Mud Mess ?

[Stocker Steve]

Very wet fall here. Thought I was smart and put pairs on a sod hillside. Worked for a while but plugged bad now. Any ideas other than buying mini cows or constructing a gravel pad?

 

[Bright Raven]

Mud is awful here. I am getting gravel hauled in. They brought 2 loads at dusk last night. Hoping to get 2 more loads tonight. I am beefing up my feed pad.

BTW: this is going to be the wettest year on record for Kentucky. My hay rolls sat out all summer. I am seeing a lot more rot than usual. The good thing is - pastures have never been this good in November.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Thats an every year thing here, it would wreck every field I have if I just moved them as the mud got too bad. Concrete is the only thing that fixes it. A roof over every cow, bale and machine would be nice also but not practical.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have an old cement dairy lot, but aggressive grazing management tripled the number of cows on this place, so it is way too small. Thought about fabric covered with gravel for a bigger feed pad?

 

[Supa Dexta]

I've had (have remnants) of gravel pads, they disappear over time. I even use a large bomag vibratory roller. (bw 211) Can keep them from sinking, still gets sloppy on top. And scraping it off, and hooves on it over time wears it down.

 

[TCRanch]

Mud is awful here. I am getting gravel hauled in. They brought 2 loads at dusk last night. Hoping to get 2 more loads tonight. I am beefing up my feed pad.

BTW: this is going to be the wettest year on record for Kentucky. My hay rolls sat out all summer. I am seeing a lot more rot than usual. The good thing is - pastures have never been this good in November.

Do you ever have a problem with gravel getting in between their toes or wedged deep in their hooves? Some of the worst foot rot cases I've ever dealt with have been from gravel or thin rocks, had to dig deep with a flat head screwdriver to finally discover/dislodge the culprit.

 

[Bright Raven]

Mud is awful here. I am getting gravel hauled in. They brought 2 loads at dusk last night. Hoping to get 2 more loads tonight. I am beefing up my feed pad.

BTW: this is going to be the wettest year on record for Kentucky. My hay rolls sat out all summer. I am seeing a lot more rot than usual. The good thing is - pastures have never been this good in November.

Do you ever have a problem with gravel getting in between their toes or wedged deep in their hooves? Some of the worst foot rot cases I've ever dealt with have been from gravel or thin rocks, had to dig deep with a flat head screwdriver to finally discover/dislodge the culprit.

No. I actually rarely have that happen.

 

[TCRanch]

Mud is awful here. I am getting gravel hauled in. They brought 2 loads at dusk last night. Hoping to get 2 more loads tonight. I am beefing up my feed pad.

BTW: this is going to be the wettest year on record for Kentucky. My hay rolls sat out all summer. I am seeing a lot more rot than usual. The good thing is - pastures have never been this good in November.

Do you ever have a problem with gravel getting in between their toes or wedged deep in their hooves? Some of the worst foot rot cases I've ever dealt with have been from gravel or thin rocks, had to dig deep with a flat head screwdriver to finally discover/dislodge the culprit.

No. I actually rarely have that happen.

Maybe it's just geography. We have river & crusher hauled for the roads. Not so much a problem with the river but the crusher is definitely more pliable plus we have a ton of limestone that constitutes the majority of the thin, sharp rocks. Consider yourself lucky!

 

[Bright Raven]

Do you ever have a problem with gravel getting in between their toes or wedged deep in their hooves? Some of the worst foot rot cases I've ever dealt with have been from gravel or thin rocks, had to dig deep with a flat head screwdriver to finally discover/dislodge the culprit.

No. I actually rarely have that happen.

Maybe it's just geography. We have river & crusher hauled for the roads. Not so much a problem with the river but the crusher is definitely more pliable plus we have a ton of limestone that constitutes the majority of the thin, sharp rocks. Consider yourself lucky!

I agree.

 

[jltrent]

Mud is awful here. I am getting gravel hauled in. They brought 2 loads at dusk last night. Hoping to get 2 more loads tonight. I am beefing up my feed pad.

BTW: this is going to be the wettest year on record for Kentucky. My hay rolls sat out all summer. I am seeing a lot more rot than usual. The good thing is - pastures have never been this good in November.

Maybe it will rain out when it comes snow time, unless you like snow.

 

[Bright Raven]

Mud is awful here. I am getting gravel hauled in. They brought 2 loads at dusk last night. Hoping to get 2 more loads tonight. I am beefing up my feed pad.

BTW: this is going to be the wettest year on record for Kentucky. My hay rolls sat out all summer. I am seeing a lot more rot than usual. The good thing is - pastures have never been this good in November.

Maybe it will rain out when it comes snow time, unless you like snow.

We are now 2 inches from an all time record precipitation year. A storm due in Friday will get us over that hump.

 

[pricefarm]

The winter muddy mess is the only thing I hate about having cows. I hate for them to tare up pasture fields but if you keep them in one lot it sure gets muddy fast. I have tried putting down shale and gravel but after time it still turns to mud. I would love to have a concrete lot. Next time weaned calves sell for 1300$ I'll have one lol

 

[hdrockn]

I have minimized the muck around waterers and feeders by placing logs sided by side in the divits around the feeders and then placing a layer of our sandy soil to fill the cracks and hold the logs in place. It is a pretty cheap pad and a place for me to dump some of the beetle/drought killed pine we seem to have an abundance of lately.

 

[ddd75]

concrete ain't much. .i just poured a 30 ' x 45' 4.5" thick for 2500

 

[pricefarm]

concrete ain't much. .i just poured a 30 ' x 45' 4.5" thick for 2500

No not bad. Around here gravel is around 15$ a ton plus paying someone to haul it. Adds up fast.

 

[ddd75]

concrete ain't much. .i just poured a 30 ' x 45' 4.5" thick for 2500

No not bad. Around here gravel is around 15$ a ton plus paying someone to haul it. Adds up fast.

yea.. its about the same here.. I'm paying 350 a truckload hauled in / 24 tons. I have 5 trucks coming monday to finish up in front of my new equipment shed.