# New Barn Flooring - Dirt or Cement?



## Rechellef (Oct 5, 2010)

We are in the process of designing and building a new barn :happy: We are wondering if we should just have and entire cement slab poured or keep the stall areas dirt. If we pour an entire slab, I would lay rubber horse mats for my goats and have bedding on top of that to avoid stress from standing on the pavement. Our tiny little goat shed right now has dirt floors and it was only three walls (with one enclosed stall for kidding and sick goats), we found ourselves shoveling out the built up bedding and muck a few times a year which was a mammoth task. I want to design this new barn so it is efficient for us and good for our goats. What would/do you do?


----------



## Tallabred (May 23, 2008)

If I could build my barn again my stalls would have hard packed clay under my stall mats. Clay absorbs better than concrete and acts as a filter.

We used construction sand - it sucks - mats slide or the sand shifts under them.

If you use concrete you have to slope it slightly and have a drain.

I love using the stall pellets over my mats for my goats. You have to activate them which gives you a small particle that the goat droppings can be raked or sweeped off.
Thick layer of shavings with thick layer of hay at kidding time works GREAT!


----------



## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

I agree with Tallabred. Mine are on concrete with mats now. Were we used to live had concrete isles and dirt floors in the stalls...I liked that better for drainage. 
It is really good to have some concrete though...keeps your hoof trimming down. Make sure to "roughen" up the concrete so it's not slippery and will be even better for the hooves.


----------



## "SPIKE" (Dec 7, 2011)

I like threads where OP asks for opinions.:thumb:

Concrete is very expensive. I would pour a floor in the area I want to keep feed, to mouse proof it as much as possible. I would also have that area big enough for milking, so it could be kept clean easier.

Set the animal stall areas up so you can use a tractor to clean out as much as possible. Either with a front end loader attachment or a rear blade.
Do not keep the animals in the main barn regularly. Give them their own loafing shed. 
Dirt floor will help absorb moisture and the build up of bedding helps heat in the winter.

SPIKE


----------



## deetu (Dec 19, 2004)

I put stone in mine. Packed down hard but still drained. 
We would get divots in some places but it was easy to fix in spring by digging up a bit and re-spreading. Having stall matts would avoid that anyway.
I saw someone with cement once, that's what made me decide on the stone.


----------



## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

We have a dirt floor in our goats part of the barn. It is actually clay because that's what soil is mostly around here. I use pallets & put bedding on them, it keeps them off the floor & this time of year we do the deep bedding method. 
If we have warm days I start cleaning it out in March but in stages so it's not all at once & I then have bedding building up in the first areas cleaned so it's cushy & warm for spring kids.

In the big part of the barn we have the same type of gravel poured in there as we do on our driveway. Packs down good in the clay & the floor is as hard as cement. We only use that for storage of hay, feed, tractor, lawnmower, etc.


----------



## Sherry in Iowa (Jan 10, 2010)

I like dirt where the livestock is going to lay. It drains and we just bed deep, especially for winter and in a wet spring.


----------



## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

If I was building my dream barn and money was no object (how wonderful would that be?!) I would absolutely pour a concrete floor. You could scrape it out w/ a tractor and loader, and actually sanitize it. I'd just bed it deeply and it would be great. :lookout:


----------



## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

I have been a fan of dirt floors for some time....but with this year's flooding (and the subsequent muck in my barn), I plan on using paving stones as soon as I can get my hands on them...filling the cracks in between with sand for drainage.


----------



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

[QUOTE="SPIKE";5691204]
Set the animal stall areas up so you can use a tractor to clean out as much as possible. Either with a front end loader attachment or a rear blade.
Do not keep the animals in the main barn regularly. Give them their own loafing shed. 
Dirt floor will help absorb moisture and the build up of bedding helps heat in the winter.

SPIKE[/QUOTE]

This is my ideal. My goats all do just fine with a three sided shelter. It's completely open on one end so it's easy to muck it out with the tractor. Dirt floor, obviously. The "barn" is not used all the time by all the animals. It's for kidding, milking, and storing feed. There's no open access to it from the field.


----------



## zorares (Jan 21, 2012)

Well, my in-laws are building us an amazing barn and even though it has a concrete floor, the area for the goats is going to be ground. We'll just keep it well bedded.


----------



## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

Tallabred said:


> If I could build my barn again my stalls would have hard packed clay under my stall mats. Clay absorbs better than concrete and acts as a filter.
> 
> We used construction sand - it sucks - mats slide or the sand shifts under them.
> 
> ...


hey why didn't you like the sand? It seems to me that would be perfect. I would go real thick like 8-10 inches.


----------



## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

I wouldn't use sand because of the dust and I would worry about them ingesting it and getting sand colic like horses...maybe goats don't get that, but I would still worry about it because I have horses too. I also think it would be hard to keep the sand stable, or level, in a smaller area like a stall. I could be way off...just my thoughts though.


----------



## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

With a dirt floor, I would dig out and put down gravel. Then I would install stall skins on top of that (don't get the textured stall skin, get the original). http://www.stallskins.com/


----------

