wasted hay

[OHMYKIDS]

What do you all do with all the wasted hay that the goats leave behind? I tend to have alot because the last batch of hay was really stemmy and they don't like it. Hopefully my next one won't have too much stems.

 

[mdoerge]

I use it as bedding. I put pine pellets down and whatever hay they pull out and waste ends up on top. The pellets are very absorbent and the hay makes a comfy bed!

 

[freemotion]

Yup! Bedding!

 

[redhen]

LOL.. Yup..stays on the floor as bedding..

 

[trestlecreek]

I just rake it up every couple of days and throw it in the compost pile.
I don't use as bedding due to encouragement of eating off the ground and mold growing under the hay...

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

i'm with the rest - leave it. my goaties usually wont eat off the ground and the chickens pick at it and scratch all around.

but then i do a big clean out every other week and it all goes into compost. or as i've been doing this summer, side dressing my garden to keep down the weeds. instead of waiting to compost you put it beside, not on or mixed into the soil. so far so good.

 

[kimmyh]

I clean it out, and use it for compost. Hay on the ground is the perfect home for growing the listeria bacteria (that is present everywhere), and once you have seen a case of listerosis, you will never want to see another.

 

[trestlecreek]

I agree, listeria can grow on old hay in just one week.
Nothing I want to risk and I agree Listeriosis is an UGLY disease.
That is part of why I love feeding alfalfa, very little waste for me to clean up!

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

yup, when I give the girls alfalfa...they LOVE me, and they pretty much hooverize it so only the tiniest little green leaf flakes fall through the feeder to the floor.

 

[OHMYKIDS]

Thank you all very much! I feed alfalfa also but it's very stemmy, so I have lots of waste. Does the stems compost easily?