How Do I Reduce Waste In Animal Care?

“Hi, I’ve been working on my backyard farm here in Red Deer, Alberta and I’m trying to figure out how to reduce waste when caring for my animals, especially since I have a couple of chickens, two goats, and some rabbits. It seems like we’re always throwing away a lot of bedding and leftover food. What can I do to make the whole process more sustainable, and less wasteful? I want to make sure that I’m doing my best to be environmentally responsible with our small farm. Could you provide some detailed tips or strategies I can implement?” Thanks, Edward, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.

How Do I Reduce Waste In Animal Care?

If you’re managing a backyard farm, like Edward up in Red Deer, Alberta, you’re probably familiar with the challenge of reducing waste, especially when it comes to animal care. Even with just a few animals like chickens, goats, and rabbits, the waste can add up quickly. Not just from what the animals leave behind, but also from feeding, bedding, and general maintenance. Fortunately, there are plenty of strategies you can adopt to cut down on waste and ease your environmental footprint. Let’s walk through some practical and sustainable ways you can manage animal care efficiently while reducing waste.

Understand What Waste Means in Animal Care

In order to reduce waste effectively, it’s important to identify where the waste is coming from in the first place. Animal care waste generally falls into several main categories:

• Bedding Waste: The discarded bedding materials such as straw, wood shavings, or hay.
• Feed Waste: Uneaten or spoiled food that gets thrown away.
• Manure and Odor Management: Animal droppings which, if not properly managed, can lead to wasteful disposal.
• Water Waste: Water not efficiently used, whether from leaks, spills, or overwatering.
• Waste from Packaging: Packaging materials from buying or storing feed, supplements, and various animal care products.

Now that we know what we’re dealing with, let’s move on to actionable tips for tackling these different types of waste.

Maximize Bedding Efficiency

Your first stop for reducing waste could start with the bedding. Bedding is essential for maintaining a clean and comfortable environment for your animals but can often be a significant source of waste.

1. Opt for Reusable Bedding Materials:

Instead of constantly buying hay, straw, or wood shavings, consider using materials that can be reused multiple times. For instance, rubber mats or foam pads can serve as bedding, and while the initial cost might be higher, these products last longer and reduce the amount of waste generated. You would just need to clean them regularly with a non-toxic cleaner to make sure they’re hygienic.

2. Composting Soiled Bedding:

Turning soiled bedding into compost is an excellent way to reduce waste. Rabbit and chicken bedding, particularly, can become dark, rich compost when mixed with other green materials from your garden waste.

Just be sure to monitor the compost pile to ensure you maintain the right balance between carbon and nitrogen. If you’re using wood shavings or straw, they’re high in carbon, so occasionally add more nitrogen-rich materials such as vegetable scraps or coffee grounds to keep the pile well balanced.

3. Layering or Deep Litter Method:

This approach is particularly effective for poultry like chickens. Rather than fully replacing the bedding every few days, you can simply add another layer of fresh bedding on top of the soiled material. The lower layers will start to compost right there in the coop, generating heat in the winter and reducing your bedding waste significantly.

After several months, you can clean out the entire coop and spread this partially-composted litter on your garden beds. This not only reduces waste but creates nutrient-rich soil.

Minimize Feed Waste

Feed waste is often one of the most overlooked areas where your farm is losing money and resources. Managing feed efficiently can have a great impact on reducing waste in your backyard farm.

1. Proper Storage:

Keeping animal feed in a well-sealed, dry storage container reduces spoilage from moisture and prevents contamination from pests. Consider using metal or heavy-duty plastic bins that are rodent-proof. This will ensure that the feed remains fresh and usable much longer.

2. Measure Portions Carefully:

One of the easiest ways to reduce feed waste is to simply give your animals only what they need. We often overestimate the amount of food required, and the excess goes to waste. Get to know just how much each animal eats, or consider portion control tools to help you measure the exact amount needed.

3. Use Leftover Food Wisely:

Uneaten food doesn’t necessarily need to end up in the trash or compost right away. You can mix leftovers with other feed components to prevent them from going to waste. Chickens and pigs, for example, can consume a wide variety of kitchen scraps and leftovers that might otherwise go to waste. Just be sure that the food is safe for them to eat and not moldy or spoiled.

4. Rotate Feed Types:

To avoid repetitive wastage, consider rotating the types of food you offer. Rabbits, goats, and chickens all have varied diets, so offering a different type of food or adopting a rotational feeding strategy can keep animals interested and reduce the amount of feed left uneaten.

Manage Manure Effectively

Animal manure is one of the most valuable resources you have on your backyard farm. If managed correctly, it can significantly reduce waste and give back to your farm in the form of nutrient-rich fertilizer.

1. Composting Manure:

The most effective way to handle manure is to compost it. Goat, chicken, and rabbit manure are all great candidates for composting, and they add exceptional nutrients to garden soil. Creating a separate compost bin specifically for manure and other animal-generated waste ensures that you can produce a rich, organic soil conditioner that will benefit your crops.

