what can i do about the mud in front of my barn?

Question

i have a 3 stall barn but it only gets muddy in front of one stall. i'm going to put gutter up which will help, but not solve the draining problem. what can i put in the ground to help it drain better? it's dirt and pea gravel now.

Answer 1

If you are still having problems, dig it out until you get to a rocky/gravelly layer, then refill with sand and gravel. You may have to add more gravel.

Another thing you can do is add boards on top of the mud. The mud is just unhealthy, so I don't think this is a great solution, but it will keep the feet out of the mud while you figure out a better way to do things.

You may have to go with a French drain -- dig a trench all the way outdoors, then add the gravel/sand -- if the trench is angled slightly downhill on the way out, the water should drain, too. But this is a lot of hassle -- almost major construction.

Answer 2

If the pea gravel is outside the barn, the horses should be able to walk on that just fine without the dirt. Without dirt... no mud. Our barn is at the bottom of a long hill, and we too had drainage problems on one side. We dug holes along the outer wall, on the outside, deep & wide enough to place 50-gallon drums. We cut tops & bottoms out and drilled holes all around the drums. Once placed into the ground, we filled with gravel, then covered with sand (sand, if it drains at all, won't make mud). This works nicely for us.

Answer 3

My dad put a drain in his barn. It's about 10 feet long, about 4 inches deep and about 3 inches wide. It has a steel grate over it so the water will drain but won't trip up anyone. The trench runs the length of the problem with a pipe that drains out of one side of the barn. Some people use the same method at their front or back doors to keep water from running into their houses. He and the guys installed it themselves in one afternoon. It looks like a long skinny air A/C duct.

Answer 4

If you have dirt, and you have rain, and you have cows or horses cutting up the ground with their feet, your going to have mud. You can try draining it better. I dont think gravel would be a good idea tho, I would think if you put gravel down that the animals walking over the gavel it is just going to get scattered around by the animals, not to mention, if you dont have a solid base to put the gravel over the animals are just gonna squish the gravel into the mud.

Answer 5

A long time ago I heard about a thing called a french drain. It is a pipe that is put into the ground and has holes in it to channel the water to an area where you want it, instead of the place it wants to be.

Answer 6

If you can find it in your area it is the waste off of cement blocks it is small grains of cement that come off of the blocks when they are made. It works very well for helping with muddy areas and is good footing for horses and cattle. We use it all the time on our farm and in the round pens.

Answer 7

Fill it with limerock. After is settles a couple days add more. Before you know it that limerock will be as hard as concrete.

Answer 8

Try gravel

Answer 9

your a horseman and dont know what to do with mud? yer funny lmao