OT --corral too muddy, how to improve?

If I were you, I"d lay 1-1/4 ballast rock( no fines) down first then make a groove in them and lay the pipe in the groove and add more ballast then put the landscape cloth over that. (You want the landscape cloth to act as a filter for the dirt so you drains don"t get clogged with it.) I lived in an 80 inch rainfall area that"s how the excavating contractors handled wet spots.

I can tell you what I"m doing as I build my working corral. I have scraped off about 12-15 inches of top soil. I am planning on bringing in 12-15 inches of sand. If I had any low spots that will tend to collect water, I would dig them out about 6-8 additional inches, bring in 1-1/4 inch ballast, lay a drain pipe in a groove on that, connecting it to a lower spot so that water drains away, add more ballast, cover with landscape cloth and then cover with sand.
I live in a ~16 inches of annual rain area so I think what I"m doing will work well for me. If you live in a higher annual rain fall area you may want to slope the corral toward the middle, bring in ballast, lay it down 5-8feet from the centerline and about a foot deep, groove it along the centerline and lay in your drain pipe and drain to a low spot outside of the corral, cover with more balast, then landscape cloth that sand. Your local NRCS or Conservation District should be able to provide you with recommendations.
Hope this helps you.

• Hobby farm

Allan

It has two distinct advantages that I like when considered for animal heavy traffic areas.

1. It is soft and packs. Over time the big chunks dissolve and makes a smooth surface. It easily supports the weight of cows in heavy traffic areas including when wet. After a wet spell, there will be some footprints in it, depth depending on a lot of things, but for me 1" or so is normal, which are easily box bladed out when it dries. Animal traffic on that will pack it down and you're ready for another round of wet weather.

2. Being a soft rock, there are no hard pieces to get lodged in the animals feet and cause problems. Like I said, once the chunks dissolve (first wet spell) it is all compressible powder that packs to a smooth surface.

Might check with your local "rock bucket" haulers and tell them what you need the rock to do and get their advice.

It is one of the lower cost materials here so that makes it nicer.

HTH,

Mark