shameful bed - dirt floors

[parsley]

The stable my boy is in has a dirt floor - it is an old cow barn so part of the floor is really earth from rotted cow dung I think (it is soil now and not dung!

). The problem is that he always pees in the same place and this turns the top soil to mud - over the winter I have gradually had to remove the mud as well as the bedding (yukcy) so that now there is a definate dip in the floor. I am down to the origninal floor now but the drainage is dreadful. I put a good layer of shavings down and then a lot of straw but the wee just stays in the hollow, which is squelchy by the end of the day (he is only in during the day)

I have also tried deep littering him but its too awful. Does anyone have any good tips for dealing with situations like this? In every other way it is the perfect stable for him - nice a big and lots of fresh air (dust makes him cough). Because it is so airy the bed doesn't smell thankfully and the stable is really like two large stables so he doesn't have to stand on the horrible bit.

 

[Cahill]

concrete it

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Wait for the weather to improve, turn your lad out, dig out the floor of the stable to a depth of at least 9 inches, put in some hardcore, broken bricks etc & then concrete over the top. A mixer will cost about £15 a week. You will always have problems with the floor while it remains as it is at the moment. Good Luck

 

[druid]

Fill hollow iwth megazorb for now and then as TZ says

 

[parsley]

I'm not allowed to do that!

- its not my stable.

 

[parsley]

Is Megazorb a lot different from ordinary shavings? (I've never used it before)

 

[guisbrogal]

I had the exact same problem at my old yard.

In the end I covered the floor in a good thick layer of shavings and then bought stable mats and put them over the top. It worked really well. Then in the summer while she was out I lifted them and let it all dry out.

 

[druid]

Yes it's far more absorbent!

 

[parsley]

Thanks - that might work as it would stop him churning up the floor underneath

 

[parsley]

I suppose thats why its called Megazorb then! I will buy some next as I have nearly run out of shavings.

 

[kildalton]

megazorb is really brilliant at soaking up wee , it goes into a lump!

 

[Theresa_F]

Have to agree with megazorb - fantastic stuff for soaking up pee - used it last year when Chancer was either peeing or tipping up his buckets - only stuff that could cope with him.

Back to shavings this year, as he is now a clean little boy, and I had to travel a fair distance to get it, or would have stayed with it as it was so quick and easy to maintain as well as soaking up everything.

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

We have dirt floors as well cos our barn is also an old cow barn. We have thin rubber matting over the top and that seems to do the trick.