Cartpeted Barn

[andyva]

I just got done shoveling out the goat barn. After many years of trying all types of stall floor management options, I am continually amazed at the ease of cleaning of our carpeted barn floors. My wife dreamt it up and we tried it in a stall and we did the whole barn. We put down a layer of gravel and then got used carpet and put it over top of the gravel. Low pile carpet, of course. Our barn is kind of a shed built on a hill so there is natural slope at work. The carpet drains into the gravel keeping the bedding much drier. Clean up is much easier because the carpet gives you a stopping point unlike a dirt floor, you just have to be careful not to stab a fork into it. Unlike a concrete floor, (which will not drain), you can clean up the bulk of the dirty bedding and then pick up the corner of the carpet and beat it like a rug and pile everything toward the middle for easy shoveling. Seems like it would hold moisture and odors, but in terms of barn floors it works better than anything we've seen or tried. We hold down the edges with nails cinder blocks and in some instances gutter spikes. We sprinkle lime on top and sometimes some DE after each cleaning. We've been doing it for three years on the same carpet, which incidentally was free because someone was remodeling. It works on rabbits as well, although without bedding under the cages, you have to throw some lime on the pee spots to keep the smell down. We also put some small pieces of carpet outside the doors so the goats can wipe their feet, actually to keep doorways from becoming mud holes, which goes a long way toward keeping stalls clean. we put some small remnant pieces in sections of the path that tend to be muddy, but watch your outside carpet, after awhile it can get really slick. Putting it in the muddy path can keep the house from looking like the barn as well! In most instances you will be using something that would be headed to the landfill.
Sorry for the book sized paragraph. Just thought I would share our crazy design in case anyone was looking for a different barn floor option.

 

[Miss M]

Wow! How cool is that?!?!

Yeah, your paragraph could use a couple of breaks, but it isn't the biggest one I've seen by a long shot. Breaking it up does make it more readable, though.

I like the idea... that is really neat!

 

[AmysMacdog]

What a great idea!

 

[3mina]

Very cool

 

[Ivory]

Great idea. I've used carpet in the past to keep weeds down, but would never have thought of carpeting a barn floor.

 

[andyva]

I always carry a pocket knife, so when I hook a stray thread with the pitch fork I just cut it off and keep it out of the mulch pile. Feed bag strings, twine, and other things are bad about wrapping around tillers. If it really bothered you, you could hit any frayed spots with a torch. After awhile you get used to not sinking the fork through the carpet. I'm speaking here of goats bedded with hay, the part of the barn with rabbits gets the broom and dustpan treatment. You get all of the drainage of gravel, and the ease of cleaning of a solid surface.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

We have had a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet for about 14 years. I can't believe how well it has held up over the years of sun, rain, and snow. For several years it has been in our "catcoop", but the cats recently got ousted and the new ducks and turkeys are in their yard (they still get the structure to shelter in), so the carpet was removed.

One use I have put it to in the past is to compact areas of loose dirt in our wide walkways. With so many barn cats, I can't have loose dirt or they will poop in it. I smooth the area with a rake or broom, and then lay the carpet over the area, watering it periodically. It doesn't take long before I have a smoothly compacted surface.

 

[MamaMandy]

I'm wondering how well this idea would work in my bunny barn. It has a pea gravel floor. Would the urine all just drain through? And then I could sweep up the droppings? I can't imagine it not holding the odor. Right now I'm using pans with pine shavings and DE. I'd like to find a simpler way and this sounds interesting.