Poultry litter

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In agriculture, poultry litter or broiler litter is a mixture of manure, feed, feathers, and the sawdust used as bedding material in poultry farms.

Traditionally used as fertilizer, it is now also used as a livestock feed as a cost-saving measure compared with other feedstock materials, particularly for beef animals.<ref>Broiler Litter as a Feed or Fertilizer in Livestock Operations</ref> <ref>Deep Stacking Broiler Litter As A Feed For Beef Cattle</ref>. In 2004, some officials of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called for a ban on feeding broiler litter to cattle, to combat the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly called "mad cow disease".<ref>*BSE spurs ban on feeding broiler litter to cattle</ref>

Poultry litter is also now being used in Ireland as a biomass energy source on a small scale. This system uses the poultry litter as a fuel to heat the broiler houses for the next batch of poutry being grown thus removing the need for LPG gas or other fossil fuels.<ref>http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/FP5/S1562.htm</ref>