Dairy Goat Barn Management
Housing animals indoors brings its own unique set of challenges to dairy farming. Efficient systems for ensuring your barns are kept clean and the product removed from them is managed effectively is essential for the benefit of the animals and the environment.
Bedding Care
Bedding Material:
In New Zealand systems the most economic bedding material has found to be untreated wood shavings. It is readily available and has good absorption properties. Ideally your farm will have a bunker of some sort to store the bulk shavings out of the weather.
A variety of application methods are used to refresh the barn shavings as frequently as needed - depending on the stocking rate in your barn, the moisture level of the feed and environmental conditions, this could be anything between a daily to weekly task. Restocking the shavings after the housing barn has been completely cleaned requires the use of a big loader bucket or tip trailer in order to get a good initial base layer that should be at least 100mm deep.. Regularly refreshing the shavings can be done with a smaller capacity system such as an auger bucket or specially designed shavings spreader.
Miscanthus is a similar product to wood shavings. We have trialed this on our own farm but have found the cost to be higher, the product isn't as readily available, is coarser (so not as comfortable for young kids or on does udders) and didn't have significantly higher absorption.
The incorporation of absorbent materials such as zeolite into the base bedding helps to retain moisture and prevent bacterial buildup.
Given the option, goats will seek out clean, Zeolite can be added to the base bedding to
dry bedding increase absorbancy.
Bedding Condition:
Keeping your bedding in clean, dry condition is vital to the health and comfort of your goats. Bedding that is damp and/or dirty will lead to issues such a mastitis, foot rot and pneumonia as well as being unpleasant for the goats to rest on. How often you refresh your bedding will depend on the natural ventilation of your barn, your stocking rate, external weather conditions, the moisture content of their feed and the type of bedding material being used. if the bedding is visibly damp or dirty, you can smell ammonia, or the goats udders are dirty when coming in for milking, your bedding needs refreshing.
Refreshing Bedding:
Typically this is done whilst the does are in the milking shed. Whilst in some cases it is possible to refresh the bedding whilst the animals are in the pens, the dust created can lead to an increase in pneumonia and can logistically be challenging (i.e. the goats get in your way). Because of this, bucks, young stock and dry animals usually will need to be run off separately in order to refresh the bedding in their pens.
Full replacement of bedding is usually done with big tractor buckets or wagons so as to ensure a decent base layer (40-50 mmm or more).
There are a variety of attachments and methods that can be used to regularly add a fresh layer of bedding. The images below show an example of a shavings auger bucket that throws shavings from the scrape lane into the loafing area. Being able to keep vehicles off the loafing area reduces compaction which would in turn decrease the moisture holding capacity of the bedding.
Auger buckets enable the refreshing of bedding It is important to keep a constant supply of bedding
without having to drive on the loafing area on hand to refresh pens as needed
Bedding Storage:
In order to regularly refresh the bedding, a bulk supply must be stored on farm in a location that will keep it dry and prevent it from blowing away. Some farms will have purpose built bunkers whilst others will utilse sections of the housing barn or other farm building.
Waste Management
Note: Whilst the term 'waste' is used here, the product removed from the housing barns is a valuable source of nutrients that are returned back to the pasture.
Removing Barn Waste:
A natural consequence of housing animals indoors is the need to manage barn waste. Barns designed with concrete lanes inside the pens will get scraped daily when the does are brought into the shed for milking. These scrapings need to be stored on a sealed surface or can be loaded directly to a sealed wagon ready for application to pasture.
Holding the first row of does back after milking allows
time for the barn maintenance to be completed
before returning to their freshly cleaned pens.
Utilising Barn Waste:
Some barns have wood shavings covering the entire loafing area whilst others have a concrete scrape lane running adjacent to the feedlane. These scrape lanes are typically approx 3m wide and are designed to capture the majority of the muck from the does who typically make these deposits whilst eating, thereby reducing the need for extra shavings in this area. Farms feeding a TMR diet (no fresh grass) will naturally have cleaner and drier pens due to the drier diet being consumed and fresh grass not being dragged into the pen. When feeing high moisture forage such as chickory, pens will tend to be noticably even more wet and mucky.
Despite these feedlanes reducing the need for shavings in this area, they do require regular scraping to keep them clean and this in turn creates muck that needs to be stored in a compliant way and disposed off regularly. Typically lane scrapings (dung heavy) are applied at least weekly to cow or drystock pasture. If the goat farm does not have such areas as part of their operation, there is often a neighbouring farm willing to buy (or take for free) this manure.
Lab analysis of lane scrapings have shown it to be rich in Urea, Iron and Potassium. Taking samples on your own block at least annually allows fertiliser reps to use this information as part of your nutrient plan and can reduce the need for purchased fertiliser imports.
Different regional councils will have differing environmental rules but in order to remain compliant your muck scrapings should be stored on a sealed surface and either covered and/or allows run-off to drain to a waste system. Applying them to pasture as soon as possible after removing them from your pens eliminates large storage piles building up and reduces nutrient loss. Your farm needs to have a plan in place for compliant storage or larger volumes when pastures are too wet to apply the muck as frequently as you normally would.
In addition to the barn waste created via lane scrapings, the loafing area bedding (woodshavings) needs to be removed and fully refreshed. Typically this occurs twice a year to coincide with the cultivation of crops e.g. pre-cultivation and post harvest on maize paddocks. The high organic content of barn waste improves soil aeration and drainage and because much of the nitrogen in barn manure is bound in organic matter, only approximately 10-20% is readily available to the plant, with the rest being slowly released over time. As such, rates of up to 200kg N/ha on maize paddocks and 100 kg/ha on grazed pasture in a single application are considered acceptable but should be moderated in consultation with your feriliser rep.
Loading barn waste directly into a sealed wagon ready for application reduces the need for a fully contained storage area and leaves the area tidy.
Muck is scraped off the concrete lane daily using a 3m bucket.
Barn Maintenance:
Goats are very hard on gates and rails – they climb on everything, bite at it, pull at it, rub their heads and bodies on it. People and machinery are also known to be quite hard on a lot of the posts and gates! If you do not keep on top of these things, before you know it you will have a barn full of posts on a lean and gates that no longer swing nicely - or worse you will have your whole pen of goats escaping through a broken rail or a hole in the gate.
Troughs also need to be continually monitored for repair or replacment as the goats will rub the screws loose or general use will cause parts to leak.
Broken wall palings create a fun spot for the goats but if left unfixed will lead to damage to the outer shed wall or damage to your otherwise protected waterlines.
Constant pressure on the feed rails can lead to them coming off - sometimes a temporary fix is needed to contain the goats until the board can be firmly re-attached or replaced.
