Sheep House floor

[cowboysupper]

We're currently renovating a lean too for housing a few extra sheep this spring. Previous owners used it as a sick bay for cattle so there was about a foot of well rotted FYM on the bottom of the floor, clay below. I've cleared it out and want to bring the floor level up about a foot, level with the lane running parallel. I'd prefer to do it cheap and cheerful at the minute so concrete isn't a consideration. I've never kept sheep on a stone floor before.

Would say 9 inches of 2 inch stone and 3 inches of quarry dust whacked firmly in do the job?

 

[hally]

We're currently renovating a lean too for housing a few extra sheep this spring. Previous owners used it as a sick bay for cattle so there was about a foot of well rotted FYM on the bottom of the floor, clay below. I've cleared it out and want to bring the floor level up about a foot, level with the lane running parallel. I'd prefer to do it cheap and cheerful at the minute so concrete isn't a consideration. I've never kept sheep on a stone floor before.

Would say 9 inches of 2 inch stone and 3 inches of quarry dust whacked firmly in do the job?

Will be fine, we have a few sheds on 50mm sub-base whacked solid and it is grand, just have to be careful when mucking out. It does seem to use noticeably less straw than the sheds we have with a concrete floor.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Bedding will last longer on a stone floor. Ours is done with 1"-2" stone, rolled in but not too sealed.

Will be fine, we have a few sheds on 50mm sub-base whacked solid and it is grand, just have to be careful when mucking out. It does seem to use noticeably less straw than the sheds we have with a concrete floor.

Definitely. We put up a shed last winter meaning to concrete the floor over the summer (ran out of time pre-lambing) but decided to leave it after seeing how dry bedding stayed. Can always concrete another year if we change our mind.

Got someone in with a back actor to scrape up the bedding into piles but a better tractor driver than me could probably manage it with a loader lol.

 

[neilo]

We're currently renovating a lean too for housing a few extra sheep this spring. Previous owners used it as a sick bay for cattle so there was about a foot of well rotted FYM on the bottom of the floor, clay below. I've cleared it out and want to bring the floor level up about a foot, level with the lane running parallel. I'd prefer to do it cheap and cheerful at the minute so concrete isn't a consideration. I've never kept sheep on a stone floor before.

Would say 9 inches of 2 inch stone and 3 inches of quarry dust whacked firmly in do the job?

Given the price of straw, and assuming you’d have to buy the stone to fill quite a deep hole, is there an opportunity to put a slatted floor in instead?
I know it would cost more, but a fair chunk of that would be covered by not having to buy stone & straw this year?

 

[cowboysupper]

Will be fine, we have a few sheds on 50mm sub-base whacked solid and it is grand, just have to be careful when mucking out. It does seem to use noticeably less straw than the sheds we have with a concrete floor.

So forget about the quarry dust altogether? Reducing the amount of stone in the dung spreader was my thinking there.

 

[cowboysupper]

Given the price of straw, and assuming you’d have to buy the stone to fill quite a deep hole, is there an opportunity to put a slatted floor in instead?
I know it would cost more, but a fair chunk of that would be covered by not having to buy stone & straw this year?

If it was for ewes only I might have considered slats but would prefer the option of leaving it straw bedded so it can be used for general purpose too.

 

[Fendt516profi]

So forget about the quarry dust altogether? Reducing the amount of stone in the dung spreader was my thinking there.

If you got quarry dust mixed in a pan mixer with a bit of cement then laid and rolled in hard how would that be

 

[hally]

So forget about the quarry dust altogether? Reducing the amount of stone in the dung spreader was my thinking there.

Well we never bothered if whacked hard enough the fines normally are enough

 

[pauld]

Clay floor here by choice. Goes as hard as concrete in summer. No problem picking up stone in muck. Top up and level as necessary, before straw goes in . Used for sheep from Feb. Just a concrete strip along front. Line of feed barriers and TMR fed.

 

[johnspeehs]

I'd go 9" drainage stone and 2 or 3 of blinding, pack it down tight. I clean one out for a neighbour and it comes off the stones pretty clean if you are careful, definitely won't need as much straw on stones.

 

[Yale]

Clay floor here by choice. Goes as hard as concrete in summer. No problem picking up stone in muck. Top up and level as necessary, before straw goes in . Used for sheep from Feb. Just a concrete strip along front. Line of feed barriers and TMR fed.

I’d say soil or clay as if a bit goes in the spreader it doesn’t matter.

Cheap as chips also.

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

I’d say soil or clay as if a bit goes in the spreader it doesn’t matter.

Cheap as chips also.

As above, our sheep tunnel is any old soil, I aimed at putting the subsoil/clay covered by fairer looking dirt, and just tracked down. it moves a bit where the tele runs in and out, but its plenty good for sheep.

 

[cowboysupper]

I’d say soil or clay as if a bit goes in the spreader it doesn’t matter.

Cheap as chips also.

We have plenty of soil heaped up at the minute. If we went that route and did the job in say the next couple weeks, would it dry out enough to put ewes on by start of March? Or is that a job better done after lambing time to prepare for the next year?

 

[Yale]

We have plenty of soil heaped up at the minute. If we went that route and did the job in say the next couple weeks, would it dry out enough to put ewes on by start of March? Or is that a job better done after lambing time to prepare for the next year?

If you can lay it with a reasonable sized 360 digger and track it in that would be best.

Otherwise,get it in with a tractor and loader and roll it with the wheels and a heavy land roller.

Get it pretty level and you can use it straight away,assuming the soil is not horrendously wet.If its wet,trailer it into the shed and leave it in the shed until it has dried enough to handle.Put in a bit more than you need as you can always take some out.

Just got to be careful when mucking out the first time.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Depends how far away for haulage cost but chalk put down well is by far the best floor for sheep by far , just need a little swinger hired in in to clean out to keep the surface sealed and tight.

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

We have plenty of soil heaped up at the minute. If we went that route and did the job in say the next couple weeks, would it dry out enough to put ewes on by start of March? Or is that a job better done after lambing time to prepare for the next year?

By March it will be a whole lot dryer/flatter than anything outside that they were going to lamb on, someone told me the shed is for our convenience, the sheep don't need it

 

[Longlowdog]

I have two sheds with 4'' of the crumbly rock/sandy rubbish that passes for sub soil here on top of crushed rock. It drains well and is not difficult to clear our without picking up the rock. In the summer I gouge the surface with the muck fork to dry it out after the sheep have compacted the surface over lambing. I'd far rather have soil floors than concrete unless they were laid with a double camber to make sure all rinsing water and pee flowed to the centre (folk think that's mad but the sheep prefer to lie/lamb by the sides of the shed) then actively downhill out the shed. Pressure washing poorly laid out sheds is a nightmare. A few tonnes of quarry dust every couple of years to top up is peanuts compared to the price of a concrete floor done well.
A shed in March may be for the farmers convenience 'down south' but for some of us in the barren north we could still have snow for two months and no appreciable grass growth till late April/ May in a bad year.

 

[coniser]

I have a shed with a soil floor dug into the hill side so down to hard shalely clay. Find it best to muck it out loader bucket