Do our critters hold the answer to home heating costs?!

[d.k]

* Aren't they one and the same thing?? I always thought so. . .Wonder if you could go about making your own pellets for a pellet stove. They certainly ought to dry faster.

 

[Chirpy]

Yes, dung and manure are considered the same thing ... at least around here.

My hubby and I have also looked into using manure as an alternative fuel source. We haven't done it yet but have researched it somewhat.

 

[Crunchie]

Quote:
What I was thinking would be to just scoop up "clean" piles from the pasture and collect them some way, but I have horses--their piles are big and easy to scoop up! I do have some of my goats kept in a small pasture in which they have free access to a shed and covered run that has a concrete floor. It would be easy for me to collect their manure from there...but if I were trying to collect it from just the pasture? No way. You'd spend all your days trying to sweep up goat berries just to get enough to burn!

Not very energy efficient in a totally different kind of way!

 

[ChickenToes]

I just read a Louis L'Amour book where a family heading out West in wagon had to stop and collect buffalo chips for fuel. I've got the wood stove, now if only I had some buffalo around here...

 

[BettyR]

We don’t use much in the way of heating fuel but if you could figure out how to run the A/C on dung I’m all ears!!!

 

[MaineChickens]

Goat manure gives a whole new meaning to "pellet stove."

 

[annmarie]

Funny some of you should mention the pellet idea! I ran into an article while looking up the orginal articles that I posted, that was about a company that's working on a pellet made of dried manure and sawdust. It was dated 2006. I wonder if they've made any progress. I don't know much about how pellet stoves work, but the goat berry pellets is an interesting thought! Not sure what that would do to a pellet stove though. I can just imagine explaining that one to the pellet stove repair-person! You put WHAT in the stove???

 

[keystonepaul]

There's a reason indians don't use buffalo pies to heat thier living spaces anymore and it's not cause there's fewer buffalo.

Keystonepaul

 

[freshegg]

I think this is very interesting, I never heard of this but if I could I would heat house with it. I have pellet and wood stoves. Anything but oil for me. if oil was still a dollar a gallon I would but over $4 they can shove all of it right where there dung comes from. Im getting electric water heater after oil tank is empty. I like the outdoor wood burners but every town here has banned or regulated heavily, problely because they dont get tax from wood. maybe if we all do this they will start taxing are animal poops.

 

[annmarie]

I am also very interested, and maybe this is the wrong time of year to bring up the topic, but seriously, if anyone does experiment with this this winter, I beg you to post the results of your experiment here. (Although this probably would be a good time of year to try starting a few of the "bricks" explained in the article, so they'll have all summer to get good and dry.) I also noticed when googling the topic that there's a lot of research going on with home methane generators again. So who knows, maybe that manure powered A/C someone asked about isn't too far off!