I think thats all marketing hype. Ultimately, it all leads back to compost (I believe thats the phrase).

1. Composted manure is simply manure that is piled up and left to sit around for a period of time. There does not need to be anything but the manure in the mix. Mostly this comes from slaughterhouse feed lots.
2. Organic Compost with manure should, theoretically, have manure mixed with compost, or maybe some compost mixed with lots of manure, it is difficult to say since there are no labeling requirements for this other than of the packager says it contains compost and manure it must.
3. Home Made Compost is something you should know what went into the mix. If this is something you bought from someone it is not "home made", no matter what the label says.

sounds good, but what about the microbes?

Re Microbes. You don't need much compost to increase the number of microbes, in fact most the microbes are already present in all but the most barren sterile soils. You can increase the number of microbes by simply providing them with fuel(carbon) and Nitrogen to build their bodies with.
A compost teas is better to inoculate an area with microbes than compost itself.
Compost is a good way to add carbon or organic matter to the soil. Homemade being better for microbes and nutrient diversity, bagged being a good stop gap for organic matter and some microbes. Beware that composted manure may be mostly water by weight. I buy cheap bags of composted manure or bulk compost from a local commercial composter for soil incorporation and use my homemade as top dressing and tea.
There are no regulatory labeling requirements on bagged compost such as fertilizer has requiring the minimum nutrient values to be displayed.
In my pragmatic view if you are purchasing compost, grade A composted sewage sludge is the most safe because it is the only type of compost requiring testing for heavy metals and pathogens before it is approved for sale to the public. Feedlot manure is much more dangerous from a pathogen point of view and requires no such testing.

Canada is just coming out with new regulations and guidelines.

"Under the Fertilizers Regulations, a grade and nutrient guarantees are permitted for compost and required for composted manure. In cases, when the compost claims to provide nutrients or when it contains manure as a feedstock the grade and guaranteed analysis are required."

Lloyd

Here is a link that might be useful: Regulation of Compost

I've bought lots of the Walmart "Scotchman's Choice" Cow Manure, typically about $1 for a 40# bag. Usually it's crumbly, well composted material. But occasionally the bags contain big sticky lumps, small rocks, etc. There's no analysis or guarantees of any kind on the bags.

I'd agree with kimmsr that this stuff comes from feedlots (and dairybarns), probably scraped out and piled up with front-end loaders, sold and packaged some time later.

My guess is that this material is not treated in any way, but would improve most compost piles. I use it for top-dressing around fruit trees and vegetables that are heavy feeders.

The manure that comes from dairies is usually mixed with sawdust, as it is used to soak up the usually-liquid cow manure.

One thing I discovered accidentally: if you buy bagged manure, just your handling to get it home and out of your vehicle will fluff it up and incorporate air into it. Stack up the bags for two or three days, then separate them and feel them for warmth. If they're warm, I don't think they've finished composting, and may be giving off ammonia gas (etc) which certain plants may be sensitive to. Someone else here may be able to comment on whether this would be a problem or not, esp if mixed with soil, if you were immediately planting into it.

Sue

is there anything in the winter besides kitchen scraps you can use to get your compost movin?

Why not buy a sample bag of each, bring 'em home, and try them out? I found a great 'humus' product this way a few years ago, for mebbe $2 a bag. It was made less than 50 miles away. The labeling means little, and forget those micro-energized products, too. Good organic matter is what you need, plus a little bit of homemade compost that's never been in a bag, some soil, and earthworms to mix it all together. If you're concerned about not having enough micro-mojo in your soil or bagged amendments, earthworms will fill the gap and spread the good stuff around just fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: my website

I agree with bryanccfshr.........most of what you need in the way of microbes, or anything else that's alive, is already there. You're just improving their environment so much that they get moving around, multiply, really get it on.

Like ants at a picnic: dropping some of those baked beans on the ground, or leaving sandwich scraps out on the ground really really gets 'em moving, eh?

yeah, that's one of the benefits of composting the yard- the worms, cuz i got nothing, but i remember from my last soil test i was real low on organic matter, so i'm workn on that....compost really is going to take care of all my problems.....on tv n stuff i've seen compost that looks almost like a powder it's so fine.....and the stuff at walmart looked like potting mix, how do you get it like that?

Fine looking compost is usually the result of screening. The finer the screening the more expensive the compost gets because people will pay for "pretty" compost. For soil incorporation it really is not that important. For a pretty top dressing or to impress quality screening is worthwhile and draws higher prices.
You can make your own screening system with a wheel barrow some boards to make a shaker frame and some hardware cloth. and make any compost look nice. You will just be putting alot of the bigger pieces back into the pile.

that's kinda what i was thinkn.

bcomplx: i saw on ur website you mentioned putting cheap dog food in a compost pile, even though it's got protein and nitrogen, but isn't it fatty?