Cleaning Out Manure!
Manure accumulates whether the livestock is outdoors on pasture or in a barn and both environments require attention at various times. Today, we will be digging deeper into how to clean out manure from the sheep barn. More specifically, we operate a sheep farm that are housed inside coveralls therefore, we will discussing how to clean out manure from inside the coverall, what equipment is used and how much time is required to complete this task.
Importance of Cleaning Out Manure from Sheep Barns
Cleaning manure out of the sheep barns ties into maintaining a healthy flock. There are many diseases that can seriously impact your flock health that arise from the bedding.
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What is Manure?
Manure is not just the urine and feces from livestock but also the bedding, runoff, spilled feed, and anything else mixed with it. Manure is organic material that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture to fertilize land.
Nutrient Management on Sheep Farms
One of the most important aspects of any animal-based agricultural operation is having an effective waste management plan which reaps the benefits and helps reduce the risks associated with the use and disposal of animal wastes.
If sheep spend any part of the year in barns, you need to deal with manure from those areas.
A complete manure management system involves collection, storage (temporary or long-term) and ultimate disposal or utilization. If your sheep produce more manure than you can use on your land, you need to develop ways to sell the manure or give it away.
Manure Storage
Storage of livestock wastes involves accumulating manure in an environmentally sound manner until it can be applied to the land. Manure storage facilities allow farmers to spread manure when the conditions are right for nutrient use by crops.
The ideal storage site for solid manure is a roofed shed with an impermeable floor such as concrete.
Store manure away from buildings and corrals to prevent run-off into sheep housing areas, water sources, and feed supplies.
Manure Composting
Composting is “the breakdown of manure under controlled and managed systems to produce a beneficial end-produce (compost).
Organic wastes typically take several months to a year to compost in a compost pile.
Source: www.sheep101.info
How Do You Clean Out Sheep Manure from Inside Barn?
As with everything farm related, there are multiple methods that work and it all depends on what your set up is as well as what equipment you have access to. This is one example of how we chose to clean out the manure from one of our sheep barns. Check it out here.
This video shows the steps taken to relocate the sheep flock from one of our barns. When we clean manure from the barn, we want to ensure that the flock does not get exposed to poisonous gases or toxic air therefore, we open up the alley at the top of the coverall and allow the ewes to find their way into another coverall that has bedding, feed and water available to them. Once the manure has been removed, the building pressure washed and time granted to dry up then we begin to spread straw onto the concrete base. The flock is then relocated back into their original space.
Our Manure Storage
This is a picture of the sheep manure storage pile. The manure is dumped into a pile resting on a concrete pad for a period of one year. Throughout the year; the pile will be turned, pushed and rotated as it breaks down and composts. Next spring; it will be scheduled to spread onto the crop fields.
