Large scale composting-HELP!

15 years ago

I have two barns I need to get cleaned out. One was used as a calf barn years ago and has not been cleaned since. It is dry and has been walked to powder covered packed block that comes up in flakey layers. The other is feeding area with layers of scattered hay and manure,some fresh.

My questions are: Can I just use the dry/powdered manure for my beds now since it has been resting(so to speak) for more than 10 years in the barn?

What do I need to get the hay/manure mix starting to make compost?(remembering there will be about a dump truck and a half of it)

Would it be better to work the 2nd in smaller piles or can I get the heat needed with that large a pile? I could turn it with the tractor.

I only started composting 2 years ago and never on this scale, PLEASE HELP!

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Comments (8)

Kimmsr
15 years ago
1. You can do whatever you wish with that manure, however I would compost it first even though any disease pathogens probably would have died by now. I would not want to take a chance with exposing my family and friends to potential disease pathogens.
2. Mix that manure 1 part manure with 3 parts vegetative waste.
3. Volume, to a point, helps the bacteria with the digestion process so a pile of compost not to exceed 6 feet wide and 6 feet tall, but as long as you wish, would be a very active pile. When much younger and more energetic I had compost piles that were 6 x 6 x 45 feet and no tractor to turn them, but they worked, generated lots of steam, and made good compost to spread around that 5 acre field.
claytamer
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, kimmsr I had not thought about the disease issue.

If I just combine the manure from both barns in one long pile, I should be okay right? The larger barn's consist of half(maybe more) hay.

Will the hay provide brown material and manure the green or do I need to add something to jump start the process?
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jonas302
15 years ago
Yeah a lot of us that work on a farm and end up eating manure about everyday don't think to much about the "disease issue"

All you will need to do to get it composting is scrap up the feedlot and pile it there is usually enough hay to mix in and get everything going real quick I would compost your calf barn in there to so you get nice crumbly compost not dusty manure

For pile size I'm not sure what is fastest I pile as high as the skidloader will go and about 10-15 feet around turn every other week there is a lot of heat in there and it takes care of most of the weed seeds.

Have fun with your black gold
claytamer
Original Author
15 years ago
Are there things I could add to this to accelerate the process or make it better? I'd like to be able to use this mid to late summer if possible.

What about moisture? All of this is pretty dry right now.
Lloyd
15 years ago
Does the fresher manure have any bedding in it? (straw or wood shavings type material)

If you have the room/space, mix it and windrow it. I think you have enough nitrogen materials so you may have to obtain some carbons. Leaves would be excellent, a shredded grain straw would be my second choice. I wouldn't use paper/cardboard or sawdust/shavings but that is also an option for a carbon.

You wouldn't have a manure spreader by any chance? Putting the various materials into it, spraying some water on and then unloading in a static position makes a great windrow, nicely mixed and moist.

Lloyd
dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
Windrowing it is great. When you turn the pile, just push the row over to the side.

One farmer in VA brings his cattle into a barn in the winter. Every week he scatters a bag of corn on the manure. When the cattle leave the barn in the spring, the floor is a couple feet higher than it started. Then he brings a pig into the barn. The pig smells the fermented corn at the bottom of the pile and starts digging. For several weeks the pig is the happiest animal on the farm until it is 'retirement' time. Then the farmers scoops the fluffy compost out into the fields and comes home to a ham dinner.
claytamer
Original Author
15 years ago
The larger barn is is a mix of scattered fescue hay and manure. Half or more is probably hay.

I don't have a spreader. I was planning on stacking it up with the bucket loader on the tractor. Should I spread it out in layers and water in each layer?
Lloyd
15 years ago
Bucket will work fine. Adding some water as you go makes a more uniformly moist pile so that's the way I'd go.

Does your tractor have forks? The work very well for mixing the pile up later.

I can't make up my mind as to how your ratio is going to turn out. On one hand, it seems to be a fairly high in N but if the stuff is really that old, it might be more of a neutral. The fresher stuff ought to be a stronger N. Depending on the amounts of each you have, it should still be on the green side of the 30:1. I'd be tempted to add more carbon just because. If I am going to err on a ration, I'd rather go with a slightly higher C ratio to prevent possible odor issues. Just a gut feeling.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

Lloyd

Large scale composting-HELP!

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