An often overlooked but very important issue facing many small-scale farmers today is the issue of waste that animals produce. Let's face it the issue is kind of gross and many people don't like to mess with it myself included. I have learned through trial and error that some management procedures work better than others.
Generally speaking most animals including livestock are very social, and enjoy the company of other species of animals sometimes breaking the predator-prey boundary. I have observed this with chickens goats horses and dogs. We see this on TV and the internet has various examples.
Using this knowledge I formulated a plan using dogs and the other animals on our farm.
Dogs and chickens alike enjoy a fresh meal of poop. I do not understand this and probably never will but have harnessed this knowledge to clean the farm. I would encourage others to keep dogs and chickens with their goats and horses to clean the pasture and barn. However some precautions must be taken to protect all the animals. A regular parasitic regimen prevention program is recommended every 3 months for all animals.
Dogs can be trained to poop and certain locations which are out of the way of the well-traveled areas. Chickens however do not possess this knowledge and will poop where duty calls. The chicken poop does seem to go away faster than the other animals poop, though, especially after a good rain.
I still cannot understand why all the dogs prefer poop over dog food since they have a automatic dog feeder and have access to food at all hours. Kind of makes you wonder what they put in dog food. All input is welcome on this issue.
Generally speaking most animals including livestock are very social, and enjoy the company of other species of animals sometimes breaking the predator-prey boundary. I have observed this with chickens goats horses and dogs. We see this on TV and the internet has various examples.
Using this knowledge I formulated a plan using dogs and the other animals on our farm.
Dogs and chickens alike enjoy a fresh meal of poop. I do not understand this and probably never will but have harnessed this knowledge to clean the farm. I would encourage others to keep dogs and chickens with their goats and horses to clean the pasture and barn. However some precautions must be taken to protect all the animals. A regular parasitic regimen prevention program is recommended every 3 months for all animals.
Dogs can be trained to poop and certain locations which are out of the way of the well-traveled areas. Chickens however do not possess this knowledge and will poop where duty calls. The chicken poop does seem to go away faster than the other animals poop, though, especially after a good rain.
I still cannot understand why all the dogs prefer poop over dog food since they have a automatic dog feeder and have access to food at all hours. Kind of makes you wonder what they put in dog food. All input is welcome on this issue.