I am a full - time squatter living on a tight budget . I am always looking for ways to save money . For a while , one of my most important homesteading expenses was buy shuck or other bedding for my livestock .
Luckily , I figured out ways to heighten stock without having to keep a covered base . For example , with chickens , since I have a wood floor in my coop , I do n’t use litter materials at all .
I utilise a flat spade to loose stuck - on crybaby poop . Then , I sweep the poop into my dustpan and either compost it or age it in a bucketful for other applications . This method has saved me about $ 20 a calendar month on litter for chicken .
Meanwhile , I was still spending about $ 60 a month on bedding material for my goats .
One day , as I was clean thegoat barn , I observe that most of the urine was concentrate in three areas of the trading floor . I changed out the straw , stimulate a note of the urine location . The next clip I houseclean the barn , I checked to see if the goats peed in the same place again .
Yep ! They make water in the same spots a second prison term . Well , my genial steering wheel start turning , and I began notice other thing about goat behavior .
Like when my laughingstock would model down , they would use their hooves to move aside the wheat I had strewn for them . They preferred the hardwood floor to a shuck - padded one . This was also straight out in the pastureland ; the goat loved the jolting , deadpan grease on the steepest parts of their hillside to the lush grassy areas .
So , one twenty-four hours I cleaned up one-half of the barn and did n’t apply any straw . The next morning , I set up all of my goat sleep on the strawless side of the b .
Based on these two observance , I started to hatch a plan …
The Goat Litter Box
I cleaned the goat barn from top to bottom , including a thorough flooring washing with goop and water to stretch the pee smell in heavily trafficked orbit .
After that , I lay out up two goat bedding boxes near where the goat usually peed . To make the litter boxes , I built a 5×4 groundwork box , in the same manner that you would makeraised garden beds .
It ’s of import to make the litter box large enough that your butt can stand inside , turn around , and well low-set ( girls ) or extend ( boys ) to pee . Otherwise , they ’ll miss . I haveNigerian Dwarf goats , so 5 x 4 feet boxes work well . big goats may need a large box .
I filled the box with four inches of straw , applied some of their old urine smell straw to help them get the substance . Then I find out to see what happen .
Train Your Goats to Use a Litter Box
My old goat , Phoebe , laid down in the box for a small while . However as my other does started peeing in it , she move over to a straw Basle I sat in the corner for her . ( Phoebe is 11 and is my only caprine animal who likes to ride on soft surface . )
Every so often , a goat would drop and pee just outside the corner . I kept a bucket of wood ash from our hardwood kitchen stove in the Capricorn barn and covered the pixilated daub with ash .
Once the ash did its job and soaked up the piddle , I tangle up the ash and put it in my compost pile . The goats did n’t seem to like the wet ash on their floor , so they got skilful about peeing inside the box seat .
All of my does took to the litter box in a day or two . My wether ( castrated male person ) take a little longer to line up .
He would make water anywhere on modest accumulation of hay or straw that had been pushed from the litter box . I cleaned up those small pile and put them in the bedding material box so he would reek his own urine there in the hereafter .
It took a few day of constant moving of piddle piles for my wether to get the message . But he last did .
During the times when my sawbuck was allowed to chit-chat the ladies , he was not quite as exact in his placement . He did apply the bedding box at times . However , he also randomly urinate on his own face to attract their attention .
unluckily , buck face - spraying ca n’t be eradicated by a bedding box . Luckily , Pearl Buck only tend to run with the Lady for a short while . Also , most of their urine spray ends up in their byssus !
Once everyone was mostly trained , I removed the second box so that I would only have to scavenge one goat litter box on a regular basis .
Training Kids to Use the Goat Litter Box
Young kids ( baby goats)don’t always know when they have to pee . So , they tend just to go when they have to . However , after a couple of weeks , they pick up the habit of wee in the litter box by but learn their female parent do it .
I attempt to keep my b floors a lot clean while I have kid around since they are apt to eat on everything until their gumption of smelling is fully developed . So , in part , just by go on the story clean , they gravitate towards the litter box for doing their occupation .
Goat Barn Maintenance with a Goat Litter Box
Goat poop everywhere . I have n’t been capable to break-dance them of this habit . So , twice daily , I sweep up their manure from their caprine animal barn . It takes about 4 - 5 minutes and is as easy as sweeping our kitchen floor .
