Howdy Everyone;
I am continuing to work with my village planning board on regulations to allow me, and others, to get small goats. One unresolved issue is manure disposal. There was some discussion about composing the manure using formal composting procedures verses the informal just piling up the manure and let it cook method.
For those of you that have goats in a village or city, does your community have specific requirements about manure disposal? If so, would you share them?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Susan
Replies
Wonderful. I'm glad it was helpful. Just one more example of what a wonderful group this is.
As you an imagine, with the lot requirement I was very happy to find Portland (right across the river) had three on a lot to use as our "foundation" argument. Ironically, I found many other cities allowing goats before I found our closest neighbor did; sometimes we overlook the obvious.<g> We did spend many months on the update; the committee met about twice a month with things going back and forth to the City Attorney office for legal implications. Then about 2/3 through, the City laid off a huge number of employees including the person leading our meetings which slowed up things a bit. Most of our meetings included someone from Code Enforcement and from Animal Control. We had people on the committee both inside and outside the City limits and some that had been annexed and had animals so we made certain the grandfather clause was in there (not sure if it is in this section).
Susan A Carver said:
Belated thanks for your help - members of the planning board did incorporate some of the info from Vancouver's goat regs into our regs. And they unanimously voted to allow goats in our village, now it is on to the village board.
Gracious! I got that backwards - we sent it in with 1/2 acre and the city attorney kept sending it back with 1/4! Cannot believe I did that!
Wrote "We kept sending it in with 1/4 acre (I have 1/3) and the city attorney kept sending it back each time with 1/2 acre which wouldn't allow me to have goats."
Should be "We kept sending it in with 1/2 acre (I have 1/3) and the city attorney kept sending it back each time with 1/4 acre which wouldn't allow me to have goats."
Maybe Deborah can fix that for me and delete this one.
Also, the code there is the county code which is very much like the city code. The city code is at: http://www.cityofvancouver.us/sites/default/files/fileattachments/v... If it asks you to search, it is 20,895.050.
That is a good idea to not even address the manure disposal, especially considering it should not be a problem. When we updated our code, we chose to *not* address honey bees as any problems around them would fall under the nuisance code. The general feeling was to not put something in the code that could lead to problems later because if there was really a problem, it would covered with the nuisance code.
Ours limits miniature livestock to three including dogs. Miniature is defined as under 100 lbs. at maturity. If acreage (spelled out in the code) is available, then animals are included accordingly; in other words if you have five or ten acres, that doesn't apply. This became necessary because the City annexed so much property that included farms, then a developer would put up a subdivision and the new buyers (who knew the farms were there when they bought!) started complaining and pointing to very old codes that excluded livestock inside the city limits.
Our city was going towards sustainability for people and wanted to include such things in our code; at the time it was illegal to sell even a bouquet of flowers grown in your yard unless you had commercial zoning! At our first meeting, I was lucky to be sitting next to one of our CSA farmers who has N.D.s and said that with two milking does, half a dozen hens and a garden, a family could produce most of their own food on a city lot. I brought up that many dogs are bigger than these goats; also mentioning how stinky dog feces is if not picked up. Our code limits dogs to three without a kennel license which is how it got to three miniature livestock. The lot size was an issue initially. We kept sending it in with 1/4 acre (I have 1/3) and the city attorney kept sending it back each time with 1/2 acre which wouldn't allow me to have goats. I got on line to see what other cities were doing and found that Portland, right across the river, allowed three on a city lot without specifying size so I suggested that. This time, the city attorney agreed to it (not to have an ongoing debate about how Portland could do it and we could not).
The finished code, the result of many meetings and many months, is at: http://www.clark.wa.gov/development/animals/urban_livestock.html
The irony of this is that at the time this all started, goats were not even on my radar but because I have an over-size lot I wanted others who also had more room to be able to do it. My reason for volunteering for the committee was to ensure they did not limit our hens to three as has Portland.
Hopefully, there is something helpful there for you.
Thanks Rachel and Glenna-
I will suggest that the manure disposal will not be included in the code.
And Glenna - how many goats does your municipality allow you to own?
Thanks - Susan
Manure is not an issue since there is so little and it is readily spaded into the soil without needing composting. The bedding is another matter. I put some bedding (straw/hay) on my garden. I also post on Freecycle.org and usually someone wants it; I have them bring their own containers. Our livestock code doesn't address it as it would fall under the nuisance code as if it were stinky and neighbors complained. If you want to keep it on site, just decide where and then make a compost "bin" out of 2x4 yard fence wire or something similar and keep it in there. Make it maybe 6x6 or 8x8, something like that, to allow for many barn cleanings. You will have worm heaven at the bottom of it!
Also, since it is mostly straw (little manure!), you should be able to dispose of it as yard debris like grass cuttings. Be sure your planners realize that the most manure a little goat will produce in a day is equivalent to less than two dog bowel movements. This is not like cow pies or horse biscuits.<g> Be sure they realize there is little or *no* odor to the goat manure itself, that it is not like dog feces.
If you wanted to be compulsive about it, you can shake each forkful of bedding over a bucket to separate the berries from the bedding and then the bedding would be just straw/hay. Since it's not stinky, it's not worth the bother.
Goat manure is like rabbit manure. It doesn't have to be composted before using it for fertilizer. I put mine in a big pile, (mixed with spent hay) and my chickens scratch in it. Then I use it as mulch/fertilizer in my garden.