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Like many of you guys here on the porch, I pile my manure winter and summer. I pushed up the pile tonight from countless wheelbarrows of horse and hog manure. The pile can be seen with snow on it, but the steam was rolling out as I pushed into it. I turn it some as I add fresh material to what is already cooking. It is amazing that even in winter, the pile is working steady.
Klaus told me that he increases the fertility of his place with compost. I have done it that way for years too. Hats off to those of you who "Pile on the benefits!"

JerryHicks says 2017-01-05 06:00:09 (CST)



I don't have time to haul manure to the fields every day so I cut sycamore poles and made cribs, laying them up log cabin fashion to about five feet high. I throw my manure in the cribs to make a flat topped pile, along with any thing else that will rot but won't make feed for my boar. Usually by the time I'm ready to haul it out, the manure has dropped down a bit as it composts and the poles have become incorporated as well.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Klaus Karbaumer says 2017-01-05 08:08:46 (CST)



Ralph, that's about what my manure pile looks before it is compost, just not in such a neat enclosure. My compost pile is pure black dirt and I will have to spread it in spring. Didn't get around to it any more and only started my fall plowing before everything froze over.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

vince mautino says 2017-01-05 10:07:01 (CST)



I don't have as much manure as you guys. I usually spread it in December and then again in early spring before any growth occurs.

I turn the pile about once a month. It is steaming now as it is 6 below this morning .


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ralph in N.E.Oh says 2017-01-05 11:40:32 (CST)



Great job Jerry.
A long time ago, when I lived in town, I made a ring out of cement wire. It's like woven wire, but much stiffer. I let all my neighbors dump leaves, grass clippings etc into it. I would add manure from the local fairgrounds. Once a year, in the fall, just before it was time to rake leaves again, I spread it on our garden. I shared the abundant produce with the neighbors. This made them want to help more. It was a great thing. I raised LOTS of food on that space of about 50x150. We canned all we needed, ate fresh all season and gave away plenty. Compost works!


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Redgate says 2017-01-05 22:47:17 (CST)



We produce a good amount of compost here, between our 3 "random stuff" piles, our horse track, and our winter cow, hog, poultry, and goat areas--all of which use deep bedding through the winter. My problem is that I still never have enough! I wind up using the vast majority in my gardens and to improve small areas around the "aesthetic" part of the farm. I look forward to the day I have enough to actually use my new (to me) spreader in the field (hopefully later this spring)!


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

BrianL says 2017-01-06 07:35:36 (CST)



It's nice to have a forum where we can all wax poetic on our compost piles! During the last thaw I was able to make several runs with the spreader on a section to be planted into oats come March. This also made a bit more room for the manure load that will pile up during the frozen months of winter. It is a bit of alchemy to see the mix of raw manure, straw and whatnot transform into some fine compost vastly superior to any fertilizer the chemical companies can produce.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum


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