Been there and done that, except we did not discover it until too late, for it was outside the house and not gone into each day, lost all the beef and pork we had grown, before we moved up here.
Mary would take all that milk, pour it in a shallow trough and let the Mesquite beans and leaves fall in it as it evaporated, she would have a black mess left that the hogs and chickens loved and she shared her last with me, so I know how well it worked.
If I were doing it, I would use alfalfa hay, you could put a screen over it for the flies.
I am glad that you caught it in time, it is heart breaking to loose food.
No, we won’t comment on the fact that I still have a pound or two of Mary’s dates in mine, they were frozen in 1965 and 5 years ago, were still good, for I ate them then.
I would never want to depend on a freezer today, for the jihadi know how to hack the electric system and shut it down.
I hope you can have it running in short order.