Smell control?

[Dunkopf]

We have Chickens, Turkeys, Goats, Pigs and a couple cows. I put all the dirty bedding and manure in piles in our garden. We have a neighbor that lives about 200 yards from us. We are all on 8 acre lots, but we are on top of a hill and naturally everyone builds as high up the hill as they can. So even though we aren't close enough to be annoyed by loud stereos or people arguing at each other, I guess we are close enough for smells to drift.

Yesterday one of our neighbors who has no livestock comes over and starts complaining about the pigs. I have a very sensitive nose and I don't have an issue within 20 feet or so. We only have 3 pigs and we clean up all the poop every weekend. I think he might be smelling the piles of hay and shavings that have poop mixed in from all the animals.

Any ideas on controlling possible smells coming out of those piles? We never get any smells in the house and the windows are always open. Well except for me of course.

 

[Mattemma]

All I can think of is baking soda or activated charcol. Aside from the location of the piles I would not do anything.Sometimes I smell poo in the air,and figure people are fertilizing their soil.Sure it stinks,but it will pass. Lol, I made the mistake of bagging dead jap beetles.That smelled SO bad I had to move the garbage can into the driveay(away from the house!)

If you are cleaning up after the animals that is the best you can do.Your neighbor just needs to live with it.It is nice that you are looking for options.Maybe the neighbor wants to pay for some sweet pdz to put on your piles?Your neighbor will be back to complain about something else.

Ignore it if you know you are doing the best you can. I would not want to spend what little money I had to accomodate neighbors,or give up my animals for them.

 

[Dunkopf]

This guy started acting like some of the other neighbors were complaining amongst themselves and talking about going to the zoning department. So now I have to dig out my paperwork to see if I'm doing anything against the rules. I know livestock is allowed. We have a lot of Turkeys though and are selling them. I would rather not have the zoning department snooping around. He actually expects me to get rid of the pigs. I told him we were getting rid of them at the end of October. I don't want the extra mouths to feed and they should be big enough to slaughter by then.

Thanks for the suggestions though. I really try to be a good neighbor. I just don't see where he could be getting much smell where he's at.

 

[chickenzoo]

Hand him a clothespin..................... If you are doing everything you can reasonably to cut down on smell, and he still complains... tell him to buy the stuff he wants you to use and you will use it.

For your piece of mind find out your zoning and see what the regs are....

 

[darkmatter]

My Folks and Grandfolks when driving by a place and smelling the Manure would inhale deeply and say: "Smells like Money"

 

[Lisa202]

I use Stall Dry or Sweet PDZ in my run and under the roosts and it does work on the smell. They use it in horse stalls to combat the urine, but I find that it works with the smells in general.

I love the smell of manure though...it's such a natural smell...but not like that time I was driving by some Amish farm and the smell knocked us out of the car. I don't know what they were doing, but the smell was really really bad and we were pretty far away from the barn out on the road.

 

[Dunkopf]

I don't mind horse or cow manure. Wouldn't want to roll in it like the dogs do. Pig manure stinks though. We feed our pigs Nutrena grower finisher with some heavily diluted goat milk. They suck it up. So their turds are pretty firm. I think the neighbor might be smelling the vent pipe from his septic system, because the wind always blows from his place to ours. I was looking today and it's about 1000 ft. I looked up the zoning laws and we are only allowed one pig and 15 poultry. We're zoned Residential agricultural. Any property not in the city limits between 8-35 acres gets that zoning. So I don't want this guy calling the zoning dept. If he comes over again I'll have him come smell the pig area. Meanwhile I put a bunch of PDZ on the used bedding piles and covered them with fresh straw. They weren't really smelly either.

 

[ChicksterJo]

Wow, only 1 pig and 15 poultry for 8 acres?

Is the pile of poop/hay on top of the hill too? If you can, find a place near the bottom of the hill to put the poop/hay on, and maybe make an enclosure kind of what you'd make for a compost pile.

 

[fuzziebutt]

Till it into the ground. Plow up about 1/2 an acre, spread the stuff, and till it under. Then plant something tomatoes on it next year and give some to the neighbor. When he tells how pretty they are, tell him what you grew them in, and offer some for him!

 

[dewey]

Lime literally works wonders if needed for a quick fix, but it's not for everybody or every situation (depending on intended uses for the manure and ground, etc.). Just 3 pigs shouldn't cause a stink that the neighbor's can smell that far away. With his place being uphill of the winds, it just might be his own sewer he's smelling, or that he thinks doesn't stink.

Can you use lime?