# Deep Bedding/Litter



## Apryl in ND (Jan 31, 2010)

We used the deep litter method in our barn and chicken coop last winter. My chicken coop isn't bad at all to clean out because they scratch in it and keep it fluffy and stirred up. However, In the barn where my goats and cow are we used straw and hay last winter as bedding....HOLY CRAP is that hard to clean out! I honestly don't know if it will ever get done. They peed and pooped in there all winter (the cow poo is the sloppy wet stuff stuff, not the nice goat berries) and there is about a foot deep layer that is sopping wet and matted. This wet spring probably didn't help. It is EXTREMELY difficult to remove with a pitchfork. Oh how I wish I had a small tractor. If anybody has any ideas on how to make this job easier, please enlighten me!! Aside from the summer cleaning, the deep litter is nice. It keeps it clean and warm for them all winter. It also keeps the odor down too, that is until you peel back that nice dry top layer and get into the putrid, wet, underneath layers. I have no doubt that it will make fine compost eventually though. How do you all manage your barn floors??


----------



## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

A husband and teenaged son:goodjob:

But really......There is just the three of us. We do deep litter with the goats and cattle, sometimes the mule.

Come spring, it's a mess! We tried to make to stalls accessable to a skidsteer, but after adding and rearranging them, that went out the window.

We work 2,3,4 days at a time as soon as the weather breaks. THis year I talked hubby into using FIL's backhoe for the parts we could reach. Then we pulled up the front bucket & shoveled into it, instead of forkful, by forkful to the maure pile (that is too far away for my liking!)


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

PIGGIES!! If you can move the cows out, make sure there's good fencing where piglets can't get out. Then just pop in a bunch of weaned piglets (4-6 if you have a big area) and let them start to root. If they need a bit of encouraging, take some whole kernel corn and something to poke holes with. Stab a hole into the hay muck and put a couple kernels of corn in there. The piglets will smell the corn and go find it. Most of the time all we need to do is put the piglets in there. Once they start to dig it's wonderful fun for them. They'll tear it up and build piles. As they dig and loosen it up, simply pitch it to encourage them to make a new pile. When they're done rooting up your layered poo, you can either move them somewhere else to work up your garden perhaps or put them in another pen and feed them out or sell them.
Catherine


----------



## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

If you use the proper method of forking it isn't so bad.
Instead of sticking the fork straight down you need to slide it in almost flat and only take an inch or two. Use the curve of the tines as a fulcrum and push down on the handle to break the suction.
Next time blow your bedding through a chopper or chipper shredder before putting it in the barn.


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I clean mine out daily. My cows were plenty warm all winter anyway being inside. But I like the piggy idea. I hated cleaning stalls!


----------



## Apryl in ND (Jan 31, 2010)

I think I might try the pigs next year. Our barn is about 60 years old and the wood is not great. I'm kind of afraid pigs would wreck it. I've never had pigs before, but have heard they are pretty hard on buildings and fences.


----------



## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

DUDE! THAT is brilliant!! I've been trying to figure out how to get that matted litter out of my little barn AND trying to figure out a way to justify keeping my terribly destructive little pigs......Those pigs are going in that barn as soon as I can catch them!!! Thanks!


----------



## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Glad to hear I'm not the only one cleaning out the barn! I use a mattock to break up the pack when it won't come up easily. Mine has a broad head on one side and a pickax point on the other. Then use the pitchfork to pick up the chunks. Are you using a fork with wide tines? Not a mulching fork? That would make a difference, too. 

If worst comes to worst, if you let it compost long enough, it turns peat-y and is much easier to dig out! Ask me how I know this, LOL.

Two truckloads today, and about 70 more to go ... arghhh!


----------



## Apryl in ND (Jan 31, 2010)

I'm using a regular pitchfork. Pickax = good thinking! We are going to try and run the rototiller over the mucky stuff and see what happens. I can't wait to get this stuff composted so I can put it on the garden. It's gardener's gold.


----------



## wstevenl (Mar 26, 2008)

Hogs work great to break it up and allow it to dry up a bit too. I've done just what you're describing and it's almost impossible to remove it. Using straw is part of the problem I think. Straw doesn't really soak much up and they almost weave together to make layers that you can't lift. Wood chips or saw dust (with or without straw) work really well. They soak more up and keep the smell down too. 

If you're planning ahead, you can throw out corn each time you add bedding through the winter then the pigs will really turn it over and compost it well.


----------



## Apryl in ND (Jan 31, 2010)

I think I will do the corn/pig thing. Hopefully they won't tear my barn down though. I would love to try wood chips. I'm sure they would work awesome, but I can get a round bale of straw for $10, maybe less. That's hard to beat. If I can find some I'll be all over it.


----------



## Menglish (May 7, 2009)

I've also read to 'sow' in a little corn every time you add straw to the deep litter. That way all you have to do in the spring is add pigs.


----------

