Composting people... educate me on how to do it right

[Simkie]

Oh, just about anything, really! I fill low areas, or raise the grade in rocky areas so we can mow more easily. I’ve built out slopes so there’s more horizontal space. Using the tractor bucket to pack down after each drop keeps it firm, or it’ll settle on it’s own after a few months.

I DON’T use it in sacrifice areas, though. It holds entirely too much moisture, and turns to mud. Need a rock product for that.

Winging it is reasonable! If you can split your pad into two, being able to move the entire pile over is nice. You get lots of air into it by doing that, really speeds things along. I’d look at splitting down the short side, though–13’ deep x 5’ wide, if you can still get the skid steer in there. It’s easier to maintain a tidy pile if your “free” edge is the short side!

[Scribbler]

@BroncoMo

I’m probably just over thinking it. I tend to do that with things that you can really get wrapped around the axel on, even if it’s more simple than googled instructions make it seem. It would appear that you can get super scientific with it, but really the average person can get away with a much simpler plan. I think I’ll try that.

It just seems that people post pictures of their neatly done compost bins with roofs and live in areas with perfect weather. And I practically live in a tundra 8 months out of the year with frequent straight line winds in excess of 70 mph, and we are either in historic drought or dealing with historic rain fall. So I do worry that my attempts will be squandered by the weather. But it sounds like it’s much simpler than I’m making it out to be.

Probably good to keep in mind that composting is a totally natural process, and that manure left in a field for a year will melt back into the grass and create a bright green super nourished patch.

When people get technical about composting manure it’s mostly to speed this process up, do it with higher volume, and make it more aesthetically pleasing to humans by minimizing flies, smell, leachate run off, and visual impact.

Where I live the constant rain would make a huge sludge pile if we didn’t roof the compost heap. That’s not true in all climates.

It composts faster if you can build up a pile that gets hot inside and turn it over a couple times in the composting period. That also kills off weed seeds and flies.

But basically the idea is to have a set up that is easy for you to access and maintain, and that doesn’t add to your problems with run off or stink or complaints from neighbors. Give your compost a home that fits your situation and the composting process will do its job without much input from you.

[fledermaus]

It kind of depends on what you want. If you want to make quick, weed-free all-broken-down compost like what comes in a bag at a nursery, you need to work at it, with the proper carbon-nitrogen ratio, aerating it either by burying perforated pipe in it or turning it regularly, and keeping it moist.

If you just want to create a usable garden product out of raw manure, and don’t care how long it takes or how lumpy it is, you can do what I do. I have two 12’ square bins, 4 1/2’ tall, with one open side. I dump my stable and dry lot cleanings, the goat bedding, garden waste, chicken poop, ashes from the wood stove in winter, everything that will break down within a few months, in one bin as high as I can get it, then I leave it alone. I dress my gardens and orchard with it when it’s about six months old. I have one bin cooking and the other filling. It is emptied with a front end loader. It’s perfectly good compost, sometimes it’s great compost. It doesn’t get turned except when a bin needs to be emptied (then it sits in a pile breaking down further). It doesn’t get watered because in New England it’s usually wet enough anyway.

I don’t worry about aeration because there’s a lot of soiled bedding mixed into it.

Minimum effort, works just fine. It all gets used on the farm. I have a manure spreader but rarely use it, I’ve got so many projects I need the compost for.

[4horses]

My approach to composting: dump all manure in a big pile, along with waste hay. Once or twice a year, have the neighbor push the pile back into a mound with the tractor so it doesn’t get too spread out. Any black soil gets spread on the field or donated to the neighbor’s garden. No concrete pads or anything special needed.

I have now taken up burning any waste hay so the horses don’t decide to eat it, but once the compost starts on fire, it’s rather difficult to put out. So I’d advise against burning it. Or at least make 2 piles. One for manure and one for waste hay.

The majority of the manure is spread directly on the pasture and dragged.

[lenapesadie]

I’m in a much warmer climate than you, FL, but I’ve been taking the wing it approach to my manure pile / compost pile. It seems to be working fine.

I have an area and made some piles with paddock and stall cleanings. No concrete pad, no walls, no roof. Just piles of crap on native dirt. I mostly use pelleted bedding but occasionally shavings. Three times in past two years I had a tractor w FEL “turn”, condense and stack the poop piles. Currently I have two piles. One I’m adding to when I muck and one I’m taking from as I need fill dirt or garden compost.

Seems to be working fine. I did add some balanced fertilizer to the garden area I added compost to as some of the shavings were not completely broken down.