Well I got the barn done just in time. Here in MD the weather has been in the 60's most weekends until now when it's going to be in the 40's.
I plan on building 4 stalls(10X12) for our horses and have one be used for our 2 goats and 1 sheep. What is good for flooring? Our stalls will be rough cut oak boards and I was thinking about putting 2X4's on the floor about 2 inches apart and fill in the gaps with gravel.
Opinions vary on horse stall floors, but I wouldn't use 2x4's. They'll get busted up pretty quick from pawing, etc. Splinters could be a problem when the horses lie down. Gravel is a good idea for the base so the urine will drain and not puddle. Put sand or loose soil over the gravel. Floor mats are a good idea, but can be pricey. Wood shavings are good to soak up the urine. There are also processed wood products that will last longer than regular shavings. Depends on how much you want to spend. Good luck.
My stalls have about 4 inches of tamped stone dust with the rectangular rubber mats. Sawdust bedding with proper housekeeping keeps urine seepage to a minimum. I don't bed deeply, rather I bed just enough to keep the stall from getting to messy overnight. Each animal is different.
I place my mats with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of space between them. They tend to not lift as easily as if spaced tightly and do move with the weather. The gap fills with debris.
Just in case you do not know, some the sawdust from some wood species is highly toxic to horses. Walnut is the worst. Red oak and Black Cherry as well and there are a few others to avoid, I forget which.
If you happen to have access to cheap or free sawdust, that is a plus. Otherwise, with only four stalls, the cost of bagged sawdust would not be to bad and it is easy to store. I prefer the wood pellets over shavings. They make for easy house keeping and last awhile.
I don't know a thing about goats though. They may enjoy eating the sawdust.
Your goats will dig through the bedding and lie down in the dirt. At least that is what mine do, Boers. They also prefer to bed down out of doors. About the only time they bed down in the barns is when it is raining or is extremely cold.
Well this weekend I got about 6" of stone down and will top that with stone dust and the 2X4's. I will have to take a pic of what I have done. I can get sawdust for $5 for a truck load or 300 for a dump truck load delivered. We top the stalls with about 4" of saw dust or shavings depending on what the mill has available.
Hopefully I will get some of the 2x4's in this weekend but they will provide a solid flat floor with good drainage. I think a Pic will help everyone understand. I got the idea from the book "complete plans for building horse barns big and small" I have a few horses in the old barn that dug holes in the stalls and since I needed to build my new stalls up to drain well I decided to try this idea.
I am going to try and post a pic of the progress on the stalls.
We finished putting the 2X4's in and filled in with CR6. I think we will have to fill in more as everything settles. Well I need to get out and try and finish up the stalls. Next week I need to build doors.
Steve [image]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc25b3127cce8181466c75f400000016108ActmLhs1ash[/image]
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