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Seasoned horse manure also works in the compost pile. Many swear by it, I prefer manure from dairy cows. Then again, I like dairy cows better than beef cattle.
Horse manure has a good deal of partially digested grass fiber which is great for modifying soil texture. Cows ruminate and chew/digest their food several times, so to speak, and has much less fiber....The nutrient content is essentially the same.
Horse manure only takes a few weeks to turn mellow enough for use as soil ammendment.
I've used soil made of 100% horse manure to start seeds for the past 20yrs with excellent results.
Compost is not for poop. Human, bear, dear, rabbit, ... no.
Cow manure from a dairy operation makes excellent compost. It includes bedding ( in this case straw) from the barn. I unload a spreader wagon into a pile and over the next years it becomes incredible material. Chicken manure from coop cleaning is another excellent compost material, Hi P, and has the wood chips from the floor maintenance. Probably any poop would work well given a good carbon source included. The 2 above have the carbon intimately incorporated in already so no 'work' to mix nor any expense to procure required.
Cow manure from a dairy operation makes excellent compost. It includes bedding ( in this case straw) from the barn. I unload a spreader wagon into a pile and over the next years it becomes incredible material. Chicken manure from coop cleaning is another excellent compost material, Hi P, and has the wood chips from the floor maintenance. Probably any poop would work well given a good carbon source included. The 2 above have the carbon intimately incorporated in already so no 'work' to mix nor any expense to procure required.
Cow is not a carnivore neither is chicken aside from the occasional worm.
There is no way, NO WAY I'm walking around my property scooping up deer or rabbit pellets for compost, lol. I'd go down the road to a family that has about 3 dozen head of cattle and take my tractor and clean out the lean to shelter and plop in a trailer, but hand raking deer and rabbit pellets?
There is no way, NO WAY I'm walking around my property scooping up deer or rabbit pellets for compost, lol. I'd go down the road to a family that has about 3 dozen head of cattle and take my tractor and clean out the lean to shelter and plop in a trailer, but hand raking deer and rabbit pellets?
Cow is not a carnivore neither is chicken aside from the occasional worm.
Perhaps you haven't done much animal husbandry for flying animals. They eat almost anything, and insects are a go to for them. 'Chickens are omnivores, just like us. This means that naturally, they would eat seeds, plants, insects, earthworms, snails, small animals such as frogs, mice, and even some snakes. They are also great opportunists, happy to peck at a carcass or forage grass seeds. Unfortunately, It’s this opportunistic nature that can backfire and turn them into egg eaters. '
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Originally Posted by Threerun
We use aged chicken manure from my neighbor. He's got a huge pile of it from over the years. Bad side- weeds. Lot's of weeds.
Correct. Aged =/= composted. That is why composting it properly, usually mixed with manure and greens, is RQD. Burn up the seeds. If you are in a big hurry or can't quite manage composting you can put it in a very fine filter situation and leach it. You loose the carbon but get the fert. You can avoid the filter if you mix in a vertical tank, like 55 gal drum, skim the floater seeds. Don't stir up the bottoms. Necessity is the mother of invention ... I have been successful with a small shallow pit located on a high area, sufficiently berm-ed to prevent overflow. That soaks in with every rain or your watering and transports through the root zone. I have shallow clay hardpan so the only way it can move is horizontal in the root zone. Deal with any sprouted weeds as you like. Keep adding grass clippings and it smothers and composts.
The horse compost we got was likely very aged already. We have a stable down the street that opens in summer for the tourists so it was there for a few years before we got it. It's been working out fine.
I remember when we raised chickens and used that manure, we did have to pull up many weeds. Not so much here but it could be we have snow half the year. It's a ski resort area.
Does anyone happen to know what this plant is? It's a volunteer in the compost pile I just planted.
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