shannie wrote:

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.

You lucky sod.. as long as he feeds his cows on ggood stuff that is..

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?

Yes but you'd be better to mix it with something else.. Wood chip (not
shavings) or even very strawy horse manure or shredded garden waste
would even it out ( and turn the 'other' material into compost)
2. If I can do this, how long before it becomes usable?
If you turn it.. coupla months tops.. If not, mebbe a year..
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?

Tarp it.. if you can.. to prevent excess runoff... It'll be usable but
weeds and grass will gradually sow themselves during the year across the
top of it..
//
Jim

"Jim W" wrote in message

You lucky sod.. as long as he feeds his cows on ggood stuff that is..

Yep, they're a dairy herd and on pasture not too far from me most of the
year, so I get to see the grass 'before and after' so to speak!

Thanks Stephen and Jim for the advice, looks like a heavy day with the fork
and barrow tomorrow!

Shan

On Tue, 29 Apr 2003 22:44:33 +0100, "shannie"
wrote:

One other quick question, I've noticed some run off coming out of the
composters, (the stuff was very squigy) it's just running onto rough grass
at the moment, but there's a herb bed a few feet away, Im wondering if this
will do any harm??

Herbs tend to thrive on very poor soil ( at least the most aromatic
ones ), and the stuff oozing from the heap is chock full of nutrients
as well as being pretty strong.
So there's a danger of scorching, and a danger that if it reaches the
herb bed it'll perhaps encourage oodles of growth at the expense of
flavour.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"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

When you try to compost more add loads of shredded newspaper or layers of
cardboard
The kind of boxes that Cauliflowers etc come in at the supermarket are great
"shannie" wrote in message
...

"bnd777" wrote in message
...

Suggest you knock 4 more pallets together pdq


lol...I did and I've still got an enormous heap left! Im now the proud
owner
of one pallett composter full of cow muck, one full of cow muck and
shreddings an enormous blue decoration in my lower field(tarpaulin) a bad
back, sore legs, aching shoulders and a taste in my mouth...but all in
such
a good cause

One other quick question, I've noticed some run off coming out of the
composters, (the stuff was very squigy) it's just running onto rough grass
at the moment, but there's a herb bed a few feet away, Im wondering if
this
will do any harm??

Thanks again for all the help.
Shan