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mka11
USA
1 Posts |
 Posted - 06/10/2009 : 10:59:44 AM
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| What do you recommend for stall flooring, under the mats, concrete, sand, gravel? |
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PC1
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2009 : 3:25:37 PM
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Depending on the type and set of the barn.
QP (quarry process) topped with stone dust. |
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wolfgangsally
1 Posts |
Posted - 06/11/2009 : 08:06:42 AM
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| screenings or quarry dust with matts over top. my prior barn had more elaborate stall floors: 6 inches of #2 stone, then 6x2x12 oak boards placed on the 2" edge every 2" then backfill the spaces with more #2 stone. It worked good until I had a draft horse in and then I found the boards brokdown somewhat. This was a very labor intensive process! |
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Horizon Structures
USA
82 Posts |
Posted - 06/11/2009 : 09:38:02 AM
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Mats are undoubtedly easy to shovel, and they last a long time. I'll put a word out there for clay flooring, though. If you get good clay and tamp it down, it works very well.
I *really* like that it absorbs some of the pee without generally getting soggy (saves on shavings a bit... mats don't absorb nada!). Clay is easy on their feet and has good traction (mats over concrete are quite hard, and may be more slippy).
You'll have to rake out the wet spot and replace clay there every few years, but overall I like it. Just a thought!
- Nicole -
www.HorizonStructures.com
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matt15598
USA
11 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2009 : 04:43:35 AM
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| I would disagree with the clay idea. As a person with them I found that they were more of a problem and am currently in the process of putting down stone dust with matts in all of my stalls. I clean my stalls once if not twice a day and still the clay became soggy and was starting to get the amonia smell from the urine. Also if you put the fresh bedding on the sides of the stalls and drag only what is needed for the day to the center you use less bedding. Just my two cents. |
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Horizon Structures
USA
82 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2009 : 08:26:03 AM
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Yes, the idea on banking the sides a bit and pulling bedding to the center is a good idea.
I know clay probably won't work for everyone, and I'm sure the quality/consistency of clay varies greatly from area to area. It works well in our barn, however. Stalls are cleaned once a day. No ammonia smell. We have one super messy gelding that we put a small mat over just the wetspot so it doesn't get too wet too fast. The others have no mats, and in the 10 years I've been there I only remember them putting new clay in the stalls once.
Also, this is a show barn and while horses get turned out and worked everyday, they are in the stalls most of the time.
Clay works for us, and I prefer it to the stalls we have with mats. Just my opinion. 
- Nicole -
www.HorizonStructures.com
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PaulChristenson
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 01:27:42 AM
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Wood pellets on rubber mats are the cats pajamas...
http://www.o2compost.com/content/Bedding.htm
Paul in VT
"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the cornfield."
--Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1956 |
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Horizon Structures
USA
82 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 09:24:56 AM
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We used that with a pony who had respiratory problems once. It was a little... weird. lol. Definitely took some getting used to! We had it over the clay, not mats. I imagine it would work better with mats, because I think the clay was absorbing some of the water so we had some trouble getting them to expand fully with that. But it worked well enough then.
The bags are sooo much easier to store and handle than loose or baled shavings though! That's definitely a major plus.
- Nicole -
www.HorizonStructures.com
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Topic |
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Stall floors
