- wasted hay

We have always kept a manger full of hay inside the goat’s shelter as a supplement, but as winter approached and we ran out of pasture grass, hay became more of a staple.  The goats waste a tremendous amount of hay; once it gets a little dirty they are done with it.  As a result, we ended up with quite a lot of hay on the ground in the areas where the shelter had been.  The grass should be growing again soon, but in the mean-time they are eating almost nothing but hay.

A few days ago I decided to try and make use of the “wasted” hay that had been left behind by the goats.  I went around the fields, to the areas where the goat shelter had been stationed, and raked the hay into piles.  I was not sure if my efforts would be worthwhile, but I discovered a wonderful mess of  fermenting hay, goat urine, goat poop, and chicken poop.

You may be wondering how this mess could be so wonderful…  Well, if you have a compost bin and do any gardening you should know how great this combination can be.  As you can see below, I ended up with a lot of (already composting) waste hay and it wouldn’t all fit in our compost bin.  The big consolidated pile should continue to compost and breakdown on its own; I will take away little bits as we need it.