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Integrate animals and compost loops

Link the garden with poultry, small livestock and the compost system so waste from one becomes input to another. Coordinate with the animals and waste modules.

How

1. Place poultry laying boxes and kitchen compost in Zone 1 and managed livestock in Zone 2 or 3, as the Oregon State zone guide describes.
2. Use animals to graze cover crops where practical; SARE notes grazing cover crops returns manure and organic matter to the soil.
3. Compost manure and bedding before using it on food beds. If you use raw manure, follow your country's food-safety rule. Example, USA organic rule: raw manure must be worked into the soil at least 120 days before harvest for crops whose edible part touches the soil, and 90 days for other food crops.
4. Keep animals out of vegetable beds during the growing season, using fencing designed in the animals module.
5. Grow some feed or forage crops in Zone 3 if your yields and water budget allow.

Safety: Raw manure can carry pathogens that contaminate food. Compost it fully and wash produce, especially crops eaten raw.

Do these first

• animals-1
• waste-1

Sources

1. Introduction to Permaculture: Zones. Oregon State University (Open Oregon State), accessed 2026-11
2. 10 Ways Cover Crops Enhance Soil Health. SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education), accessed 2026-11
3. Making Compost. Colorado State University Extension, accessed 2026-11
4. Soil building: manures and composts. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, National Organic Program, accessed 2026-11

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