it decomposes into deeper and deeper mud every year. Shredded bark works much better and decomposes into soil the drains well. When doing anything though, you really need to dig out the mud down to solid soil and then level and slope it so that the water doesn't puddle. It's A LOT of work but well worth it. I've been working on that the last 2 years as well as throwing common Mallow and Plantain seeds out in the dry lot areas. The goats don't like to eat these plants much but, they can take being walked on heavily and loosen the soil to create a drier pen with a good top surface. The really low wet areas are being planted in dwarf Cattails and Skunk Cabbage both of which clean the water of contaminates and hold the soil together.


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## Brink4 (Apr 29, 2013)

CountyLineAcres said:


> We are having the same problem. It has been so bad that we have decided to just bite the bullet and get gravel hauled in. It has been working well so far and everything is a lot cleaner and healthier. Straw works very well too for a temporary fix, but I do find straw hard to clean up and the smell sticks with it.
> 
> The problem is all of this waterlogged mud that is such a nightmare! I cannot wait until summer.


I see you are in Ohio too and yes the weather is yuck. Warm/cold/snow/rain...what is going on?!?!

I like the gravel idea. How easy is it to keep it cleaned up? Did you put it inside your barn also or just outside? And did you have it stomped or was it just laid loosely?


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## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

Brink4 said:


> I see you are in Ohio too and yes the weather is yuck. Warm/cold/snow/rain...what is going on?!?!
> 
> I like the gravel idea. How easy is it to keep it cleaned up? Did you put it inside your barn also or just outside? And did you have it stomped or was it just laid loosely?


I know! Where in Ohio are you? We are in the northeastern part and as I type, it is 50 degrees :?. I don't even understand how it is the 27th of December and there isn't snow on the ground. However, no snow means rain and rain means mud. It was snowing just last week! Ohio needs to get its act together!

Our goats are outside 24/7 with small igloo shelters unless they are kidding. On the inside of our barn where we house our two horses, we have about 2-3 feet of different sized gravel, limestone, and then rubber mats in their stalls. This helps the urine filter through and keep most of the smell away underground.

Outside in the paddocks for the goats, we laid down a thin layer of nice large #3 river rock and then we used smaller #57 rock on top to fill in the gaps. We didn't put this under the huts, because bedding and straw would be a nightmare removing from gravel. We use a roller attached to a tractor to compact the rock, but it also sets in time. As for cleanup, rinsing the rock off with a hose in the warmer months or just letting the rain wash everything away seems to work wonders. This is such a better alternative to sloppy mud that is just seething with bacteria.

It is expensive but rock goes a long way!


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## Brink4 (Apr 29, 2013)

CountyLineAcres said:


> I know! Where in Ohio are you? We are in the northeastern part and as I type, it is 50 degrees :?. I don't even understand how it is the 27th of December and there isn't snow on the ground. However, no snow means rain and rain means mud. It was snowing just last week! Ohio needs to get its act together!
> 
> Our goats are outside 24/7 with small igloo shelters unless they are kidding. On the inside of our barn where we house our two horses, we have about 2-3 feet of different sized gravel, limestone, and then rubber mats in their stalls. This helps the urine filter through and keep most of the smell away underground.
> 
> ...


We are in Central Ohio. It is in mid to low 50's with lots of sloppy mud. I believe we will try the rock. Between this past summer and this winter I am over the mud! Thanks for the idea!! We are definitely pouring some concrete this spring.


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## SeventeenFarms (Dec 10, 2013)

unfortunately, there is a clay lens about 1.5' -2' beneath the soil surface and in the winter, the water just stays trapped and hardly drains - so much for jersey sand. I lay down plywood (sheathing, not the good stuff) sheets in places and in others I have made platforms from pt 2x4's topped with plywood and some with stall matts. They are easy to clean, big enough that several goats can lay on them and sun themselves, etc, and can be easily moved around if need be. Its not perfect, but its better than nothing. As of now we are about 2" of rain above average for Dec, and 6" above for the year. Like the stepping stone idea and will try that on the path to the barn.

