[fffarmergirl]

I'm sure all the old pros have known this forever but I just figured out last week that goats won't pee on a hard surface if they have a choice. This has cut back on my cleaning chores immensely. I stopped put bedding down in the lounging shed except in the part where the goats always lay. They went several days without peeing in there at all! :banana: Time to build them some sleeping platforms and after that I don't think I'll use bedding at all.

 

[marusempai]

...so you're telling me that if I scrape away all the bedding, and just leave it a dirt floor, I'll just have to sweep out the poop and there will be no more constant pee stink? I might have work to do.

 

[Pony]

I read that once. In fact, I clearly remember reading an article by J.D., stating that a goat won't relieve (he said "embarrass herself") in the car (a hard surface).

When I loaded her in the Cherokee a few years back, she immediately let loose a flood, followed by berries.

Obviously, Trub didn't read the article. Or she felt she had no choice...

 

[lovinglife]

Neither did my girls, they promptly pooped and peed all over the back of my SUV in a dog crate, which failed miserable to contain the flow.

 

[Caprice Acres]

I NEVER have any of my diaries poo/pee in the milkroom, which is cement floor. It just doesn't happen. They hold everything until after milking. The only ones that did it were the boer does I attempted to wrestle into the milkstand and AI, lol.

Keep in mind if you have kids born, you will want to bed any hard surface and eliminate areas where they can get wedged anywhere/stuck. They can lay down even on wood in cold weather, and chill if it's cold season kidding. Worst is concrete/sand with no insulation.

I prefer bedding because they generally poo outside where I feed/water/pasture. When they're indoors its becasue they're not hungry or it's raining. If it's raining, they WILL pee inside. If they would rather pee on bedding than on the hard floor, that means they're going to their bedding to pee. If they only pee where they lay down, that's not very sanitary.

 

[where I want to]

Well, as a person who has rubber mats in the goats sheds, I can give you more insight into this riveting issue.
All thing being equal, goats avoid peeing where they can get splattered. But equal does not mean going out in the rain, or waiting for your turn out the door, or in the middle of the night if you want to go and no one wants to go with you, or if the Big Goat Who Lives in the House is at the door with breakfast.
Basically, there is no bedding in my sheds in the summer, but come rainy season, bedding gets put in. There is only so much pee that can be swept into the dust pans.

But under no circumstance talk to a goat who is still dozing in the shed until she rouses herself to amble out to pee.

 

[Pony]

Well, as a person who has rubber mats in the goats sheds, I can give you more insight into this riveting issue.
All thing being equal, goats avoid peeing where they can get splattered. But equal does not mean going out in the rain, or waiting for your turn out the door, or in the middle of the night if you want to go and no one wants to go with you, or if the Big Goat Who Lives in the House is at the door with breakfast.
Basically, there is no bedding in my sheds in the summer, but come rainy season, bedding gets put in. There is only so much pee that can be swept into the dust pans.

But under no circumstance talk to a goat who is still dozing in the shed until she rouses herself to amble out to pee.

That is too funny! Thanks for the smile. I needed it.

 

[Frosted Mini's]

Mine usually pee a lot when they first get up, so I try to call them outside when I first go out.

 

[fffarmergirl]

Oh, Pony, your poor goat must have been SOOO embarrassed!

Yeah - the floor has been bone dry since I stopped putting down bedding. They don't pee on the bedding in the part where they lay, I don't know why - maybe because the other goats are laying there? My goats are so lazy. They spend 90% of their time laying in the shed.

I don't know about packed dirt - I would think they might still pee on that but it wouldn't hurt to check. My floor is concrete which wasn't my choice, we had to use the building that was already there.

 

[bluefish]

I'm going to have my goats read this thread. They really need to know that goats do not pee on hard surfaces.

 

[billinwv]

You can train them to a "pee" area by putting down a thick layer of pelleted pine bedding. Even my bottle babies pick up on it quickly. It is very absorbent and cleans up easily. Makes great weed block.

 

[marusempai]

I just realized it's about to be winter so maybe I shouldn't clear out the bedding just yet... but maybe when I do it in the spring I'll give the bare dirt a try. Heck, what's the worst that could happen?!

I did get peed in my boot for the first time this week so I've been thinking about where they pee more often than usual. :yuck:

 

[fffarmergirl]

That had to have taken some good aim, Marusempai. I bet they practiced for DAYS before one of them managed to accomplish that.

 

[msscamp]

...so you're telling me that if I scrape away all the bedding, and just leave it a dirt floor, I'll just have to sweep out the poop and there will be no more constant pee stink? I might have work to do.

I wouldn't count on it. My sheds all have dirt floors and I don't bed them in the summer time since the girls don't usually use them that much unless it's raining. The lack of bedding doesn't stop them from peeing in the sheds, though, even when it isn't raining.

 

[wintrrwolf]

Hmmm my goats didn't get the memo. And it never fails as soon as I start talking to Pawnee she starts pee'n ...