here's a question for pnbrown and alphonse (or others) as you two seem to know a lot about horse manure that has wood shavings as bedding. we got 100 tons of "free composted horse manure" from a rich people's horse boarding facility. i took it without thinking about the bedding and now am wondering about the nitrogen suck that the bedding may cause if we spread it on our fields. our fields definitely need NPK according to soil samples and past low yields (we grow non-certified organic veggies). i got the manure tested at the UW lab and here are the basic results: C:N = 47:1 N = 13.09 lb/ton P = 8.72 lb/ton K = 15.99 lb/ton sulfur = 1.90 lb/ton what do you think about using this for fertilizer this season? i understand how the nitrogen is tied up in the decomposition, but am confused about determining if this will occur and to what extent. do i look at the C:N ratio? it's 1 year old and is extremely hot starting at about 6" into the pile. there are very few visible manure pieces and it almost looks/feels like mulch for landscaping. long message, but we're in a bit of a bind about this. thanks!

The main concurn with fresh cow manure is keeping it airated. For that reason I wouldn't mix it with the other material. If the cows are on pasture,I would alow most to lay where it falls and eventualy return to the soil. If they are stalled which requires cleaning,I would want to age it before putting into a bin. I would want an area about 6'X6' on the ground where I could dump in adjoining stacks until the ground was covered about 6" to 8" deep. With a square point shovel,I would put 3/4ths of the 36 sq ft on top of one 3'x3' corner,alternating each shovel full coming from aereas of varying dryness/age in hopes of dry material creating air pockets in the new stack. The new stack will recieve the first new manure from stalls then the remaining emaginary "L" shaped bare ground will be covered similar to when we started. When the ground is once again covered,everything is stacked in the diagonal corner layering dry with fresher. Ok,I hope to have created somwhat of a visual of a stratigy for ageing and composting the manure with minium labor. Don't use a tape measure and calander in attempt to adheare to the method,use your judgment on space,timing and wherther to add moisture or cover to prevent over watering by rain. You will reach a point where the manure is reduced in bulk and is more suitable for mixing with material in your bin without creating anarobic problems. Alternate to incorprating into your bin,taking the manure to fully composted is satisfactory also.

When I did, in my ignorance, add animal manures to the garden beds without first composting those manures, I did see an increase in "weeds" and it made no difference if it was manure from dairy cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, llamas or alpacas, unless it was dehydrated manure. It seems the heat used to dry that manure was enough to kill any "weed" seeds. Since the easiest method to keep these "weed" seeds out of the garden is to compost the manure first it simply makes sense to do that, along with all the other very good reasons to compost manure before applying it to your garden soil.

Composted manure breaks down extremely slowly. Even with high application rates, you'll probably need to supplement it with a quicker release organic fertilizer like SBM. After five years or so of annual compost application, you may be able to eliminate the supplemental nitrogen applications. The amount of time is dependant on the particular type of grass. If your lawn is low in organic matter, compost is a great way to jump start an organic program. However, once your organic program is underway, other organic materials, such as SBM, is much easier to transport and apply. The quote below if from the University of Colorado. "The nitrogen in composted manure will be primarily in stable organic forms and first year release rates will be significantly less than with fresh manure. For example, in composted dairy manure, only 5-20% of the nitrogen will be available the first year. In soils low in organic content, this can lead to a nitrogen deficiency unless an additional quick release nitrogen source is supplemented." -Deerslayer