How do you scoop all of that poop?

[MillsFarmFamily]

DH says I am just overworking everything, but I like to rake out our goat pen. It is approximately 70' X 35', and is where our 4 goats eat, get water, and have their shelter. During most of the day they are out browsing in the woods, or pasture. They like to sleep in their pen at night (much closer to the food that way), so there are a lot of little goat pellets in the area they spend the most time. I use a wide plastic rake and collect up all of the old hay and pellets.

Does anyone have any better way of doing thisl, or do you not worry about it at all. I just want to try to keep as much of the stuff out of the way of getting into their hoofs, etc.

[susanne]

as long as my goats were outside, i did the same. don't know any other methode either.

[chamoisee]

My goats have a barn with a dirt floor. The manure and bedding builds up all winter and composts in there, which keeps them warm in our cold weather (it gets -35 here). In the spring I clean it all out and make squash/pumpkin beds with it in the garden. Typically it doesn't build up a lot over the summer, but we clean it out before fall, because it's going to build up all winter long....

How often do you do this raking? I would worry about them being cold?

[Jillis]

I've heard that some people let it build up, but doesn't that make for a bad buildup of ammonia? Educate me, please, I'd love not to have to rake that mess out evry 2 weeks!

[chamoisee]

Not if your barn is big enough for the number of goats you have, and there is a good bedding to manure ratio. We actually acquired those red wiggler earthworms somehow in our barn- I have no idea how because the red wigglers aren't native. When I cleaned out the manure it would be just writhing with those worms!! I'm sure they assisted in breaking it down.

But if there are too many goats and the barn is too small and there isn't enough bedding, ammonia becomes a problem. Then you have to clean it out midwinter, at least the top few layers, and add more bedding.

[flowerpower]

We have a concrete floor and also let it build up and compost. I have never had an ammonia problem. Goat poop breaks down pretty quickly and turns to dust.

I have a huge pumpkin patch where I dump the hay each year. Then I take what I need for the rest of my gardens to use as mulch and fertilizer.

[MillsFarmFamily]

The pen that I am raking is outside, when I rake there is grass underneath. There is hay in their house for bedding and I move the house and replace that hay once/week. I was just worried about them always laying on the poopy ground and constantly walking through it.

[Corky]

if it is outside and get wet from rain or snow then by all means keep it clean. if it is covered and you are in a cool or cold climate then you just need to keep fairly fresh, dry bedding on top till it gets warm outside. Scatter some DE on it every once in a while and a little barn lime before you put down fresh bedding. Not much lime though as goats will eat their bedding when you first put it down.
If it gets wet there you will have a muddy bog infested with worms if you don't keep it clean.
I have a barn so I don't clean in the winter time and I clean often in the summer to keep my barn cooler. I have a dirt floor barn with a good layer of sand on top to make cleaning easier.
No sand in the aria where my donkey goes though. I don't want it in her hooves. I use wood chip bedding in the summer and let the hay spillage build up in the winter.

[Dee]

I am in NJ and it gets cold here so I let it build up during the winter too. You can really feel it being warmer in the barn. BUT.... beside the leftover hay, I spread around a product called Woody Pet. It is a pelleted wood bedding that breaks down and absorbs the odors.

It's funny because my vet said you have to get close to the ground and smell. When she did, she looked at me surprised because it really looks bad (my hay is really green, not beige) I even put paper towel down and stepped hard on it. It is dry and odor free.

Oh, but it is ssooooo heavy to clean in the spring Then it really smells of ammonia.

In the summer I try to keep it raked clean.

[Jillis]

Well, I was letting it just build up. Then my son decided to clean the goat barn and he pulled up a LOT of wood chips and the hay that built up on top. And then, mama mia, the ammonia smell was bad.
So we put down feed grade lime, which is just powdered "Tums" (calcium carbonate), a layer of wood chips and then hay for food and bedding which eventually spreads around anyway.
I cleaned it again, 2 weeks later, thinking I was "supposed to" but I would like not to have to do it until Spring...
Thanks for all the info!

[susanne]

Originally Posted by MillsFarmFamily

The pen that I am raking is outside, when I rake there is grass underneath. There is hay in their house for bedding and I move the house and replace that hay once/week. I was just worried about them always laying on the poopy ground and constantly walking through it.

yes, i was talking about outside raking too. if i would not have done that the grass would have been gone. i raked daily on the fence line and the feeding place. now they are inside in the big barn and have deep bedding. i like the idea with the red wigglers. something to think about it