I need some general barn input PLEASE!!

[ssledoux]

My hubby is about to break ground on my new barn. It's not huge, but will have a milk room (goat) and 2 stalls (goat) on one side, and a tack room or brooding room on the other side plus a large chicken coop (chickens free-range during the day). My bunny cages will be either mounted under the covered area he is making on the back of the barn, or they will have their own covered area separate from the main barn.

I need some advice. I know I'm going to concrete my milk room, and I will concrete the other room if it is going to be for feed (not if it's going to be for a brooder). Dh wants to concrete down the whole middle aisle and the covered area in the front (6x24). Would you do this? Is it hard to keep the concrete clean if the animals have access to that area? I know we can blow off goat poops, but what about urine?

Any suggestions about this? I just don't want to make a bad decision, as I'm sure this will be the last barn built for a WHILE!!

Thanks for any help.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I wouldnt have concrete anywhere the animals will spend a LOT of time. If they are just passing through , it would be OK if covered with pine shavings.

I ONCE set up some lambing pens on concrete, and even with LOTS of lime and straw bedding, I had a hard time getting the urine odor out

Pine shavings work well under brooders on concrete also

 

[patandchickens]

I wouldn't concrete the animals' living quarters, but I *would* put in a good depth of very well-tamped gravel (perhaps 3/4-minus limestone, with or without screenings tamped on top of it). Tamp it well enough -- meaning, dump it damp and rent as big a vibrating tamping thing as you can, and tamp the bejeebers out of it all -- and it will be nearly as hard and wear-resistant as concrete but will *drain*, unlike concrete.

I'd be careful about concreting an aisle, too -- it will be easier to clean and won't rut up like gravel eventually will with enough hoof traffic, BUT think about what animals will be doing there; if you will ever be running them loose into/out of the barn, making a fast right-angle turn into a pen or stall doorway at a trot can cause slipping and falling on concrete (even if textured or with aggregate on surface) and that's No Good, even for smaller stock like goats, certainly not good for cattle or horses.

Good luck, happy barn building

,

Pat

 

[ssledoux]

We aren't planning to have horses in this barn (dd's retired barrel horse lives on my sister's 160 acres), and certainly not cattle. This is only for goats and chickens. I don't even know if my bunny cages will be right there or not.

The concrete aisle issue I'm having is more about whether or not I can keep it clean and/or how nasty it gets if animals do urinate on it.

The other alternative is dirt, and I just don't know how much dust I wanna deal with.

Now, hubby says we could put gates on the back of the goat stalls (so they have shelter from the rain, but no access to the barn aisle), and the chickens will have access to their coop from outside the barn, but I just don't know about doing that.

Any opinions on that?

 

[ducks4you]

MY barn has a concrete floor.

Benefits:
--NO puddles inside when we have so much rain (like NOW!!!--Central IL w/4+ inches over normal)
--Clean up the floor with bleach and "fan dry" to disinfect
--Will support any 2nd floor posts you want to build

Detriments:
--Slick--have cattle/horse mats everywhere to prevent slipping when wet--MUST HAVE to stable anything
--Old concrete floors crack and sink sometimes--WILL sink if you don't prep the ground beforehand

My toolshed (was at one time a chicken house) has a concrete floor and hardware cloth windows.

Eat this "food for thought." Chickens are big enough yet to make a good meal!

 

[Chirpy]

I have a pretty nice size barn and no concrete anywhere. After talking to some friends who do have concrete - I hear more negative comments than positive so I'm glad I don't have concrete.

I will say that my dirt floor has a constant covering of hay and straw that just can't be swept up easily - a concrete floor would make that easier. But, I never have puddles and it's not slippery. My goats run the barn when I'm out doing chores so they get everywhere - you know... they "help" me!

 

[ssledoux]

Well, I will have concrete in my milk room for sure, but I am leaning towards none anywhere else. I want my animals to be able to come up into the barn aisle during bad weather and I don't like the idea of the urine just soaking into the concrete.

On the one hand, bleaching and cleaning would be a breeze with the concrete, but on the other hand, I just don't want my animals having to be trying to sleep on that at night.

 

[cw]

make sure the barn is plenty big or you can add on later a barn can be too small but ive never seen one too big.

if you milk whatever have plenty of concrete and running water, sinks, hoses, etc
concrete is very easy to clean if finished right

if your worried about animals sleeping on it make sure you have plenty of bedding,
but youll find they will prefur it bare as it tends to stay cooler,

make sure you finish the concrete so that it will drain/ 3/4 inch drop per ft
maybe put in floor drains if nessicary
thats my best advice

 

[ShadyGlade]

I finally built my "dream barn" last summer. Himself wanted concrete in the aisle so he cold easily take the tractor in to clean stalls or move round bales in to thaw in the winter. Actually he and the contractor wanted me to concrete the entire building but the compromise was the aisle. I also concreted where the feed is stored and where eventually I hope to have an office and a tack room. Our concrete is slightly sloped for drainage and does have a texture and fiber for traction. I have not found it to be slippery or difficult to clean. I don't deliberately keep animals on the aisle way but goats being goats it happens sometimes.

Water & a push broom with a little sodium bicarbonate is all I've used to clean it so far & I haven't noticed a problem.

 

[cassie]

If you seal the concrete it will clean up like a dream. I think the concrete has to sit something like 3 weeks before it can be sealed. If you go into one of the big warehouse stores like Costco or Lowes you will see what I mean. Those places all have sealed concrete floors.