Gravel and footing

[Alan]

I posted this earlier this year but thought I would put it out as a focused question. It was suggested that I use a gravel pad for mud control around the feed bunk. I thought I would lay down about 3 inches of 1and 1/2 minus and then about 3 inches of 3/4 minus on top of that, once every is completly dried out and leveled. Just to recap, this area is churned up to the point the mud is belly deap mud as thin as soup within a month of our rainy season. For those that may not know what minus gravel is, it is rock that has been crushed to the correct size, 3/4, 1 and1/2, 3 inch, etc. It is not rounded rock and can have points. But the advantage is it packs real tight, not like round (river) rock. All of our dirt roads are graveled with it, we don't have dirt roads here.

Any thoughts or cautions?

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Angus Cowman]

That is what we call base rock in our country it is a certain size rock say 1 1/2 " rock with everything smaller left in all the way to the lime
I woul probably go with a 1 1/2 clean rock or even larger up to 3" for the bottom layer and get it worked in the cap it with the 1" minus or 3/4" minus the clean rock will make a stable base and not get mushy when it gets wet
We always used clean rock in areas that were soft when doing construction because the fines in the minus rock will hold water and get mushy

 

[kscowboy]

I don't recall how many you're feeding but make it twice as thick as you think you need and have it set up where you can scrape it off with a blade or bobcat. have an extra load delivered that you can top coat with. Seems one of the tricks is to get it down before you need it and let it settle and pack down good before it gets used heavily

Unless you have concrete it's a bit of a losing battle. My piddly group of steers can turn any area into a 12 " deep **** pile in a matter of a couple weeks. i guess thats a lot better than knee deep but it still don't feel real good in my tennis shoes , yeah i know , boots , but i was just stopping in for a minute !

 

[Stocker Steve]

I would probably go with a 1 1/2 clean rock or even larger up to 3" for the bottom layer and get it worked in the cap it with the 1" minus or 3/4" minus the clean rock will make a stable base and not get mushy when it gets wet
We always used clean rock in areas that were soft when doing construction because the fines in the minus rock will hold water and get mushy

I have used "black class 5 gravel" which contains some old asphalt - - with or without a woven fiber mat underneath. You can also buy a lighter non woven mat. It packs down hard. Where there is good drainage it stays hard. Where water can sit it gets soupy but they don't seem to go through it.

Base rock base should work too but it seems like the woven mat is cheaper?

 

[cowperson]

We had a muddy place around where we work cattle until we put down geo textile material than crushed rock on top of that. The geo textile material does not allow the rock and mud to mix so there is no mud.

 

[Dave]

Alan,

I poured a concrete slab for the feed area. Mainly because cleaning the manure off a graveled pad is pretty tough to do. Gravel around the water trough and the chute works fine. But in the feeding area they just spend too much time there and there is just too much manure to remove.

 

[novaman]

I had the same problem with my dairy cows. They are fed in turned tires and since they are in the lot year round they pounded the he77 out of the ground. I put down a gravel pad about a foot thick. At first the cows rutted it up a bit when it got wet but with them on it constantly they eventually got it packed down hard. Now it is solid as can be and like I said it gets pounded pretty hard all day, every day. I am no help with rock size as I have a gravel pit of my own on my place and I just pulled whatever was in there. No specific size rock and there was fines.

 

[cmf1]

In South Louisiana if it's wet, even a little, it's mud.
I dug 6" deep, put geo tech cloth to cover and up sides, and then fill and level with what we call 6-10 limestone roadbase. (powder to 1 1/2").
Once it settles with rain and hoof traffic, you can dress it with a blade and have very few problems and a good stable surface.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for all the replies. They come up a slight incline to the feed bunk so I'm hoping if I get the pad thick enough along with the slope, I won't have too much problem with drainage. Also with the type of rock, it packs hard enough I should get some drain off from the pad rather than seeping through the pad to the mud.... I hope.

Dave I have thought about concrete, it's just a matter of how to split up my pennies.

Alan

 

[Brute 23]

I just used some ash for a road last week. Its a byproduct of coal plants if you have one around. Works like gravel but is cheaper and easier on the feet. They have all sizes. You might check it out.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Without some type of geo textile in NY, you would be "playing with yourself" oops - I didn't say that did I :shock:
Since we tend to be "cheap" here on this farm, we have taken netwrap from our bales, and used that as a base under the big rock than topped that with the small stuff. Just tried that last year, so far, holding up.

 

[mac]

This is a great thread with lots of good information. I was going to have a load of limestone gravel delivered to put around water troughs but I can get broken brick free. Any thoughts on this? My main concern of course is possible injury to their hooves. Thanks.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

This is a great thread with lots of good information. I was going to have a load of limestone gravel delivered to put around water troughs but I can get broken brick free. Any thoughts on this? My main concern of course is possible injury to their hooves. Thanks.

I would put down the geotextile fabric or net wrap, then broken bricks and topped with the crushed limestone. Use the free stuff for volume/height and the limestone to finish/smooth the surface. Just make sure the water can drain away from the troughs.

Early this past winter when my crowd/sort pen turned into a mudbowl, I put down the landscape fabric, then the oversize (2-3") limestone and topped with a layer of our sandy soil. Also made it where the water would drain away and after 15-20" of additional rain it still works great. No mud as the fabric/rock/sand allow the water to move away.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[agmantoo]

mac
As sharp as the sherds of the broken brick are I think you may be creating a foot problem. I would not use them at my place for any area that would come in contact with the feet.

 

[SRBeef]

I have not had good luck with geotextile for some reason.

I have had good luck with starting with a 6" to 12" layer or more of "breaker run" this is a wide mix of sizes as it comes out of the crusher up to about 6" diameter. This forms a base that wont sink into the mud. It interlocks and has enough surface area to stay on top.

Then put in 6" of "gravel".

Then top it off with 3 or 4" of "screenings" which is very fine and fills the gaps eventually to a smooth surface almost like concrete. Provides excellent footing for cattle.

Key to all of this is to compact this as its applied and level it to a 2% slope down hill to keep water flowing off of it. The above is not "free" but it works long term. Less expensive than concrete which is by far the best choice. Good luck.

Jim

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have not had good luck with geotextile for some reason.

Jim

What was the issue?