Eventually, in the summer when things dry out, I want to put down a geo fabric and then crushed concrete on top of it in the low areas. The fabric will keep the crushed concrete from eventually mixing with the mud...

I hate mud, esp when I cant pull my foot out of it!


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## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

SeventeenFarms said:


> ...I hate mud, esp when I cant pull my foot out of it!


Me too. I was helping the guys yesterday trying to get the loader out of a trench that was sucked down due to all the mud. It was horrible because my feet were stuck and I couldn't move! Then I lost my balance and fell on my butt. Embarrassing.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

SeventeenFarms said:


> unfortunately, there is a clay lens about 1.5' -2' beneath the soil surface and in the winter, the water just stays trapped and hardly drains - so much for jersey sand. I lay down plywood (sheathing, not the good stuff) sheets in places and in others I have made platforms from pt 2x4's topped with plywood and some with stall matts. They are easy to clean, big enough that several goats can lay on them and sun themselves, etc, and can be easily moved around if need be. Its not perfect, but its better than nothing. As of now we are about 2" of rain above average for Dec, and 6" above for the year. Like the stepping stone idea and will try that on the path to the barn.
> 
> Eventually, in the summer when things dry out, I want to put down a geo fabric and then crushed concrete on top of it in the low areas. The fabric will keep the crushed concrete from eventually mixing with the mud...
> 
> I hate mud, esp when I cant pull my foot out of it!


That's what we've got. The water pools EVERYWHERE because there's no drainage, short of digging a lot of ditches!


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Moldy hay is being used now for temporary fix, in the spring we want to fix the mud problem permanently with gravel.


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

Pallets are great -- I do lots of things with them, but they are admittedly temporary in a ground contact situation. Unless you can nab the really good ones made of oak, the wood won't last too long in a wet climate. Press-board and OSB both fall apart pretty quickly when wet -- treated plywood is great but generally cost prohibitive. Sounds like you need some fill of some sort. One of the cheapest (but still effective) might be hardwood chips/shred. If you have any sawmills nearby you might be able to load up pretty cheaply (we get an overflowing pickup load for $20). Or contact your area Master Gardeners or community parks department -- sometimes they shred up folks tree trimmings and practically give away the shred. I use this for a base (4"-6" or more), then put concrete pavers (12"x12") as needed for the "path". If you do this, try to be sure you get hardwood, not pine, shreds. Good luck!


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## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

I didn't read through all this but we take old bedding and wasted hay and put it in muddy areas in the pen. I have a shavings/hay path way to the barn.


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## RaineyDayFarms (Oct 10, 2013)

CountyLineAcres said:


> We use pallets and logs as well! They help strengthen those little goats legs too
> 
> Sand sounds like a great alternative! How expensive is it versus gravel?


Logs are great and free  we lost a lot of pretty, old trees to the drought. At least they didn't go to waste.

The sand has gone way up, it's about 100.00 a load now. We get the stuff with no clay, bank sand I think? Clay gets way too messy. 
For basic gravel/rocks it runs 500-600. It doesn't pack as well but still works ok. My favorite by far is the crushed granite. It makes a very nice ground and packs great. Bad thing is its running 900-1000 a load. 
We are going to have to do something though. It hasn't stopped poring for 2-3 day. The animals are nice a dry now, but all the drive ways are washing out.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I got a couple of pics of the trouble areas. These are high traffic areas as you can tell, and it's horrible. 
These are the only pallets I have left, kids kept stepping on the others & breaking them. BTW, don't mind our ugly shelter, though it may be ugly, it works awesome, just needs to be finished, and eventually painted <15'Lx12'W>, very warm and dry in there, the girls love it more than the barn! Floor is raised, except on the edges where the hay keeps getting pushed out lol









This is the area I am very concerned about, it's just nasty. I do have rocks on the right side where the doe is standing, that just need to be turned over/cleaned - they work great.

