SMELLY Barn...

[TheNelsons]

Our barn is stinky... It rained and rained here about a week ago, for several days straight so the goats hardly stepped a foot out not to mention the fact that when they did it was so mucky outside they brought even more in with them...

I have dirt floors with straw and/or pine litter...

I am thinking that I will have to remove ALL the litter and re-litter, but is there anything I can put down first to help the goat potty smell?

It is about to rain again and it looks like for another few days, any suggestions on keeping it fresher in there?

Thanks,
Steph

[rranch]

Welcome to my world...All it does is rain here and the barn with dirt floors becomes a saturated mess. Put on your mucky boots and a pair of gloves and start scooping. I rake the soil once I get there then apply TSP. That will help with the smell. Then just fir chips and straw like usual. I have an achey back everytime I clean. But the goats sure do appreciate it.

[TheNelsons]

Originally Posted by rranch

Welcome to my world...All it does is rain here and the barn with dirt floors becomes a saturated mess. Put on your mucky boots and a pair of gloves and start scooping. I rake the soil once I get there then apply TSP. That will help with the smell. Then just fir chips and straw like usual. I have an achey back everytime I clean. But the goats sure do appreciate it.

Thanks.. Can you tell me what "TSP" is please?

Steph

[rranch]

Basically it's lime. You can buy it at the feed store. It's formulated for use in horse stall barns. It's safe for all animals even chickens.

[Ken in Maine]

TSP is Trisodium phosphate. You can get it at a paint store. It's used to clean walls before you repaint.
Never knew it worked in barns to keep down the smell.

[Bearfootfarm]

Plain lime works as well as anything. I would NOT use TSP. Here's the MSDS for TSP:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...gl=us&ie=UTF-8

[rranch]

Ok I had to run out to the feed shack to double check. You are right, duh. It's PDZ I meant to say. So sorry. ai'm sure the feed store rep would have corrected the mistake and given lime.

Steph...I hope you are reading this. I need more tea and less cold wet weather.Uggh.

[suburbanite]

Is there any way to get industrial quantities of baking soda?

Would it be safe for the critters?

[goatkid]

I get feed grade sodium bicarb from a feed store.

I use type S lime or PDZ under pine shavings to neutralize the urine in my goat houses.

[Woodroe]

The crushed natural limestone is cheap and works great

[JR05]

I also use the PDZ or stall dry. It works fast and has less dust to upset your goats' noses. Told the lime will cause breathing problems and more coughing in goats, so we use the other stuff. Also was told to put down Borax after every cleaning, this kills any bacteria and parisites in the soil then put the PDZ down. Really cuts down on the worm load too.

jr05

[BlueHeronFarm]

We live near you - went through the same thing. I pulled out ALL the shavings and we're going down to bare dirt floor. It's warm enough now, and easier to keep "clean" (Yes, I know - it's dirt). We sprayed bleach water on EVERYTHING last weekend and use Stall Dry to help make/keep it dry when needed.

[fishhead]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Is there any way to get industrial quantities of baking soda?

Would it be safe for the critters?

I don't know about "industrial" quantities but you can buy baking soda by the 50# bag for about $9.

As far as lime you can buy that by the truckload. Farmers do that all the time around here.

It looks like it would be possible to design a barn floor that would remain dry except under the the most extreme circumstances. Maybe start by laying down drain tile grid in a bed of coarse sand. Then slope the ground outside away from the barn and put up a gutter system to carry rainwater away.

I keep remembering the pheasant pen I saw. No bedding and it was so dry the droppings just dried out and were gathered with a leaf rake. She had a thick bed of coarse sand for the floor. It wasn't even wet near the waterers because the water just dropped through the sand.