I need a solution for my paddock area (30 x 50) to keep it as dry as possible and to dry out faster than 3 days when we get a bad storm. Problem is I think I need to go down about six inches and get out all of the existing soil at the barn I am at, not mine so can’t really do much about existing soil and manuer there but take it down and then add what? Thanks.
Really depends on the drainage and water table.
You need drainage so the water has somewhere to go plus a top surface that allows water to percolate down to the drainage. It also helps if your surface is higher than the surrounding areas.
My first suggestion would be to look at all the other paddocks in your barn. Which ones hold up better than your paddock? What is different?
In my self board member owned club everyone is responsible to maintain their own 11 by 22 foot runout paddock attached to their stall. So I get to see a lot of what works and doesn’t. We are in the PNW in an area with a high water table.
My paddock was a standing swamp until we had a drain line professionally installed running the length of the barn and going to the sump. I had the contractor dig two 3 foot deep trenches with french drains running the length of my paddock and connected to the main drain line. He put drainage rock over that and then landscape cloth on top to keep the fines out of the pipes. I continued to use hog fuel cedar bark footing and keep it refreshed as needed.
Anyhow, at a minimum you need to excavate down to clean ground, and then put in at least a foot of drainage rock topped with at least 6 inches of sand that will stay porous. Or perhaps try to do it all with pea gravel. However realize that you will lose footing as you pick the paddock daily.
If you do not pick the paddock daily you will have a filthy mess. And if you don’t top up about every 6 months your footing will sink and you will be back down in the water table
There is no cheap and easy fix. That’s why so many barns even respectable ones have wet paddocks in winter here.
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French drains?
My son-in-law works in recreation and that includes keeping ball fields usable. He told me about a product called Turface. It is some sort of granular product that soaks up water. You dig a hole with a post hole digger, fill it with Turface, and put a couple of inches of dirt on the top portion. Makes a huge difference in keeping areas from getting saturated and muddy. I put some in high traffic areas - gates, dry lot outside of stalls, etc. Works great.
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Interesting stuff. Thank you for the reference.
G.
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Very interested in this! Do you have to keep replenishing it? Tell me more!
I don’t think so. We did it two or three years ago and it’s still working great. I’m not sure how you would replenish it anyway, since it is covered with a couple inches of dirt, so we probably couldn’t find the spots if we wanted to. It’s great for those high traffic spots that get kind of squishy with rain. It’s not expensive, either.
https://medium.com/@DrDrainage/french-drains-101-how-to-eliminate-standing-water-in-your-yar-f9b540b9ab6a
[h=2]What is a French Drain?[/h]
A French drain is a gravel-filled trench that includes a perforated or slotted pipe. It is used to direct surface water or groundwater away from a specific area, such as a home’s foundation. French drains direct surface level water toward the lowest point and allow it to seep through the surface level gravel into the drain. This gravel also blocks the passage of excess debris. The water is then collected in the perforated pipe, running at the base of the drain, and directed away from the home and toward a more suitable area for daylighting or infiltration. French drains differ from typical surface drains because they collect water over the entire length of the drain instead of one particular spot. [h=2]How Does a French Drain Work?[/h]
Remember that liquid always seeks out the lowest point it can reach along the easiest path, readily moving into empty pockets in loose soil. That’s the secret to a French drain: It provides a reliably easy path, creating a sunken channel that encourages water to percolate out of the surrounding soil and flow along a smooth course. Leveraging gravity is essential for a French drain to function properly, as it first forces water down from the surface and out of saturated soil, then pulls it along the downward-sloping pipe to the desired discharge point.
I have used https://www.absorbentproductsltd.com/stall-dry/ and https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NFH8822, both are diatomaceous earth. The first is food grade, the second is not. The first is very expensive, the second is pretty cheap. I have found that both work well to absorb moisture and because they are granular, they provide some structure to the soil. They also do not become slick when used, unlike clay based absorbents…Turface and other spill products (kitty litter) that make use of certain types of clay’s absorbent properties.
When I’ve used the DE products, I have spread them on really mucky areas and stomped them in with my muck boots. I have only had one or two places that just would not firm up with this type of product alone. The REALLY wet and sloppy areas needed a bit of gravel along with the DE to provide structure to the soil (i.e. rebar in concrete). I used the food grade DE first. At that barn, it was just one small area around a gate that needed help. At another property, I had several locations that needed drying/firming up, and I went with the non food grade DE from NAPA to save expense
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We put in a french drain, rock over that, geotextile fabric on top of that (and over the whole lot) and then screenings (like crushed granite…consistency of sand) spread across the whole lot. Made a HUGE difference. Had we not done both horse lots off the barn the past two years, this winter would have been a royal boot/hoof sucking mess.