I empty the dustpan unmediated into a darktrash can for composting . When the can is full , I wind the can out into the sunshine , moisten the manure , loosely exit the chapeau ( so air still pay back in ) , and come back a few weeks later to discover everything to the full composted .
For the goat litter box , I add a slice of straw each day . Then once a week , I fork the urine straw into my 8×4 base worm bed .
Worms bonk urine soaked straw . Be measured not to employ more than 2 - 4 inches at a time , or it willhot compostand cook your worm . ( My insect also get kitchen scraps and Mary Jane to round out out their diet ) .
The wood floor beneath the bedding box is occasionally dampish from water oozing when I break up up the stubble . So I deal it with wood ash and then sweep up that back up in a few minutes and toss it in my compost can ( not my dirt ball bin ) .
If that does n’t sufficiently dry out the storey , I let it air dry before I refill the goat litter box . In good weather , the goat will go outside rather than pee on a bare wood floor while I do my cleansing .
Every few months , I move the goat litter box over a few ft to give the floor a eternal rest . Since the goat now get the concept , they pee wherever the litter box is locate .
Using the Goat Litter Box in Winter
In winter , when it ’s frigid , the goats do care to sleep in straw or hay for heat . During insensate run , I disperse wheat over the entire base ; then I put the goat litter box in place on top of the chaff .
Because the goats are also visually prepare to recognize the goat litter box , they lean to pee mostly where I put the box frame . Goats are sensitive to ammonia smells , so even in winter , it ’s essential to clean the goat litter on a regular basis to stave off lung issue .
normally , I empty the litter in the box seat each workweek . However , in the residue of the b , I can layer a few in of unexampled straw and hold off a brace more hebdomad before I clean the integral barn ( as weather permits ) .
The goats do have a few more “ accidents ” outside the litter box when there is straw cover the total barn floor . So , I do occasionally have to fork potty - pale yellow from other parts of the b .
In spring , when I empty the stubble from the floor again , now and then one or two stooge seek to pee in the wrong position . I keep the floors span and move water piles over to the litter box to aid them get the message . Within a couple of days , they are peeing in the litter box like pro again !
Benefits of Using the Goat Litter Box Method
I have eight stooge in my barn . In warm weather , it take about a one-half bale of straw per week for urine direction . Sometimes in hot atmospheric condition , they pledge more and piddle more , so I occasionally go through a little supernumerary straw . In wintertime I use more for goat warmth , but it ’s still less than I used to practice .
Overall , I am spending an average of $ 20 - 25 a calendar month on goat litter , down from my starting item of $ 60 a calendar month . On a homestead budget , this construct a enceinte dispute .
It also cuts down on my meter cleaning the butt barn . I used to drop about 10 minutes a Clarence Day circularise new straw . Then each week , I ’d expend 1 - 2 hours pick wheelbarrows and moving that straw back out to my compost pile . That ’s not even counting all the sentence I spent picking up and hauling straw bales to the goat barn !
Now I spend ten minutes a day sweeping up poop , and putting it directly into my compost can , and spreading a little sassy chaff . When I clean the litter box in summer , it only claim about 10 - 15 minutes ( depending on whether the caprine animal are in the b “ helping me ” or out on their J. J. Hill ) .
Even in wintertime , I only spend about 20 minutes on litter box cleaning and pale yellow spread out each hebdomad . Then about every three weeks , I spend about an time of day cleaning out the sure-enough straw . Since the piss straw is the heaviest and hardest to move , hold it one space and clearing it regularly cuts down on all the profound lifting I used to do for whole barn cleaning .
Since my goat only kip in hump in wintertime when pest problems are minimal , and I keep a clear storey in strong conditions , we have n’t had any issues with outside leech in our ruck . I ca n’t rely this relates to going strawless in the sleeping area , but the goats seem to like a hard level a whole tidy sum more than the crappy straw on a spicy summertime Nox ! ( These are my young lady smile from pleasance while lounging on a cool floor . )
The really bully thing about this estimation is that you may try it with very little investment of time and money . Even if for some understanding it does n’t work out for you , then I ’d be unforced to bet , you ’ll still memorise something fascinating about your goats by lay them through this drill .
If cat can figure it out , then why not your stooge ?
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