Composting manure for gardern/farming use-- include stray hay in the pile? Yes or no?

[subk]

Adding hay is good it will help achive a better C:N balance. Adding bedding is good too, although I find shavings take longer to compost than pellets. Pine pellets compost great, but I’ve made my best compost with straw pellets.

FYI, earthworms are not impacted by chemicals used to kill internal paritsites which are not actually “worms.”

If you are planning to share your compost expect a landscape company to ask about the herbicides used on your hay and pastures. There are a few persistent broad leaf herbicides that are not broken down in the the process that remain active in compost for a year or so. The affected compost can damage tender plants. Google “Persistent herbicide in compost” for more information. I have not had any difficulty finding out from my hay sources what herbicides were used on it. (If you feed hay that contains alfalfa or clover that would not have been treated.)

[SuzieQNutter]

Thanks subk. We are putting into bags of manure to sell so we usually don’t put the manure for wormed horses in that just in case.

No worries with the hay here. We make our own hay and do not use herbicides.

[merrygoround]

I’ve never had a problem with hay breaking down… So it goes in. I don’t use shavings, and only use straw occasionally, but it does take longer.

[demidq]

I use all the dirty bedding, and rather like the texture of compost with shavings. Sort of acts as mulch. I think the amount of urine in the stuff supplies all the nitrogen it needs to break down! My garden is clay soil basically so needs lots of organic material to lighten it. I am of the pallet bin school- the compost gets turned into second bin when first is full. This aerates and mixes half cooked compost so it heats up fast.

[fjordmom]

You can use all the materials mentioned, hay, straw, manure, and other organic matter in creating a compost pile. Here’s some info on starting a pile from scratch. Once you have it started, just continue to layer until your bin is full. (Yes those bins in the photos are largely filled with the cleanings from my stalls and pasture. Pelleted bedding composts very nicely.) Remember some aeration (from varying sizes of material particles) is important. The composting process does not happen well in the absence of oxygen. That’s when you get fermentation and stinky smells.

You can turn or not, based on the time and effort you want to put into it. Either way, as long as the conditions are right (not soaking wet or bone dry), compost will happen. Turning just speeds the process. In a few months the pile will decompose to about half its original volume and all but the very top will be lovely, sweet-smelling, spongy compost.

If DH has the tractor and bucket handy our pile may get turned once/moved from one side of the bin to the next. Our bins are big and by the time one is full, it has turned to enough compost for our large garden and plenty to share with the neighbors or spread on the pasture.

[buck22]

[QUOTE=Trevelyan96;7933583]
I think your method also assists with aeration - the layers of hay help keep air pockets in the pile.[/QUOTE]
Ayup, I have been thinking the same myself.

And, when we get a good rain, like we just did, I “aerate” by climbing up on the pile, walking around the middle to make a flat spot (another good reason for a hay covering, boots don’t get all mucked up), and then climb back down and go around the pile with my muck rake and flip the outer edges up into the newly-flattened center - basically turning the pile over from the outside in.

This results in a higher pile that composts faster under its own weigh, gets the outer-edges into the center so they can break down too, aerates the center a wee bit, and overall makes for a tidier looking pile. This is actually how I spent my morning while the horses ate after all this rain that passed through.

I loff me some composting! Its truly one of the great joys of horsedom for me. Therapeutic on so many levels :lol:

[shakeytails]

Everything goes in mine, too. Spread directly on the fields this time of year, stockpiled during the summer. The stockpiled stuff smells like very rich dirt after a year or so. Since I have a plethora of 100# feed sacks- I’ve toyed with the idea of bagging some of it up and taking it to the flea market in the city in the spring, but I’d hate to go to all that work if nobody bought it.

[gumtree]

I’m sorry but there seems to be a lot of “rocket science” going on here. These are 2 links to “before and after” with straw and hay “muck out”

In my neck of the woods it takes about 6 months. If the “pile” is kept “mounded”. The bigger the better, quicker the breakdown, due to weight/pressure, which creates heat. I rarely “turn it” just keep adding to it. But I do have a tractor and with a FEL.

Caveat, the majority of our muck out is picked up and paid for by the local mushroom growers. I save a bit “on the side” for my own use. We have a fair amount of horses so our "pile’ gets quite large each month. Small “piles” take quite a bit longer to breakdown.

Before

http://s1136.photobucket.com/user/gumtreestables/media/IMG_0948.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

After

http://s1136.photobucket.com/user/gumtreestables/media/IMG_0949.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

[neversaynever]

I just saw this, if you are interested - it’s a book on composting that is free to download from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/How-Compost-Everything-Composting-Nothing-ebook/dp/B008BUYV4W/

[vxf111]

Update…

The horses came home in November. I began a pile and allowed minimal amounts of waste-hay to be included as well as manure. No shavings. Did not get around to turning it (but was planning to shortly). A few weeks ago I approached my next door neighbor, who runs a nursery. They don’t use manure but mentioned it to a friend who runs a larger nursery/tree farm who does. He came and took almost the entire pile. He thanked me profusely, over-and-over because in prior year’s he’s had to pay and he got all he needed from my for free. He wants to come back this time every year.

Also my across the street neighbors took a wheelbarrow full for their rose garden :)

I spoke to the farmer who farms the land on 2 sides of me. He said I am free to spread manure on any of the land he farms except while the corn/soy is actively planted-- but before he plants and after he harvests, I can put the manure there.

So it appears I have my manure situation straightened out. It feels really good to know that rather than go to a dump somewhere, the manure will be making local tomatoes. Really happy resolution.

The crops should be planted soon, so I will start a new pile. Once the crops are harvested next fall, I will switch to spreading. Then, come next spring, I’ll have a nice pile well-aged for the nursery/tree farm.

[Alagirl]

that’s pretty sweet!

Incidentally I just read an article that suggests putting compost on rangeland improves CO2 binding to the soil.

I guess it works for fields as well!

[Trevelyan96]

Someday the world will catch on and we’ll have to hire armed guards to protect our compost piles.

[kalidascope]

[QUOTE=Trevelyan96;8127673]
Someday the world will catch on and we’ll have to hire armed guards to protect our compost piles. :D[/QUOTE]

I reckon! SMH at the idea of giving away all that valuable, nutrient-rich organic matter. A well-rotted manure pile is like black gold to a gardener :).

[wendybird]

I have very basic piles, and the local gardeners now know to come and help themselves. They watch and wait, lol.