Do you all think thick layer of bark, then putting stepping stones on top would help? It's just been so wet, there really isn't a good permanent fix we can do right now. You can see how nasty it is next to the barn where the old shelter was located. Again if I could get away with using thick layer of bark and rocks for a while..... ?










BTW, thought I'd show how it used to look! That's the old shelter in the pic.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Still better than mine; I've got a permanent pool at the gate (at least I did before putting the hay down.) It's working for now but gets ground in quickly so I'm hoping the bark will at least last longer, only redo it once or twice a year.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Wild Hearts Ranch said:


> Still better than mine; I've got a permanent pool at the gate (at least I did before putting the hay down.) It's working for now but gets ground in quickly so I'm hoping the bark will at least last longer, only redo it once or twice a year.


 Oh wow I am sorry  I totally understand though! The gate going into the main pen was really bad, deep with mud. Hubby raised it with dirt right before the heavy rains lol. I ended up bringing some seasoned thin logs from the woods and lined them side by side and they work great for the goats to walk on. 
The walkway in front of the barn is working great so far! I laid down some hay that the girls were wasting/I was saving for bedding, then put rocks on it, and some OSB pieces, wish I had gotten a picture.

Of course when it rains, it pours. I thought, oh good I don't have to buy a new bottle of Banamine, the other one is still fine I can use that $$ towards this project.
Now my desktop computer is messed up, and probably beyond my knowledge, looks like I may just end up replacing it


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## SunnydaleBoers (Jul 28, 2012)

Ideally yes, if you have someone with the equipment who'd be willing to scrape off the muck layer and improve the drainage in those areas that would be great. If not, I'd bring up any of the bigger, flatter rocks available in your creek bed and try to get those worked down into the muck while it's still nice and gloppy. Don't worry about eventually needing to pick them up and clean them off- just get them worked down as far as possible to act as a foundation layer. Once you've got a good foundation layer in place you can start to add successfully finer layers of gravel, or the paving stones, etc. It's not an instant solution, but will be a more permanent one in the long run. (I do think that using the tires as a temporary solution is a good idea though! If you really wanted to go crazy and kill your back moving them, you could even fill them with cement first...)

I would try to avoid using straw, old hay, etc. if possible- it makes a great temporary solution, but then makes EXCELLENT habitat for stable flies and all sorts of other lovely critters to lay their eggs in once it gets warmer.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I agree about the hay, which is why I will only put it down in front of the barn where we don't allow the goats free access, so it won't get worked down in the dirt as bad. I would like to clean it up and put rocks up there at some point, but am not as concerned about the front, it's manageable <gets like this every winter>.

My husband said he is considering buying a chipper/shredder and turning a lot of the small brush piles in the woods into mulch and filling the entire area. But I asked him what the downside would be and he has no idea lol. We do have a LOT of wood piles where we have been clearing out a lot of dead trees, brush, etc. and cleaning up the woods.

We couldn't find very many useful rocks in the creek, the kids did dig some up the other day. I use rock in front of all the doorways, and when they get muddy, or messy with goat poop, I typically turn them over, and they make a nice walkway again.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

There wouldn't be much of a downside to the chips. They will slowly decompose but, the dirt that they make is really nice and drains well because it won't compact underfoot.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Huh, maybe I should rent a chipper.. We have a ton of branches down all over the place...


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Hey...we have a small electric chipper, wonder if it's powerful enough to actually work on branches etc? Might have to give that a try!


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

In small quantities it should work;-)


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

But I need lots! :/


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

RaineyDayFarms said:


> Logs are great and free  we lost a lot of pretty, old trees to the drought. At least they didn't go to waste.
> 
> The sand has gone way up, it's about 100.00 a load now. We get the stuff with no clay, bank sand I think? Clay gets way too messy.
> For basic gravel/rocks it runs 500-600. It doesn't pack as well but still works ok. My favorite by far is the crushed granite. It makes a very nice ground and packs great. Bad thing is its running 900-1000 a load.
> We are going to have to do something though. It hasn't stopped poring for 2-3 day. The animals are nice a dry now, but all the drive ways are washing out.


