# Barn waste on small acreage



## rnmom23 (Apr 29, 2005)

What do you all do with all your waste? This is after you've covered the garden and compost bin with it, of course. Are there people that come and pick this stuff up? How much do they charge? I figure 3 goats and all their excrement combined with a bale of straw/a week is going to add up to a mountain of a pile pretty fast. Please share your disposal practices before we are buried in it!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Help me understand.

You are disposing of a bale a week? Why?


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## greif (May 31, 2009)

i use saw dust so then you can spread it on the lawn also


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## eross230 (Apr 28, 2006)

I'm confused as well. Is the bale of hay used to feed the goats? Or is it for bedding? My chickens free range with the goats, and any hay the goats don't eat is stirred up and pulverized by the chickens. There is little left for me to deal with in the goat pen, however the hen house is a different matter. I sprinkle a little scratch grain in the straw/hay and the chickens tear it apart so there's not much left when they're done.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Are the goats penned in a *very* small area so that you are having to change bedding every week?

If they are just in the bedding area overnight and out during the day, you don't need to change it so often.


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## rnmom23 (Apr 29, 2005)

The bale a week is how much I use for bedding. THis is in their barn stall which is 10x12. They have free range access to an excercise pen all day, but since the cold has hit they mostly prefer to stay in their stall. This means the bale of hay requires changing weekly. Does that help? Is there an easier/ less wasteful way of handling cleaning?

Thanks,
Liz


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## HappyFarmer (Jun 17, 2006)

How many acres is small acreage?

That bedding will compost nicely. IMO you can never have enough compost, there's always the garden, pasture, lawn & strawberry beds that could use the organic matter to improve the soil. Manure never leaves here. I may have the volumes wrong but a foot of compost will become only about 1/4 of an inch or so when it's finished. Manure/straw/hay should finishe composting rather quickly. Check out any composting forum for ideas.

I also think a bale of wasted hay is excessive. Maybe there is some room for improvement there, others may have ideas too. Is this their bedding or feed hay? We let the wasted feed hay become their bedding during winter, under an overhang seperate from their housing. During the winter it accumulates like the deep litter method. By spring the underneath is a very rich amendment to our soil, garden, lawn, strawberry bed, wherever it's needed. 

In summer ours are on pasture but are supplemented with some hay, we change their feeding area to somewhere in the pasture, so the waste can enrich that soil. After it's rotted we just plant grass in place. 

You could put an ad on craigslist for someone to come muck the area for free manure, or pail it & sell it, but IMO that manure is much better suited/put to use enriching YOUR soil. 
HF


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## eross230 (Apr 28, 2006)

Sorry, I just re-read your post and noticed you are using straw for bedding instead of hay (which is much more expensive around here). I put all of the bedding/droppings in a compost heap if I don't need it on the garden. That stuff is like gold to the garden and I've never found that there can be too much. However, I don't live in NY, so maybe it doesn't decompose as fast there as it does here. As far as the required labor to move it, I pay the kids about $1 to move it for me. Pretty unfair, isn't it?


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## luvzmybabz (Sep 8, 2008)

People around here beg on craigslist for rabbit or goat berries in the spring, we use all of ours except for hubby's grandma gets whatever poo she wants.

The other day I went back to our composting area and realized how little there truly is. It was at least 5 feet high then added at least 3 stall cleaning to thaqtq and after a few months only have about 2 1/2 feet. It will be going into my front bed soon and covered until spring. We will start a new pile and so it goes. We have decided to try the deep litter metod for warmth for the girls this winter weput down a layer of shaving then straw and will just add to the straw until the spring.


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## SLD Farm (Dec 19, 2007)

It decomposes rapidly. Each spring when I clean out the barn I have a HUGE manure pile. Lots of hay, straw and manure. One year later it has broken down into very nice compost soil for use in the raised beds.


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## luvzmybabz (Sep 8, 2008)

eross230 said:


> As far as the required labor to move it, I pay the kids about $1 to move it for me. Pretty unfair, isn't it?


My grandparents owned a feedlot when I was going up. I asked one day for my wages my grandfather laughed so hard he cried, the next day I had a bill for room and board!

My mother had a saying " I had 5 kids for the free labor"

My 3 year old and 6 year old both have daily chores with the animals, My 6 year old could feed and water all the animals by himself if I would let him. and he know how to use a shovel and hoe but you have to make sure you are not within handle range. My nephew got it in the head with the hoe this summer, his fault though Thank Goodness.


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## mullberry (May 3, 2009)

Manure is very good to spread on your field. I pile chicken & quail in a pile for the vegatble garden . but the rest I spread . *SELL IT *if you have to much.


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## prairiedog (Jan 18, 2007)

use pine shavings in the stalls much less bulk than straw and just as cheap. The garden , compost pile and chickens take care of all of it.


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

Sawdust...note of caution. This is not good for the goats, sheep for bedding, especially at birthing. It gets in the nose and if the animals start to cough they may prolaps. Friends took their prize ewe to the county fair two years ago, she was there two days. Started coughing because of the sawdust in the stalls at the fair and she prolaped.............she went in my freezer, they were very upset , did not even get to show her!