2. Use Aged Manure As Fertilizer:

Some animals, such as goats and chickens, produce manure that is somewhat “hot,” meaning it needs time to decompose before it can safely be applied to plants. Letting the manure compost for several months will neutralize it and allow it to be spread directly into your garden without risk of burning your crops.

3. Vermicomposting:

If you have a smaller yard or fewer animals, consider vermicomposting, which uses worms to break down manure and bedding into a rich, crumbly humus. This method is especially effective with rabbit manure, which is already relatively mild and can be very beneficial when added directly to garden beds.

4. Direct Application:

You can also apply manure directly to areas that grow inedible plants, such as flower beds or ornamental shrubs. Simply scatter the manure in these areas, allowing nature to do its work over time.

Reduce Water Waste

Water is another area where waste can sneak up on you, especially if you’re not paying close attention to your watering practices.

1. Install Automatic Drinkers:

If you’re still manually filling water troughs, you might be wasting more water than you realize. Spilled water and overfilled troughs can lead to significant waste. Instead, consider installing automatic drinkers or poultry nipples, which dispense only the water your animals need.

2. Collect and Reuse Rainwater:

Investing in a rainwater collection system can greatly reduce your water bill and help you become more self-sufficient. Use the captured rainwater to fill drinking supplies for your animals. Just be sure to throw a fine mesh over any rain barrels to prevent contamination and mosquitoes.

3. Diversion Ditches:

If you notice that rainwater or excess watering is causing runoff, consider creating diversion ditches around your animal enclosures. These ditches can collect and direct this excess water toward your garden, ensuring that nothing is wasted.

Dealing with Packaging Waste

When you’re buying feed, supplements, and supplies in bulk, packaging waste can quickly get out of hand. However, reducing, reusing, and recycling packaging is entirely achievable.

1. Buy in Bulk:

Purchasing feed or other supplies in bulk reduces the overall amount of packaging waste you’re responsible for. Not to mention, bulk purchases tend to be more cost-effective, making it a win-win scenario.

2. Reuse Packaging Materials:

Feed sacks, buckets, and other containers can often be reused in several ways around your backyard farm. For example, plastic feed sacks can be turned into weed barriers in your garden, or used for covering small crop beds to prevent frost.

3. Recycle What You Can:

Set up a recycling system specifically for your farm’s packaging waste. Many of these materials, such as cardboard and certain plastics, can easily be recycled rather than thrown away. Just ensure the materials are clean before sending them to the recycling bin to avoid contamination.

Advanced Insights into Waste Reduction

Addressing Food Waste With Food Cycles: Start a Zero-Waste Loop

If you really want to take your waste reduction a step forward, consider establishing a zero-waste food cycle. For instance, chickens can be fed kitchen scraps, which then turn into chicken manure, which is then composted and used as fertilizer to grow fresh vegetables, which in turn produce new scraps to go back into the cycle.

Edible Plants as Forage:

Instead of spending a lot on feeds, consider planting edible cover crops like clover or alfalfa for your animals. Goats, chickens, and rabbits all appreciate fresh greens, and planting forage not only reduces feed waste, but it also cuts down on the need for packaged feeds.

Use Animals’ Natural Instincts To Help Manage Waste:

Animals have instincts that can align with waste management. For example, chickens love to forage and scratch in the soil, and they’ll turn over compost piles for you, aerating them and speeding up the decomposition process.

If you raise goats, they can trim down weed patches that might have otherwise become waste, and rabbits will convert many garden trimmings directly into fresh manure.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Even with the best intentions, sometimes reducing waste is easier said than done. Here’s how you can address some common challenges:

1. Unwanted Pests:

If you’re composting manure or food scraps, unwanted pests like rats or flies might turn up. Secure your compost pile with a lid or wire mesh to keep out rodents, and be mindful about what you add to avoid attracting flies. Turning the pile regularly will also help lessen odors that attract pests.

2. Bedding Becoming Too Heavy:

If you’re using the deep litter method, the bedding can become heavy and difficult to manage over time. Try to keep the coop dry and add fresh bedding regularly. For more manageable removal, consider dividing the cleanup into smaller sessions rather than attempting to clean out all of the bedding at once.

3. Feed Spoiling Before Use:

If you’re struggling with feed spoiling, avoid buying more than you can reasonably store and use quickly. Rotate feed stocks on a “first in, first out” basis to ensure nothing is sitting unused for too long.

Final Thoughts…

Edward, it’s fantastic that you’re looking at ways to make your backyard farm in Red Deer, Alberta more sustainable! Reducing waste in animal care not only helps the environment, but it can also make your small farm more efficient and cost-effective in the long run. Whether you’re focusing on making better use of bedding, optimizing feed utilization, or just managing your farm’s resources more carefully, all these actions can have a meaningful impact. Thanks for sending in your question, and here’s to making your backyard farm the best it can be!