We have an abundance of sand! Avg 2-3 feet before you hit clay. If you have a tractor, come on up (about 2 hours from Houston off I45...not sure where you are) Dig me a small pond and you can have all the sand from it! LOL


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I'm going to have my kids help me and try to find all the bark pieces in the woods from decomposing logs. In that last pic I posted, you can see some on the bottom of the pic that we'd collected <it started raining so couldn't get more>. The chipper/shredder's are a bit costly, I don't think my husband realizes that lol I told him instead, maybe we should just rent one when the weather is decent, so I'm going to find out where we can rent one & see how much they charge. 
We were just going to burn the brush, but this would sure be a better alternative! I can't wait to get this started lol


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

I didn't read all the posts so don't know the suggestions you received will give you mine. I use waste hay and when I clean the barn toss it out the door into the muck. I probably wouldn't if this was a long term thing but we use a bobcat to rototill the whole thing and plant new pasture every year or two. Mostly we plant grain in it is why we can do it so often. Not a very good pasture but they can eat a little wheat grass and such in the spring anyway.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Well, today we went out and collected a bunch of bark, and chipped wood from old logs in the woods and put that down and wow, what a difference! it may not be beautiful lol, but I think it will definitely help. 

I found out from someone that our county does give away mulch, so we're hoping we can get this stuff packed in, then when the weather allows, we can go pick up a load of mulch to use. 

I'll try to get pics tomorrow to show what we have done. Still more to do, but at least it's a start


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## RPoling13 (Dec 16, 2014)

My husband works the the power line companies and they have contractors who come in and cut trees. They then chip the trees up and need to find places to dump the chips. We have giant piles of the chips in our yard to use for the animals and mud. See if you can find one of these in your area. The chips are free! In our area the companies are asplundh and davey tree.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

We can get that here too, but some of them don't grind it will and there's occasionally stuff other than wood in it. I had a load brought once but there were huge branches and stuff I had to pull out, not good for walking on!


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## RPoling13 (Dec 16, 2014)

Well I guess since my husband is their boss the do it right lol


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Yeah, probably helps if you have an inside man


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Last time that group came through they felt the need to mow my grass for some reason. They managed to suck up my weed eater, 100 ft of extension cord, and my drink in a glass. So yeah, there's weird stuff in it.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

What??


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

goathiker said:


> Last time that group came through they felt the need to mow my grass for some reason. They managed to suck up my weed eater, 100 ft of extension cord, and my drink in a glass. So yeah, there's weird stuff in it.


Oh my ;-/


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

LOL sorry I couldn't help but laugh, I can imagine some of the stuff that must get into it, haha!

I found out our county does give mulch away for free! But the problem is getting back there to get it right now is too hard because of the mud. But when the weather is fair enough, he said they will use the bobcat and load it into the truck for us. 

What we've gotten done so far should help, guess we'll find out this weekend as they are forecasting a lot of rain  If this works, we'll get more from the woods to make the 'base' then get the mulch to put on top. 

I wish we could get a chipper/shredder ourselves, we have huge piles of brush/limbs/etc. in the woods where we cleared out most of the underbrush to plant grass. Unfortunately there is just no way to get something back there because we have a creek that runs through the property, and can't get a truck back there, let alone a shredder


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## RPoling13 (Dec 16, 2014)

goathiker said:


> Last time that group came through they felt the need to mow my grass for some reason. They managed to suck up my weed eater, 100 ft of extension cord, and my drink in a glass. So yeah, there's weird stuff in it.


Oh my gosh! That is crazy!


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Wild Hearts Ranch said:


> What??


My front fence leaves about 7 feet between it and the highway. The strip there is planted in heavy grass of some type. I'd been out weed eating and went in to get lunch right at the wrong time. I heard them out there just in time to run out and see them nick up the extension cord with the weed eater still attached to it, gobble it down and chase it with my Dr Pepper :lol: They did replace the weed eater but, not the cord or pop.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

What a bunch of idiots! I found a place near me that has screened mulch (meaning no ground up weedeaters nor 6 foot branches) but they haven't replied with a price yet. Of course the rain is heading in here as well :/ at least I have some old hay down, plus their shelter is back up.