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## rnmom23 (Apr 29, 2005)

It's good to hear how quickly it decomposes! Sounds like you just make a pile and let it go to work. I've been doing this, but am just waiting for the neighbors to complain about the unsightly manure pile. It is no where near their property, though. About acreage size- we have almost 2 acres. We get our straw for $2/large square bale, so it is actually the cheapest for us in comparison to hay and pine shavings. Tell me more about the deep bedding method. Why you do (and don't) use it? I know it's only for winter-time use, but I was under the impression that it could be quite unhealthy for them. But if that's not the case- it sounds like a do-able alternative to shoveling and dumping hay/manure for 2 hours every week. And chickens- that 's a good idea. We don't have any at the present, but have in the past and will be getting more in the Spring (or sooner).

Thanks again for all the replies


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## prairiedog (Jan 18, 2007)

Its shaving much bigger than sawdust and we use straw at birthing


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## deetu (Dec 19, 2004)

I use wood pellets instead of shavings and found that they work fantastic. In the fall I will clean the stall one last time then leave it until, adding more pellets to keep it dry with the waste hay mixing in. This way, the manure will actually keep them warmer. 
You need to make sure that it isn't wet. I will test by putting down a paper towel and standing on it with one foot. If comes back with a wet spot, I will add more pellets.

I will dig out about a foot sometime midwinter and before kidding but never going to the ground until spring when it is no longer cold out.

I put the manure on the edge of a downhill, filling the space nicely. Get some really great black dirt going there. Big worms too. Use it in the garden.


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## garyh141 (Mar 7, 2008)

When using the deep hay/straw method, I get down and smell close to the ground. If you smell ammonia, has to go (because the goats can also smell it). Deep hay/straw generates heat.


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## rnmom23 (Apr 29, 2005)

Thanks guys, I might give this deep bedding method a try.


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

been doing the deep bedding method with both my chickens and goats. With my 3 goats I do go out and check everyday. I move the bedding around, sweep/rake up loose goat pebbles and put another layer down was alternating between straw and pine shaving's but noticed I got that ammonia smell a lot quicker when using the shavings especially in the chicken house so now I just use straw. As far as compost its all mine and I ain't sharing lol. Oh and rnmom I know what you mean by neighbors I moved to my little 2 acre plot few months back and was all concerned with offending em now I don't worry they countrified me )


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

hmm sorry need to rectify: I check the bedding everyday but only add a little bit once a week...


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2009)

I won't clean out our stalls until spring time. I will, however, add more straw and hay each week. 

I put our waste (poo and straw and hay) on our garden. I usually clean the stalls every 3 weeks. I put about a bale of straw in each pen. 

So far, so good. The cats and goats kept warm when it dipped down to 10 degrees this week. 

Extra waste? Time for a new compost pile!


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Cover the garden deeper. Use an entire wheelbarrow load for one watermelon hill. You will have awesome watermelons. 

Yea, people will come pick it up!


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## Briza (Aug 11, 2009)

We pile it in rows in our garden in the places we plan to walk leaving the rows we plan to plant open. We pull up raised rows of soil very deeply and then mulch in the ditches. Then we alternate walking and planting areas the next season. You can pile it up and it will decompose in the ditches and keep weed seeds from sprouting and keep the soil moist and warm for worms to work on it from the bottom side. It works great and we have soil to die for. My DH does squash mounds like above mentioned watermelon. Dig a deep hole like you are planting a fruit tree before the ground freezes. Empty wheelbarrow of precious pooh in there-little hay if possible. Cover with the soil and then mulch heavily with as many barrows as you need to cover it a foot deep all over. In spring - move a small circle away in the center to expose the soil- plant- cover with plastic milk jug with bottom cut out for frost protection and soil warming. You can get a good jump on spring like this and use up lots of barn goodies.
B~


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## momagoat61 (Mar 30, 2008)

I don't use anything but pine shaving for bedding here in Middle TN. When I first got goats 15.5 years ago I purchased straw and bedding them down in that and what a mess I had after a couple weeks of adding straw to wet straw. I soon learned there's gotta be a better way. I now use pine shaving and the goaties could not be happier. I clean out the barns once a year in the spring and bag up the used pine shaving along with dry goat poo and take them bagged up to the spring plant swap here in middle tn. The goats are happy, i'm happy and the goat poo is a big hit at the swap. I have a covered hay racks outside so no hay goes in the barns. Sandy


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## jil101ca (Jul 2, 2007)

I won't clean mine out now until spring unless they really need it done. I do clean the ponies everyday though and when i dump onto the pile I take the rake and spread it around. as it compost it packs down. Keep in mind that I had a huge hole to fill and it just keeps filling. I haven't had to remove any ting of the manure pile for over a year.


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

go deep straw.

keeps them warmer. Then compost it all in the Spring - making a compost pile with pallets or make a DEEP potato bed with it!

good luck!


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