"shannie" wrote in message
...
A local farmer offered to drop me up a *little* cow manure last week. Came
home today and found an ENORMOUS heap of it in my lower field. My other
half
reckons there's 3tonne of it! I have some questions that my seem daft but
I
wasn't expecting quite so much and I can't seem to find the answers
elsewhere.
1. I have two composters built with pallets, one in use and one waiting
empty for turning etc. Can I fill the empty one with manure and nothing
else
or will I have to mix something with it , do I need to cover it or just
leave it open?
2. If I can do this, how long before it becomes usable?
3. What am I going to do with the rest of it?? can I leave it where it is,
open to the elements and if so will it rot down and will it stay 'usable'
for a long time?

Thanks in advance
Shan


We always used to get a delivery of cow manure once per year where I used to
live. At least my father did anyway. We just stacked it in a spare corner of
the garden, usually in a mound roughly 10 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet, or so,
this would then simply be left open to the elements for six months or so
before it was dug into the soil, double digging, what fun, every late autumn
or early winter. Excellent soil conditioner, fabulous stuff for growing
veggies in the next spring. So I would say you can just leave it open, no
real need to mix it with anything since it's already been pretty well mixed
by the cows themselves, unless you were thinking of adding it to a compost
heap where everything should be mixed up anyway, but since you really don't
need to compost it in the traditional sense it should be fine.

Duncan