FOR-176: Building a Bird Nest Box with a Bird’s Eye View: A DIY Nest-box Camera

Steve Higgins, James Ash, Matthew Springer | Sep. 23, 2024 (New)

Watching nature from a backyard can be a fun and rewarding experience. Enhancing the experience can be accomplished by creating habitat and building structures to attract wildlife. Do-it-yourself (DIY) individuals may enjoy the “bird’s eye view” provided by a Wi-Fi camera mounted on the inside of a side-view nest box. This optimum viewing angle can provide the opportunity to see adult birds construct their nest and feed their hatchlings without disturbing their natural behavior. This publication outlines the design, construction, assembly, and installation of a side-view nest box, which is a project that can provide years of enjoyment, satisfaction, and learning opportunities.

---

AEN-176: Providing and Improving Drinking Water for Livestock

Steve Higgins | Aug. 9, 2024 (New)

Water is a fundamental requirement for livestock. Depending on the species, livestock will consume two to six times more water than forages or feed. Nevertheless, drinking water quality for livestock is commonly overlooked, which can result in huge implications to animal health, well-being, and optimal productivity. To that end, providing adequate water sources for livestock is crucial.

---

AEN-175: Rain Traps for Watering Livestock in Remote Locations

Steve Higgins | Mar. 25, 2024 (New)

The availability of abundant, clean water can be the most limiting factor for a grazing operation. Rainfall has been harvested for thousands of years to provide water for crops, humans, and livestock. A familiar example is a cistern adjacent to a barn or house. This old concept still offers opportunities and, with a little ingenuity, can be used to provide abundant, clean water for almost any situation and location.

---

AEN-173: Shelterbelts for Livestock

Steve Higgins | Dec. 19, 2023 (New)

Livestock must maintain a normal body temperature to optimize their production potential. Providing shade and protection from wind are two ways producers can aid in managing the impact of temperature-related stress on their livestock.

---

AEN-169: Cattle Winter‐Feeding Area Evaluation

Steve Higgins, Lee Moser | Sep. 13, 2022 (New)

Winter feeding of cattle is necessary in Kentucky, since forages are dormant from late fall to spring. To prevent damage to multiple pastures by the creation of mud from livestock and tractor traffic, producers traditionally select a small area to "sacrifice" for this task. However, poorly chosen sites for winter feeding can lead to the accumulation of mud and loss of productivity of livestock. This publication should be used as a tool to evaluate the suitability of winter‐feeding sites and to provide solutions for correcting deficiencies.

---

AEN-167: Backyard Chickens as Garden Fertilizer Generators

Steve Higgins | Mar. 11, 2022 (New)

Having backyard chickens can be a fun, educational, and rewarding experience. There are many reasons why people keep backyard chickens, with availability of fresh, colored eggs, food security, and enjoying the birds as pets among them. However, for some, the goal is to obtain the rich manure that chickens produce to fertilize their garden. There is no better farmyard manure for the garden, as far as the nitrogen content, than poultry manure.

---

AEN-165: Improving Cow Paths

Steve Higgins | Dec. 17, 2021 (New)

The energy expended by a large animal traveling on a slope can be tremendous. To compensate, grazing animals create trails, which run parallel to a slope. These trails allow animals to graze the upper slope, while standing on flat ground, which provides energy and grazing efficiencies.

---

AEN-164: Reprogramming a Tobacco Barn to Hay Storage and Self-Feeding: An Eden Shale Case Study

Steve Higgins | Nov. 4, 2021 (New)

Many farms contain buildings that were productive long ago but contribute little to the farming operation today. A good example is a tobacco barn on a farm that no longer grows the crop. However, the application of land use planning concepts allows these barns to be repurposed or reprogrammed to significantly contribute to the farming operation. Once repurposed, these old barns can reduce labor, waste, time, and money while improving efficiency and profits.

---

AEN-161: Planning and Designing Suburban-Urban Poultry Housing in Kentucky

James Ash, Steve Higgins | Sep. 29, 2021 (New)

Interest in suburban-urban poultry keeping continues to increase. The main reasons for keeping poultry are for eggs and meat, and to address food sustainability or security issues. Poultry are also enjoyed as pets, for ornamental purposes, and providing enjoyment. Poultry can contribute to pest control and provide nutrient-rich manure for gardening. However, there are also challenges to keeping poultry in a suburban-urban setting.

---

AEN-163: Creating a Hub with Dry Lots for Small Ruminants

Steve Higgins | Sep. 16, 2021 (New)

A typical small ruminant operation needs to graze, feed and water animals daily. In addition, other activities such as milking, winter feeding, kidding or lambing, managing sick stock and handling for herd health need to be accomplished routinely or seasonally. An excellent way to promote efficiency is to create a centralized area or hub for all livestock related activities.