"shazzbat"
"Jane" wrote in message
I have a pile of fresh horse manure brewing on my allotment. The heap is
cold. Isn't it supposed to be hot? Advice?

If you went to the stables or wherever and got nice hot compost and took
it
to the allotment, you introduced oxygen to the pile and the anaerobic
process was disrupted. That's why I always get the oldest I can, I know
it's
going to cool down, but it's pretty well along the way already. I would
dig
it in and let the worms do their stuff.

Steve

Thats the advice. Last April I got 2 trailer loads of nice steaming horse
poop that smelt of ammonia. I spread it in some raised gardens. Turning it
in and out of the trailer and the wheel barrow got rid of the smell but the
poop cooled down in the gardens (even though it was heaped quite deep). The
worms have gotten stuck in to it over the last 5 months and reduced it down
nicely. Weeds will pop up at some point. Cover it with some old carpet to
kill off any germination and you will be away laughing. When it starts to
break up go out and dig your hands in to it and observe the worms, lovely
stuff.

rob