Animal Integration Design
Design the role of animals in your permaculture system. Animals provide nutrient cycling, pest control, soil preparation, and companionship. This method helps you plan species, stocking rates, rotation, and integration with your plant systems.
Version History
Version 1.0 Current
Effective: 2026-03-30Initial version
Procedure Details
Research local regulations on keeping animals before proceeding. Consider neighbours, noise, odour, and biosecurity. Ensure adequate shelter, water, and forage area for animal welfare.
Before starting:
- Review your zone plan (animals are placed by management frequency)
- Research species suited to your climate and scale
- Check local council regulations on animal keeping
- Consider your time budget for animal care
- Review your existing nutrient/pest challenges that animals could address
Procedure Steps (Version 1.0)
List the functions you need animals to perform: pest control, nutrient cycling, soil preparation, pollination, companionship, food production.
Research species that perform those functions in your climate. Start with the easiest to manage (chickens, worms, bees).
Determine stocking rate based on your available forage area. Overstocking is the most common permaculture animal mistake.
Design a rotation plan: where do animals move, how often, and how does this benefit each zone they visit?
Plan housing: shelter from weather, predator protection, access to food and water. Place in the appropriate zone.
Design integration with plant systems: chicken tractors in vegetable beds, ducks in orchards, bees near flowering guilds.
Plan the nutrient cycle: animal manure → composting → soil amendment → plant growth → forage/scraps → animals.
Create a seasonal calendar: when do animals need more/less attention? How does this fit with your planting calendar?
Record your design as an activity, linking to the zone plan and relevant bed/structure elements.
If you implement, track animal contributions as activities with observations (egg production, compost volume, pest reduction).