Disposal of dog/cat 'manure'

14 years ago

I am developing an animal sanctuary for approx 60-70 LARGE dogs & cats who have "issues" and are not highly adoptable. As I develop my land, 20 acres, (rural) mostly pasture for horses, I must consider "poop" disposal due NO SEWERAGE. I understand, or think I understand, the issues of parasites but my options that I see are:

-scoop, bag and pay to put into landfill;

-"compost" and put on flowers/trees;

-vermicompost and put on flowers/trees;

-either of the 2 above and spread on horse pastures or

-holding tank with bacteria draining to "rock/reed" filter bed using specific natural plants with runoff to the ground.

Any comments appreciated

Sam

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Comments (4)

aquarian_commoner
14 years ago
Hi there :) I've recently been learning about bokashi, an Asian composting system using what they term, "effective microorganisms." It involves the use of anaerobic conditions, very similar in nature to what one would find in the bowls of a dog, cat or yourself. Indeed, lactic acid bacteria are employed both in YOUR bowels (if you're healthy in that manner) and in bokashi techniques. As I understand it, the lactic acid bacteria, or LAB for short, out-compete other potentially pathogenic bacteria.

I am by no means a pro and I have only just purified my LAB serum. I presume after you ferment the waste as directed in the link you should be able to compost it and use it as a decent fertilizer ( I wouldn't use it for your food plants though.)

If you check this link make sure you follow the steps from the BOTTOM of the page, the author seems to be a tad disorganized. No worries, the technique seems sound :)

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY bokashi
plumiebear
14 years ago
Sam, put "dog poo" in the search box at the top of the page and you'll get tons to read. However, I don't recall reading of anyone setting up a system for that many dogs. Below is a link to my tiny system to process stuff from a single dog. You would definitely need to make adjustments to scale a system to 60+ animals.

Andrew

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog poo composter
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equinoxequinox
14 years ago
I'm trying to figure out how many hours a day scooping would take. A few people would be kept employed just keeping the water fresh and the food bowls cleaned and filled. Just shopping for the food and lugging it to the facility and securing it from vermin would take a bit of time. Plus it would take a few people just to give the animals time, playing and attention. Bagging would seem to be unpractical especially due to plastic waste. A lot of pounds of worms would be needed.
cathd66
14 years ago
Would it be possible to train the dogs to poo in an area- eg by letting them directly from their sleeping area to their poo area then only letting them into play area after they 'perform'. Then you could put bark or sawdust in teh poo area and collect it regularly to compost/ vermicompost. If you hot composted first (some horse manure might speed this up) you could kill most pathogens.