How do you deal with mud?

[donnaIL]

We deal with it by wearing muck boots.. and good knees*L*..the cows in much better shape than us.
At least you know they aren't taking off after you (joking)

Ag lime works good here..you could get a whole lot of the hydrated stuff delived from alton by semi cheap. Its powdery at first but it stiffens up good. If you do the other ag lime (like sand) it works good but only if it sets for a while during summer. Drainage is the key...Im still working on it

Tried alot of methods and when this ground gets soft well it is just the pits..ask someone who is perfect in your area*L*

 

[Wisteria Farms]

We deal with it by wearing muck boots.. and good knees*L*..the cows in much better shape than us.
At least you know they aren't taking off after you (joking)

Ag lime works good here..you could get a whole lot of the hydrated stuff delived from alton by semi cheap. Its powdery at first but it stiffens up good. If you do the other ag lime (like sand) it works good but only if it sets for a while during summer. Drainage is the key...Im still working on it

Tried alot of methods and when this ground gets soft well it is just the pits..ask someone who is perfect in your area*L*

Well, here's another thing working against us...we bought this land (was in crops) and built the house/barns/etc. The top layer of the entire property is soft due to years/years of discing so yes, I have HIGH muck boots and have sunk to my knees before...
We do get our lyme from Alton or up north @ Kimaterials and yes, its the cheapest stuff around but its not going to stiffen up quick enough...wet as it is, they'll just make a big lyme mud pie. I might try layer of carpet, then rock then lyme...Going to clean everything out today and have something delivered Monday... Thanks

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have tried gravel with and with out fabric underneath. It does not last.
Neighbor used crushed concrete. It stays in place much better.
Cheapest northern approach is to put sawdust on frozen ground. Then it stays hard as a rock until about mid June

 

[CKC1586]

Mostly I curse, swear, pitch and moan. Does about as much good as anything I have tried. Sand works for a while, but still have to scrap it out and replace it often.

 

[grubbie]

Im kinda wondering about ash......coal fired power plants around here have tons of it. Once it gets wet and dry a few times seems to harden up a bit when it is on a solid foundation of some sort, not sure in the muck we have here though.

 

[Chad Boese]

Dig around the area, and put breaker rock in the hole then cover that with a good amount of gravle,

 

[Beckett]

Hey Wisteria,

I live in Northern IL and had the same problem a few years back. All the pasture entrances and access to loafing shed and pole building were all mud. I took a skid loader and dug out all the areas 10 inches deep and put a layer of soil seperator "petromat, T2000, or Soil fabric". Then covered the hole with 5 inches of base rock or breaker no larger than 3 inches, and topped off the top of the hole with half inch minus " as the quarry calls it. i also made sure to have at least a percent of fall for water to drain off the stone. It is inportant to make sure you Fabric under the stone will let water go through it. you dont want to trap water under the stone. Other than haveing to clean the crap off of it ocassionaly it but it still is holding up really good. I think it was 10 years ago when i did it and it cost me about $500.00 to do everything i needed. Tada, no mure mud for me thank you. LOL

Hope this helps,
Beckett

 

[Dave]

I pour concrete. The cows spend most of the winter on concrete and under roofs. I have a friend who said that if he stays in the cattle business long enough the entire place will be covered with concrete and have a roof over it. But then it does rain a litle here in the winter.

 

[Malter]

Anything must be better than the base material you have in place so the first thing is to get rid of that then backfill and make a big effort to prevent water getting into it again using surface drains.

 

[saltbranch]

I have never done this myself.
The construction Co. that built one our buildings at work did this for the base of building built on clay. They took concrete in a bag (several bags) spread them out, tilled in with a Bobcat, then watered it in. Dirt was hard. I cant remembr what the process is called. Do a search for concrete mixed with dirt. I think I have some bookmarks at work computer.

 

[saltbranch]

Search for soil cement.
Here is a link. http://www.pwmag.com/industry-news.asp? ... eID=314655
Not sure if it will help with your situation, but I was impressed with what I saw.