Taking care of goats is a big responsibility, even if they do keep themselves most of the time. No matter how well of a job we think that we are doing, problems like a lingering urine smell can sometimes become apparent. Luckily, you don’t have to live with that smell if you are willing to do something about it. So, how can you get rid of the goat urine smell that is fouling up the air in and around the enclosure? Here are four ideas and tips that you can start making use of today.
Top 4 Tips to Get Rid of Goat Urine Smell
1. Change the Bedding Often
Required Materials: | Mulch and/or straw |
Average Time Required: | 15 – 30 minutes a day |
Difficulty Level: | Moderate |
One important thing that you can do to get rid of goat urine smell is to change the bedding more often. Even if you do so once a day now, you should consider doing it twice a day to keep the urine smells at bay. You may want to add extra mulch, straw, or whatever else you use for bedding during each change. Changing the bedding out will ensure that urine is not allowed to soak into the ground and create an overwhelming smell. Removing the bedding frequently will also remove much of the urine from your goat enclosure.
2. Add Lime to the Ground and Bedding
Required Materials: | Agricultural and food-grade lime |
Average Time Required: | 30 minutes a month |
Difficulty Level: | Easy |
An effective way to reduce and manage goat urine smells is to add agricultural food-grade lime to the bedding and the ground that your goats spend time on. Mixing in lime with the bedding and sprinkling it on the ground under the bedding will help neutralize the urine smell and keep it from seeping into the air. That said, it is important to work with your local animal feed or farm store to determine which kind of lime you should be using and how much, based on the amount of land that you need to cover and the type of terrain that you are dealing with.
3. Utilize the Deep Litter Method
Required Materials: | Mulch and/or straw |
Average Time Required: | 15 minutes daily |
Difficulty Level: | Easy |
The deep litter method is most effective during the coldest months of the year, when flies are not a serious problem. This method involves simply adding more mulch or straw to the ground when the layer already there gets moist from urine and the outdoor elements. You may have to add a new layer of mulch or straw to the ground once or twice a day to keep things dry and less smelly. It is important to completely clean the ground and shovel out all the urine-saturated bedding before beginning the deep litter method.
4. Make Use of Enzymatic Cleaners
Required Materials: | Commercial enzyme cleaner |
Average Time Required: | 10 minutes occasionally |
Difficulty Level: | Easy |
There are many enzyme (also referred to as enzymatic) cleaners available on the market, which can help keep goat urine smell in check throughout the year. Enzyme cleaners help break down the compounds in animal urine that excrete that ammonia smell that we humans are not fond of. Just spray the enzyme cleaner over the ground and in the housing area after all the bedding has been removed. Allow the area to dry for a couple of hours before adding new bedding to the environment, and you shouldn’t be bothered by goat urine odor any longer.
Conclusion
When it comes to taking care of goats, keeping the urine stench from overwhelming a human’s senses is part of the job. The more space that you have for your goats to roam, the less problem that you should have with urine odor. However, if you are working with a smaller space, the chance of the odor building up is greater.
No matter what size enclosure contains your goats, any of the tips and ideas outlined here can help you keep the urine odor under control. Remember, though, that urine odor is natural when housing several goats at one time. Even one goat can produce more than enough urine odor to offend the human nose. Therefore, as a goat caretaker, you should not expect to be able to completely eliminate the smell of urine.
Another interesting goat articles:
- How To Control Goat Odor (5 Tips & Ideas)
- 5 Best Goat & Sheep Fences – Reviews & Top Picks
- 29 Fascinating & Fun Goat Facts You Never Knew
Featured Image Credit: aitoff, Pixabay