Going Green In Your Barn.

With all the interest in being eco-friendly, going green has taken on a whole new meaning!

There are some simple, everyday changes that we can make around our homes and our barns, that will make us more eco-friendly. Here are a few going green tips that can get you started.

• Replace regular light bulbs with florescent bulbs. They use one quarter of the energy that regular bulbs use.
• Choose green products, like natural fly sprays without pesticides.
• Install skylight panels in your barn roof. This not only adds light, but also helps to heat the barn in those winter months.
• Cut back on pesticides and fertilizers. Try using fly eliminators or fly predators instead.
• Try using straw instead of sawdust or shavings. Straws breaks down into reusable mulch more quickly in the compost pile.
• Use wheelbarrows instead of tractors for moving manure and bedding to the compost pile.
• Collect rainwater for your daily chores such as watering plants and bathing animials.
• Save feed bags for use as garbage bags around the barn.
• Compost organic matter such as grass clippings, manure and food.
• Have a barn cat. He will keep out any unwanted rodents.
• Install bird houses. Some birds will eat several thousand flying insects a day.
• Save hay strings for emergency halters or lead ropes.

These are just a few examples of how you can start to go green at your barn. Eco-friendly farming will help to sustain the long term health of the land and also the animals that live on it.

Let me here your ideas and I will share them with others. Let me know ways you have either 'gone green" or ways you have saved money on the farm! I look foward to your comments and suggestions.