# Earth floored barn pens



## Zeet_Cranberry (Jan 11, 2011)

We're getting ready to build a house and barn. Moving from town to 6 acres just outside of town. After much back and forth we've decided to leave a section of the barn floor in dirt, rather than concrete slab, for future sheep/goat pens. My wife read about using cement/dirt mix to get a harder floor, but still with porosity. What is your experience? Does it help? or is it just added expense? We have heavy clay soil so it will compact pretty well on it's own.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

why do you want it to be hard?
Most barns we've had have had a dirt floor...


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## Zeet_Cranberry (Jan 11, 2011)

The thinking is that the dirt/cement mix is softer and more porous than concrete and allows urine to drain away but it's hard enough to keep rodents from burrowing in it.


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## goatlady (May 31, 2002)

You don't really want that valuable urine to drain into the soil you want it to soak INTO the bedding you will use which will then go into the compost pile for growing veggies!! Urine soaked dirt, after a few years is NOT a good idea. LOTS of straw will do a wonderful job keeping the barn smell-free and return wonderful compost for future use. Cement is HARD on animals' feet and hooves, gets stained, and smelly over time - waste of time and hard earned $$ to floor a barn with anything. AT least in my 40+ years of having barns and animals.


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## countryboy84 (Dec 8, 2010)

My current barn is a dirt floor and my new one will be to other then the milking stall. For a barn I just don't see a reason for anything else. But to answer your question the soil cement mix can work well to stiffen up dirt. If you have the right type of soil say only 20 to 40 % clay then it is really good is almost most like normal concert. On 20% clay I would use around a 12:1 of soil to cement. If it is 40% clay then I would go for around 6:1. I have used soil cement some and for what I used it for I like it very well. Just need to figure if it is worth the cost of doing. I use straight portland when making soil cement and that run about 10$ a 94lbs bag around here.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Dirt is good in a livestock barn.

The thick bedding idea is spot on.

Make sure the barn sits on a bit of a rise to avoid any possible inundation with runoff during wet weather......or..... build up the stall area by a foot or so above the grade outside.


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## Stonybrook (Sep 22, 2007)

Forerunner said:


> Dirt is good in a livestock barn.
> 
> Make sure the barn sits on a bit of a rise to avoid any possible inundation with runoff during wet weather......or..... build up the stall area by a foot or so above the grade outside.


I think it partly depends on how much time your livestock will spend in the stall. If you put horses in a stall on a dirt floor and they spend much time in there your dirt floor will be a nasty mess that you can never really clean regardless of how much bedding you put down. At least, that is the situation where I am. I would think the same would be true of cows. Maybe sheep and goats not so much. Personally, if I have another barn, it will be built up as stated above and will have a thick layer of crush r run or cement dirt or something that will drain. I will get enough compost from the solid waste.


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## kaitala (Mar 24, 2011)

Have you looked into rubber stall mats? They help with the muck issue, stabilize the soil, and reduce the need for as much bedding, all while providing a comfortable place to stand for the animals. (You can use them for reducing stress in your concrete areas, too.) If you need to dig beneath them, for some reason, you can pull them up, do what needs doing, and reset them. Concrete mix in the soil seems too permanent to me, I'd hate to have to dig in that later.


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