Farm Animals Don't Clean Their Rooms
The first thing you have to realize when raising livestock on a Miniature Farm, is that you will be wholly responsible for the cleanliness or messiness of your animals. If you haven't planned the construction of your farm, your animals will suffer. Farm animals poop and pee a lot and with that waste comes smell and insects. The smell and insects will effect your life, as well as the lives of any neighbor in close proximity of your home. If enough people complain, you might have problems with the local authorities, and remember that majority rules.
The only way to manage animal and poultry waste is to get rid of it. Most animals instinctively defecate in designated corners of their pens, but you will still need to clean this up on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. The secret is to do it everyday. Clean it up and dispose of it everyday and you, your neighbors and most important, your animals will be happy. Grooming is a very important part of Farm Animal care. Occasional hose baths and curry comb rub downs are an excellent way to keep your animals coats clean and shiny.
In nature, an animal will poop and then insects and the elements slowly decompose the matter and as it breaks down, plants feed on the nitrogen and earthworms and other earthbound insects further break it down. This cycle usually takes place over a period of several weeks or months. This is not going to happen on a Miniature Farm, because the space is to small and the waste will build up to fast.
Each farm animal poops and pees, but there are varying consistencies in the stool and these differences will need to be planned for before you get your animals. As most Miniature Farmers will be limited on space, the secret is to not over-populate the space you have. Unclean living conditions can lead to considerable health problems and in some cases death. Respiratory infections from the build up of ammonia being released from poop and pee are the most common, and damp conditions can lead to foot rot in all species.
You will need a wheel barrow, buckets, rakes, pitch forks, shovels, rubber boots, gloves, work clothes, and straw or wood shavings for bedding. Depending upon the Farm Critters you raise, select the best kind of bedding suited for them. If you live in an urban setting, you need to bag the waste and send it off to the landfill. Some Miniature Farmers use waste for compost and garden fertilizer, but read up on how to do this, to avoid any unhealthy bacteria getting into your fruits or vegetables.
Ducks, Geese, & Swans
Use straw for bedding and in their pen. Ducks drink a lot of water and their poop is really runny. You will need to change their bedding at least once a day if you want to lower the smell factor and keep the flies down. Do not use wood shavings for bedding with ducks, because they like to eat them and this will lead to digestive tract problems. Baby ducks are extremely curious and will eat all kinds of things they should not. A duck pond will accumulate a lot of the poop and so you will need to make sure you circulate and filter the water. Filtering the water will remove the waste and keep the water clean and healthy. You can buy a fish pond filter, or just get a pump and build your own with a bucket or barrel, with a filtration media such as synthetic wool. The wool will catch the solids and cycle the cleaner water back to the pond. If you are going to build your pond, research pond construction for the best possible solutions to filtration and cleaning.
Chickens & Turkeys
Straw or wood shavings are a great beading material. You just want the material to absorb the poop.
Cows
Cow poop is usually runny, but can be thicker too. In a small space, you will want to remove this waste each and everyday. They pee a lot too, so urine smell might become a problem and the only way to manage this is have sufficient room for the cow to roam where natural rain and weather can dilute the pee. Most of the absorbent bedding material will take care of the problem, but you'll need to diligently do waste removal.
Horses
Horse poop is usually dry and easy to manage. Just stay on top of it. Horses will usually choose a place in their pen where they will poop and pee again and again, so make sure you've got the absorbent bedding in that area.
Goats
Goats have little pellet poops and you can easily clean up their poop with a shop vacuum or just put down bedding and do as you do with the other animals, but if you have your goats grazing your lawn, the shop vacuum is a good idea so you and your family can still enjoy the lawn.
Pigs
Pigs are stinky and need a mud hole to wallow in, and so you're not really going to get away from the stink and the flies with pigs. Your neighbors will not like the smell when the breeze blows their way. If you have one pot bellied pig, you'll probably be alright, but a pig for any other reason needs to be a pig on a Miniature Farm out in the country.
