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Re: Proper bedding and how often to clean

Shadow Valley Soap Goat Mix
Posted by Nat on August 08, 2001 at 20:23:17:

In Reply to: Re: Proper bedding and how often to clean posted by goat mom on August 07, 2001 at 11:25:48:

gotta love those stupid birds eh? I drain my tubs after a good rinse with bleach water and guess what the birds dive for.. yep.. algae bleach gross water as it slops through the dirt!

Bedding... My take on using sand for bedding is that it drains well, and is pretty comfie as the goats make beds in it, but wet spots should be scooped out and re-filled to help with odor. Also, it could be possible to make a sand scooper out of small mesh to pick up berries. Don't want to end up with too much of an organic mix :-) I had a lot of experience with sand bedding and llamas.. its great.. but heavy when wet and $$. Makes a nice base layer ontop of dirt though.

My preference, is shavings. Sawdust is too damn dusty. The shavings are VERY absorbant unlike hay and straw, and is easy to handle. Moderately $$$ but keeps clean goats even on a fine spread over dirt.

Straw is nice, but when it makes a thick pack, like in the winter... spring comes and unless you have a skidsteer witha forked bucked... you want to kill yourself prying the layers apart. Its warm when bedded deep, great for kiddding as it dosn't get stuck to everything, but I keep it for special occasions. Cost for us is compairable to shavings, but more work. The goats like eating a bit of it, so make sure its mold free!

Hay... it's too expensive for me to use as bedding. What gets pulled out of feeders is ok, but otherwise, I can't afford to feed the "berries" lol... Hay dons't seem to absorb much, and is messier then straw in my opinion.

Either way, I try to add lime to my floors between cleaning and sanitize annually by a scrub, or in dirt - a dig and re-surfacing. Keeps the barn smelling nice!

Just my $.02 worth :-)

-Nat's Little Bit


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