## Permaculture Principle: Produce no waste ##

Using hay nets and cattle panel rings to reduce hay waste

Today I had to put out some fresh bales of hay for the horses and katahdin ewes which had me thinking of the permaculture principle produce no waste

Hay is the largest input at the homestead so we have an incentive to get the most out of it. The first way we do is to make sure as much of it ends up as food for the animals as possible. We do this by putting the bales in hay nets and cattle panel rings.

After the sheep have eaten the bale down and pooped/urinated all over the straw, I collect it and use it as mulch for garden beds to grow food for us. Plus any manure from the horses ends up as food for our chickens, the resulting compost to grow more food.

Even though the hay is an expensive input we get the most out of it by producing no waste. Anything that ends up as waste in one system becomes food for another until all that's left of it is soil in our garden beds.

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