The discussion seems to be wide ranging and I would appreciate your thoughts. . Another consideration: If you live in a dry climate with little rain, the dust particles in the crusher dust can work themselves deep into your horses mane and coat. Et voila! In general, delivery is free of charge for distances of up to 10 miles. Ive heard gravel and have been avoiding it, but I am now considering it from your article/blog. So if you scrape down during a wet season, the rain will just turn the formerly compacted soil into more mud. I live in Chilliwack, so have the same weather as you . It consists of a coarse aggregate base and a finer cover layer. Where I will leave them for the entire summer and winter, let them trash it, etc. Both serve their purposes and have tremendous demand. Yes three walls and an open stall doors to the outside. This is really labor intensive and I totally did not anticipate the amount of leaf raking I was going to have to do! They can get a little waterlogged mid winter and usually it means they are old and not as absorbant and I take the depth down. Ideally, gravel should be 3/8" but 3/4" would also work. What Is Rip Rap Gravel? Lime is spread on lawns that are not growing well to help the soil become more hospitable for grass. I tried sharp sand one year on top of hardstanding but it doesnt rot down and just gets dirty and heavy to shift. When it gets real cold and freezes up, its nothing but thousands of frozen footprints that they can hardly walk on. that would be cool . Crushed stone is also less likely to get kicked out into the yard. I also heard about the geocloth but doesnt look successful. PRICING - State Crushing Landscape Supply PRICING Call for Delivery - Pricing Based on Material & Location See below for price estimates, effective April 1, 2022. Base Products: 226,835,102 Total Tons Sold TCS # 166 1 1/2 Base View Spec Sheet. It certainly looks ideal for walking paths, Ill be interested to hear how it stands up to your horses hooves. However, on the flip side of that argument, here's what a Farrier has to say about why she prefers crusher dust: "As a farrier, my favourite footing in this area is crusher dust. Then I thought: What if they get a thrush infection and I need to keep them completely off mud I wont be able to do that without cross-fencing the paddock! So interesting! 1.5 tons can cover one cubic yard. I wonder if he was eating the crusher seeking to address a mineral deficiency You can just offer the plain (unflavored, no molasses) basic Hoffmans Minerals in a feeder/bucket in a covered area and let them help themselves. A couple of months ago (prior to reading this) I leveled the walkout paddock area and laid pea gravel 6 deep under the roof and 4 beyond which will be exposed to a lot of rain in winter. I have since left that boarding place, but the owners (who bought their own horses after being inspired by mine) did indeed dump 4 more boxes of crusher dust on that paddock ($1400). Neither of these materials work well alone. Thanks for the discussion. Your email address will not be published. Approximately 9 cu. So the plan is just to do stall mats in the 1212 stall areas. You now need to compact your paddock surface use a tamping/compacting machine and water the gravel between tamping to make sure it compacts down well. Good sleep is an important part of a happy, healthy horse. But by April, the area around the slow feeders was wet and mucky. Any advice? So the layers act as a well-draining foundation. I will leave the back field open for them through the winter until May/June and let them trash it with their hooves and manure. I usually have my gravel delivered 2-3 days before the Bobcat/tractor guy arrives as my horses love playing on the gravel piles! Modern Gravel Above: In a Brooklyn backyard, garden designer Brook Klausing edged limestone pavers with crushed limestone dust mixed with gravel. If you have loose or sandy soil, you'll need a base layer. My mare has Cushings and sometimes laminitis. So far so good. First layer of rock should be 40mm crushed rock, with no fines in it. It needs to be 6-12. While several sizes and types of gravel may be used for the drain, your best option may depend upon the slope of the yard and whether you use a perforated pipe to help whisk the water away. That said, there have been some crusher dusts surfaces that while I feel they are an improvement over hogfuel or mud, are still not the best. Beautiful! If your area has hard clay soil, it may support the pea gravel on its own. In order to safely use limestone for landscaping, remember these points, and your garden will thrive: 1. The Bahama product is a coral based limestone type rock it is not harvested as live coral it is basically rock mined like any other rock product and is then shipped and widely used for landscape purposes such as driveways and underneath pavers. You first have to put a commercial-grade shielding material used in road building like Nilex down on the soil and then lay down the 3-inch rock or recycled concrete (often cheaper), and then the gravel. This reminded me of the two-part base Washington Rock makes for turf sports field. It simply means that the particle size of the gravel is guaranteed to be less than the measurement. However, if you can get them small enough (usually 3/8 5/8) to filter through the tines of your manure fork, that will make scooping poop much easier and reduce gravel wastage. This work can be done with a shovel, but it is laborious work. Hi Jini, its been almost a year since I did my paddock, I used your recommended amounts/measurements, minus the Nilex barrier cloth, and its been great. Ground always shifts. But trying to clean gaps in rubber mats that are shifting as the ground shifts, becomes a BIG hassle. You'll find that natural decomposed granite offers better drainage and is great for keeping plants warmer during the winter. The question is: what should I put down on the surface of this paddock; what drainage materials will work best and not cost me crazy money? I have been debating over whether i need Geo-textile or not, as some areas are fairly hard but some seem to have some clay I am totally disillusioned with any gravelled solution now. The water will travel through the rocks or gravel before entering the pipes. It has great drainage, and my one complaint is that it gets dusty in the summer, but I consider that a small price to pay for a dry arena in the winter. Now, keep in mind that Dr. Swinkers advice is not tailored for a heavy rainfall area. And that way I can keep them on pasture year-round in this super rainy Pacific Northwest climate. When the two materials are used