I know most of you all are not going to find this useful but.......

[enjoy the ride]

I made a goatie poop sawdust sifter from hardware cloth and PCV pipe. Sort of like a wheelbarrow with a hardware cloth bucket- just shake it back and forth.
I most bed on straw but the feed store ran out due to snow blocking roads so I got some sawdust. But it was not possible to get those round ball bearings of goat poop out even with a fine tine manure fork. So I made a sifter that takes out allllllll the poops and lets virtually all the sawdust sift through. I have used the same sawdust for 8 days without adding any more. All I ever take out are the wet spots.
I may never go back to straw again. A bale of straw will last be two weeks with daily cleaning but, as the sawdust is the same price as a bale and so much easier to clean, I will use that if I can stretch it out the same length of time.

 

[FarmerChick]

I think that is a great idea.
You get that good poop for the garden, keep a clean area, and get to reuse that sawdust longer.

You are in a big win/win situation there.

We just take the small tractor, scoop it up and haul to the gardens.

 

[PamsPride]

Ingenius!!!! Where are the pictures??? You can't tell us about something so cool and then not give us pictures!!!

 

[patandchickens]

They used to sell a motorized one for cleaning horse stalls. It was called the Shi*fter LOL

Congrats on getting the specs worked out for goat poo -- I can see where that could really save on bedding, possibly produce stuff that composts better too.


Pat

 

[lorihadams]

I use a cat litter scoop for my small chicken coop. Works great and all I have to do is shake the wood shavings out of it and it saves me so much! Really makes the shavings last longer and my coop never smells!

 

[enjoy the ride]

I want to make one modification to the goatie sifter and then I post pictures.- It's really simple.

The thing that has kept me from getting a few chickens is the mess I have seen they make in their coops- poop running down the walls and on the perches (?.)

I have thought about looking for an old shower stall enclosure to make into a coop so it could be hosed out. I think I could live with the ground covered in sawdust and sifted daily.

My own house is a mess all the time but the horses and goats are cleaned daily. I think I would feel the same about chickens too.

 

[2dream]

ETR - What a wonderful idea. I can't wait to see the pics.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I remember the word- roosts not perches-

 

[sylvie]

Love goats! What kind do you have?
I used to own an African Pygmy Mountain goat and 4 assorted mixed breeds.

Add me to the list of those who want pics; I want to see the poop producin' culprits!

 

[enjoy the ride]

OK- posting pictures is so slow on a pokey dial up but here it is-

The first pic shows it open where I dump dirty sawdust in and the second is where it folds shut to allow me to shake all the sawdust out.

I have now used the same sawdust for 15 days and it is still really clean. I just remove the wet spots each day then sift the rest. Takes me half the time or less that I used to spend cleaning straw.
Eventually I will have removed enough wet sawdust that I will have to add more but not yet............