Mud in Front of the Barn issues

[zzvyb6]

I poured 12 x 12 concrete pads using 2x4's as forms. It's heavily brushed to give the critters good traction. Plenty of room to park a bunk feeder that I can fill by tossing bales from the mow above. I used 2 golf cart roofs as a sun shield. Couple of other comments:

The brushed concrete will wear down their hooves in a very good way for depth, shape and flatness. You will have 1/2 the number of farrier visits.

Gravel will wind up in their hooves and contribute to "stone bruises". Small pea sized stones can travel up their leg by perforating the hoof and exiting up their foreleg. Its VERY painful and expensive to fix since it almost always causes an infection. ('No Hoof, No Horse'). You would need to check and clean their feet daily.

'They' tend to congregate on the pads, too, so make them big enough for the less dominant animals to run around without stomping into the mud bog nearby.

The pads make a good place to wash the critters, too. Have then sloped to run water down and away from the barn and into a trough put around the edges made from 1/2 of a plastic drain pipe.

Good place to wash a tractor, too !

 

[ultrarunner]

None of the livestock has access to the front side of the barn that is graveled... the coral fencing regulates them to the side and rear...

We have used shoe pads for endurance rides... the terrain over a 100 miles varies greatly.

 

[/pine]

scrap wood (pt) catwalk...

 

[Argonne]

Hi Eddie, remember a month ago when we were all freaking out for lack of water? Same problem here of course. Our solution was gravel at the feed storage approaches and keep the horses out of that area. We feed using a Priefert V-Rack feeder with double bunks, and the feeder stays in the pasture. Once a day we transport hay and grain (if used) from the storage building to the feeder using our 6X4 Gator which never gets stuck. When the feeder gets surrounded by mud it is a simple matter to move it to a new spot in the pasture by towing it sled like with the Gator...takes like 30 seconds. A side benefit to this routine is zero hay wastage, which has cut us down to a single (high quality) 1000# bale for each animal for an average winter.

I haven't discovered a permanent solution for our soil, but I expect it would involve excavation, rip-rap, cloth, and gravel, and I just haven't gone through all that for fear of a much bigger mess in a few years after a few more cycles.

 

[dragoneggs]

My go to has always been gravel. I would take a close look at where is the water source and look to cut a drain around the area to prevent future 'erosion' and mess. I think gravel is the cleanest solution and doesn't track like some other ground covers.

 

[Wagtail]

I will add my voice (and experience) to using gravel.

Dirt, wood chips, mats, etc... will only add to the problem. It may take a couple or three layers/applications to displace the water-retaining soil, but it will work.

Landscaper providers will have the right type of gravel to firm the slippery muck and allow drainage.

 

[LouNY]

Scrape it down a few inches a bit of highway fabric cover with gravel.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Scrape it down a few inches a bit of highway fabric cover with gravel.

Yes, get the mud scraped off, lay geotextile fabric, cover with your choice; sand or wood chips work well. The fabric will keep the mud from working up, but you have to protect it from hooves or it will not last.

 

[dragoneggs]

Unless the mud is deep, I think the geo fabric is overkill here.

 

[4570Man]

Frist year we used wood chips after getting the animals away... big improvement.

Later we found Horse Mats cheap... bought them and made paths which also helped.

The final solutions was to gravel the area and keep the livestock out... has worked real good but cost several thousand dollars with gravel here $70 a yard.

Ouch. Locally gravel is $9 a ton plus delivery. Delivery is around $100 a truck load. Maybe a little more for a big truck. I still think that’s expensive.