together, the fine material fills in the voids left by the coarse material. If I could add some thoughts based on my experience working in the sand-and-gravel business: One thing I noticed is that the 1/4 minus you initially used is a crushed drain rock rather than a quarried rock. The sand was dumped and spread about 2 weeks later. The trench feeding the dry well from the gutter downspout should be 11 feet deep and six inches wide, sloping gradually toward the dry well. (from Kelmor in Chilliwack) We did not do a geo textile cloth (although I had one in my first hog fuel arena). Also, if you want your paddock to give your horses the opportunity to self-trim their hooves then definitely dont put crusher dust as your last layer on top. With 2400 square feet of gravel, my horses were able to self-trim enough that they only needed the farrier to come out and trim every 5-6 months. e.g: 500 square feet x .5 feet depth = 250 cubic feet. So much good information (all based on experience with horses, which is good). Mud creates mud. I havent tried it myself. It is crushed up #57 stone combined with . By filling in low spots and leveling out your driveway with dirt or gravel before installing these pavers, you create an even, pervious surface . Walking Paths. Heres all the things I did not anticipate, so you can benefit from my learning curve: 1. Rain on your crusher dust quickly takes care of this problem though. Scraped out dirt, put in drain, geotextile, big rocks, then 57s, then screenings. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. Your email address will not be published. She said most of the time you can find sheep herdsmen to give you the fleece for free. Buying gravel in small quantities costs more than $100 per ton. Crushed Gravel Cost. Multiply the square footage (length x width = square footage) of your paddock by the depth of gravel you want. Its uses include: On Bike Paths. 2. An easy way to tell the difference is that crushed drain rock is usually variegated (the grains will have multiple colors) while a quarried rock will mostly consist of the same color hue. And of course, to prep for concrete you have to do layers of gravel, then the concrete, but it would likely be less gravel/limestone than if you were putting mats right on top of the gravel. The big problem you get in many (most?) For one tone of crushed limestone, you would pay around $25 to $35. If we have low-sugar hay in slowfeeders/haynets available 24/7 then our horses do not have to eat toxic plants to assauge the acid in their gut. or a covering to avoid water accumulation. It creates a firm clean surface that, when supported by the Lighthoof panels, is long lasting, safe, and easy to maintain. These are just a few of the many ways limestone can be used: 1. I have friends who have used almost the same formula but without the compacting and have to pick the rocks regularly (at least weekly, if not more often). With my crew, I need to add a layer of fresh 1/4 minus every Fall. For my super rainy climate (the Pacific Northwest coast) after trying cheaper variations and having to spend an additional $2,000 on gravel every year, because it just kept sinking I finally hired my friend Mitchell, who gets the commercial-grade barrier material from Nilex, to come in and do it right for me. Its a shame that gravel/aggregate companies around the globe cant use the same, standardized terminology, that would make sharing information and understanding things a whole lot easier for those of us in the UK, Australia, Canada, USA etc! If your horses are restricted to a small area, they may then start pulling on the cloth to play with it. Mix the Soil-Cement. BUT your depth must also be in feet, not inches. When hes building horse trails, he puts down the Nilex geotextile, then 5-6 inches of 3 rock, then 6 inches of road base (3/4 minus). They also know WHEN to eat a plant some are not toxic at first growth in Spring and only become toxic as they approach maturity. Limestone Is Nutrient Rich. Uneven ground doesnt bother my horses at all. Wow thats crazy! Thanks again. It keeps their feet in the best shape of all the footings Ive dealt with. Currently the stall area floor is stall pellets that are wood based mixed with shavings all from the local Tractor Supply. Sorry I havent seen or experimented with stall footing. However, horses hooves are way more punchy than car or truck tires. And it will drain even less well if its quarried rock rather than crushed drain rock. What is your thoughts of the grids and french drains? The same problem occurs when you shovel manure. But then youre hooped, because you just wont be willing to scrape away $2,000 worth of gravel and start again with the Geotextile! Required fields are marked *. BUT if you can teach them where to poo that could buy you 2-3 years before having to scrape/freshen. We have used it both inside the barn and outside. In this front area I call the paddock are their water tubs and 2 walk-in shelters, each with its own slow feeder and rubber mats. Scrape off the dirty layer (from dirt and small bits of manure) and re-surface/grade. Like you mentioned, 1/4 minus is dense and will definitely not drain as well as a coarser product. For sure, a base layer of well-compacted, large, well-draining rock would have helped prevent the 1/4 minus from being taken over by the mud so quickly. part of doing a crushed stone base to to dig up the grass and top soil and dig down . Crushed Limestone Is Ideal for Livestock Stalls Powdered dolomite lime is excellent for all types of plant agriculture, and solid hydrating limestone is great for building. Are wood chips the same thing that we call hog fuel or bark mulch here?? Im curious to know if you ended up redoing the paddock surface area this year again? We built it on a base of 1" crushed limestone at the recommendation of the builder. You have to be sort of careful of sharp twigs if not screened but I have not had any problems over 19 years. Thanks Jini! be very careful What is Gravel? Usually its okay, but one year (same supplier) the crusher had clay in it and it completely packed down and stopped all drainage from happening! I have found your article here really helpful! I am curious as to what you went with if you could let us know. Most of the mud is next to the outside wall of my run in, so the water goes right under it and inside the run in; so in other words when its wet, they have no escape from it. I was interested to see if it would work, as a woman had written in (who also lives in this Pacific Northwest climate) to tell me that its never worked for her horses. No the woodchips are not from the bark which is very tannic.