Looking for suggestions

[carla]

I have a 10x80 ft area under the barn roof that I want to put my tub/alley and chute. There are several pens that connect to this area that just come up under the roof. Sorry, kind of hard to explain. Anyway this 10x80 ft area has had a previous alley/chute system. The dirt is lower most of the way thru. My question is: what would be good to build this back up to the same level as the other pens so that my tub etc. will be level? Would gravel be the best? Have dirt hauled in? Concrete would be too expensive. Thanks for any advice.

 

[dun]

Gravelly clay would work well. Packs good and doesn't get real mucky when it gets wet.
I'm not sure directly around Springfield, but heading a little north east and there is a lot of that type of soil. It's pretty much the predoninant soil type in Laclede county.

dun

 

[carla]

I'm actually west of Springfield. We don't have much clay here. I think I'm going to check and see how expensive a truckload of 1 1/2 inch rock would be. That should hold up better than regular gravel. May be expensive, I haven't priced anything like that for a long time.

 

[dun]

You could use the grey colored stuff that they refer to as roadbase around here. It's coarse gravel and crushed limestone. It packs well but the finer stuff will erode if it gets a stream of water across it. It will never pack as hard as clay but it makes a great barn floor. But if the cows pee on it and lay where they pee'ed or if the come in wet and lay down they'll look grey.
Straight run gravel will pack some but it won;t stay as smooth and level as the roadbase, plus there is a better chance of it getting stuck in a cows foot, i.e. between the claws/toes.

dun

 

[jerry27150]

around here they have what is called back fil, it is the fines left from crushing limestone. it is real cheap & packs hard

 

[Medic24]

Perhaps some geo cloth under that gravel will keep some of it pushing down so far it is of no use?

 

[TheBullLady]

We put grade #8 road stone in our pens, works great. Especially with all this MUD. The only thing is.. if the pastures have been wet and muddy, the cows will move slower on the rock. We give them time to walk on it so they don't bruise their soft feet.

I have a brother in law in Ozark. Pretty country!

 

[BuckemRanch]

What about decomposed granite? I use it on my roads.