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## stonehillfarm (Feb 17, 2013)

. My girls have a "run" that gets them out of the mud. I find that when they stay on there, the mud starts to harden up and grass begins to grow again.


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

HoosierShadow said:


> LOL sorry I couldn't help but laugh, I can imagine some of the stuff that must get into it, haha!
> 
> I found out our county does give mulch away for free! But the problem is getting back there to get it right now is too hard because of the mud. But when the weather is fair enough, he said they will use the bobcat and load it into the truck for us.
> 
> What we've gotten done so far should help, guess we'll find out this weekend as they are forecasting a lot of rain  If this works, we'll get more from the woods to make the 'base' then get the mulch to put on top.


I hear ya, HoosierShadow! I've been wanting to get another truckload for the new pen I just built, but it's been too wet. It would be about like buying hamburger meat -- a little meat and a lot of ice? LOL I don't want to break down my truck hauling water! I threw down a thick layer of pine straw as a stop-gap. Boy was I glad I did! We got a gazillion inches of rain over the past 3-4 days and even with the pine needles down it feels like I'm squishing thru a marsh. Wet, but no mud! Yippee!


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## SerenitySquare (Jun 28, 2014)

we have a tree service that we have used that brings by free mulch every so often. They showed up on christmas eve with a truckload. I figured I would use it until spring in the garden. then I read on here what you all were doing so I put it in the goat and chicken yards. WOW what a diffrence and it looks pretty too.


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## fauna (Jun 25, 2014)

HoosierShadow said:


> We've had yucky mud issues in the past, but the barn area is a true nightmare right now, and I'm worried about the girls coming up with hoof issues over it.
> 
> The ground is somewhat level, but we live inA raised walkway would really :dazed:


We have the same issue. Right now I'm throwing down some used bedding. When it dries up some and my husband has a little time off work, we are going to get 12" paving stones to lay down around the front of the barn and a path to the back of the barn where there automatic dog waterer is. We have a couple of rows on the side of the barn where they like to stand and tend to stay when it's wet and they are not in their stall. Later on when we have some more money, I'm going to get a load or two of sand hauled in and spread it around the pavers and by the gate. The path from the gate to the barn is pretty bad where we walk all the time. I've been putting whatever i can find to help, but I need to raise the gate and put a lot more sand there. I'm hoping that all the paving stones will help keep their hooves in better shape as well.

In the stall, we have the heavy stall mats from tractor supply and one side has bedding. When it gets really wet from pee and mud from them walking in and out, we just put some sweet pdz powder down, sweep it around until the floor is dry and then sweep up the powder and put it in the compost. Seems to work great in there. (actually, I do this every day when I clean their stall). When the field is dry, they stay outside most of the time, so it's not so bad.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

The chopped up tree bark/tree trunks/etc. that we brought from the woods has been working well! It's ugly, but yesterday the ground was completely saturated from a lot of rain, and you didn't sink in the mud when walking on it! We do need to bring more, so I'll work on getting more from the woods this week. 

Thankfully inside the barn and shelters it's not bad. Where 2 does sleep, we clean it every day or every other day, not nasty other than poo everywhere.
The cattle panel shelter for the other 6 does, we aren't cleaning as often as I think getting a good layer of bedding down to sleep on during this current bitter cold snap is better for them. As soon as I get a warm day we'll work on cleaning it out


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

My hay and straw is working pretty well so far, I'll probably wait on the bark until this starts to break down.


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## bbellhbl (Aug 1, 2013)

Landscape fabric then gravel. Last forever and the gravel doesn't sink into the dirt.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

bbellhbl said:


> Landscape fabric then gravel. Last forever and the gravel doesn't sink into the dirt.


Yeah, not western Oregon. Fabric finds a way in and sucks it's self into ground and then you spend 5 years finding all the rotted pieces and digging it out.


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Gravel can't last that long with goats anyway; horses you can pick the poop out but goats it would just build up.


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