[ThirdCharm]

I've been using cow carpet for awhile in lieu of stallskins to keep level the stalls of horses who are not "hard" on their stall floors (stallskins hold up better if you have a pawer or stallwalker), and had used it on one occassion as the geotextile under screenings in the bottom of a water jump (worked great), but I have never previously used it for its "intended" use of mud control. BUt, I have paddocks which get really muddy in the wet winters here, and I had one particular corner of one which was just HORRID. So, I scraped back as much mud as I could, put down a section of cowcarpet, and dumped a couple loads of crusher run on top. I also scraped back an adjacent area and dumped crusher run without the cow carpet, in the interests of scientific method.... (BTW screenings would be better, less coarse/pointy, but would not have had ANY chance in the "no cow carpet" condition.... and crusher run won't wash down the hill... soo.... )

The area with the cow carpet under it is packed and smooth a month later despite being downhill from a water trough which often gets overflowed during evening chores.... the adjacent area with no run-off is a rutted mucky mess again already. So today I "treated" another area, a hollow between our arena and our pond where horses come in from the back pasture turnout to the barn, and churn up a muddy mess..... and I'll be ordering another roll of cowcarpet (and another couple truckloads of screenings and crusher run).

Jennifer

[Fairview Horse Center]

Where did you get your cow carpet, and what size is it? Thanks.

[Hannahsmom]

Depending on your runoff and local Ag services, it might be worth it to see if you can get a tax writeoff or financial help as you may be improving the local ground water as well. A friend of mine with an actual cow farm did get some financial breaks because of this.

[ThirdCharm]

I got it at S&R Textiles near Greensboro, NC, but I'm sure the manufacturer (http://www.clothwipers.com/p_cow_carpet.htm) could suggest a distributor closer to you.... The roll is 15x300' and cost about $500.

Jennifer

[theoldgreymare]

Hmmmmm......sounds like a cure for the suck-your-boot-off-it's-so-muddy gate areas at our farm. Will have to research this. I am losing about a boot a week in the mud! Thanks for the link!

[Fairview Horse Center]

I got it at S&R Textiles near Greensboro, NC, but I'm sure the manufacturer (http://www.clothwipers.com/p_cow_carpet.htm) could suggest a distributor closer to you.... The roll is 15x300' and cost about $500.

Jennifer

Unfoirtunately that is what I have found around here. I need 15' x 20-50' piece, so I am trying to find something smaller.

[IslandGirl]

FHC: Is there anybody (or several people) in your area who would consider going in on buying a roll with you? That way, everyone can cut off what they need, and you could probably sell the rest!

[GilbertsCreeksideAcres]

How deep did you scrape before laying the carpet? Thanks.

[Badger]

It says the shipping weight is 250 pounds for one roll. How many people/what equipment is necessary to work with that heavy/awkward of a roll?

[deltawave]

Gosh, two people could easily handle that size, or one person with a tractor/loader. The stuff is VERY lightweight. I haven't used cow carpet, but have Stall Skins in my barn and easily handled 3 stalls' worth single-handed.

[Badger]

15 X 300 is a good bit more than 3 stalls worth

[vineyridge]

Farm Tek sells something similar (15'W) by the foot at a 10' minimum. Theirs is $3.99 the running foot.

[ThirdCharm]

At 3.99/foot you'd be saving money buying a whole roll if you needed any more than 150'.

I second the suggestion of sharing a roll with someone, when I get another roll I'd be happy to help out anyone who just wanted a short piece.

In the one wretched paddock I scraped all the churned up mud (about 6") down to hardpacked clay (which didn't stay hardpacked long!), in the other area that I just did, it only had a couple inches of churned up mud and I didn't scrape it at all, looking good so far.

What I did with my roll is I dropped it out of the bed of my truck near the fenceline and rolled it against the fenceline, so that when I roll it away from the fenceline, the fabric unrolls... when I roll it toward the fence, it rolls back up. So I just unroll as much as I need, cut it off, drag it away (I've dragged and spread up to 60' singlehandedly, it is not heavy) and then roll the remainder back up. It's been sitting up against the fenceline for three years without any sign of damage.

Jennifer

[boosma47]

We put Cow Carpet down in the stable yard and it is holding up really well. We didn't scrape first and it is on a slope running below the driveway, so H2O could have been a huge problem. Anyhow, we put driveway gravel mix on top, to a depth of 2". The only time it is muddy is when we haven't cleaned the muck out of the yard in a couple of days.

I bought the larger roll - 500' maybe, and still have the rest sitting where it was delivered. Not sure how much is left, but we are hoping to put it on slope leading to pastures and as a base for sand in our round pen.