Those who doubt the veracity of the Bible say that eight people could never have done all the work needed to maintain a ship as big as Noah's Ark. In particular, they scuff at the idea that, given their sheer number, the feeding of animals would be an impossible task on the ship. The truth is that most of them would need little if any care on the ship. This vessel used self-cleaning, self-feeding and self-watering technologies.
The below picture shows a 1/12th scale model of a mechanism that could have been used for the feeding of animals on the Ark. Note that the mechanism uses a floor made of mesh which is slanted downward to allow waste to simply flow toward a gutter.
After the beasts on the ship received a good feeding their manure would take advantage of gravity to move toward a gutter area. Once in this area it could be allowed either to dry, or be made into compost, or be removed completely from the Ark through a slanted trough that led outside the ship. Humans would not have to directly handle the waste in most cases.
Loading up Food
The loading of food for the feeding of animals is accomplished through food chutes located on either side of the cage. This would effectively enable them to fed themselves. Enough food could be placed inside the chutes to last the duration of the flood until dry land again appeared on the earth.
Water could be brought to those penned for feeding via pipes that fed into troughs or bowls. Water itself could be collected through a water collection system or could have been pre-loaded on the ark. Pipes were commonly made in this period of clay, bamboo or other materials.
Is Eight Enough?
An eight person crew on Noah's Ark could have fairly easily cared for and insured the feeding of the animals using its self-cleaning, self-feeding, and self-watering technologies. Data from husbandry studies have shown that they would even have had time to rest every week on God's Sabbath day!