Not to be a smart-A., but I'd suggest you look for sheep in your area. Find sheep and....

Probably available free.

Alright, all you lucky smarty pants -- I live in the city and don't have access to sheep poop. Heck, I'm lucky to find horse poop. I've heard sheep poop is a little better than horse or cow. That's why I asked.

Seriously, does anyone know if I can buy bagged sheep poop?

You might try listing on Freecycle in your area. At the same time, you could Google or do a search online to find any companies that actually bag and sell it. They might be able to let you know of a retailer in your area that you could purchase from. Another idea would be to contact feed stores in your area to see if they have any clients that are sheep farmers. Hope this helps.

Kristi

Depending on where you are you may well be able to find dehydrated sheep manure the same as you can sometimes find gehydrated cattle manure, it just depends on if your local garden supply shoppe finds enough demand for the product.
The two garden shoppes around here that I used to be able to get both at stopped carrying them because there was too little demand, a pallet could take 3 growing seasons to sell. I am not sure why people would pay $1.29 for a 40 pound bag of mostly moisture instead of $7.29 for 40 pounds of all manure (maybe a little soil) but one of the salespersons said some people did not want the dehydrated stuff because it did not smell like manure as the cheap, moisture laden stuff did.

kimmer, thanx for your thoughts. I've searched the web and my local nursery. and when I ask about sheep manure at my local nursery and feed store, everyone just gives me that incredulous look as if to say -- "are you crazy?!" So I guess the short answer is that this isn't a widely available product. So sadly, it's back to cow and chicken manures for me . . .

I have seen it at garden centers, so don't give up. I'll post a brand name if I come across it again.

Meanwhile, how about a nice drive to the country? I'll bet especially this time of year, when animals start to have to spend more time indoors (in the barn, I mean!), they'd fill up a few bins and invite you to stay for supper.

They being the farmers, I mean. Not the sheep.

ha, ha, ha, ha nygardener! As for a drive to the country, i live in northern california, and he closest sheep farmers (I believe) are in napa -- which is about 75 miles away. people nearest to me have cows and horses. funny they don't have sheep or goats. but you've given me an idea -- i'll see if there's a 4H club nearby. they would know if there's a sheep farmer around. Oh! and I found (I think) a good sheep substitute -- alpaca poop!

thanx for your input. it really got me to thinkin . . . ;-)

That's where I have it all over the city dweller, I just run out to the biway where the farmer has his sign....
"Sheep manure for sale".

And you're right....sheep is much better than cow or ...oh...heavens...horse.

But....let it be said....poultry is better than sheep....and rabbit is the elite of manures.
Heck, you can practically eat that....
but, throw it directly in and around your gardens...

My neighbor has a vegetable garden that doesn't stop....and the rabbits all know it. So they visit every day....and leave their droppings at the fence line.
My two dogs then will clean it up.....even so far as digging in the soil to find them...those little round postules. When I clean up their doo....I often will find a pile enough to gather up a shovelful which I promptly add around my plants.

Most feed stores have all manner of manures and feeds.
So if you let your fingers to the walking, I'm sure you will find somebody who stocks them.

What's the best manure for the compost pile, to get it to heat up? Rabbit?

BTW, over the last few days I collected what I call "cat clumps," which are clumps of cat litter soaked with cat urine. The litter is World's Best and 100 percent corn, no additives. (I emailed them to make sure no baking soda was added) I flush the feces, but am now saving the cat clumps in a plastic coffee can and filled that up, plus started on a two-gallon bucket. I also added a few cups of my own recycled liquid.

I've been reading a lot that urine is about the best nitrogen source and between my cats and me, we produce plenty. Why keep flushing it...I'm using it in the compost pile. Anyway, I had this full (packed...I packed it down with the scooper to add more) large can of clumps and when I opened it, there was no smell at all. It's great litter.

I dumped the clumps, a collected couple of gallons of rabbit poo from next door, my usual can of kitchen waste and a small bucket of my own liquid into the pile today. Covered it with leaves and we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping for a hottie.

BTW, I think it may have been mentioned before, but there's a Yahoo group where bunny owners and gardeners can find one another.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bunnypowerforgardens/

If the cat has any parasites, those ova will be in the clumps of litter even if you remove the poop. If.

We used to have bunnies. Put the hutch right over the garden, moved it a little each year. I can't do that where I live now, too many bears.

Well, I have two kind of odd cats. They mostly use one box for pooping and another box for pee. Also, they're indoor cats and visit the vet regularly and have been tested for worms and such. They never have had fleas because they're inside.

And, surprisingly they get their urine tested once a year too. (Mostly checking for early signs of renal disease, but also for UTIs, which aren't as common in cats as they used to be because cat food has improved)

If they went outside or I had mice that they caught and ate, I'd probably not do it. I'm desperate to heat up my pile.

If you're trying to get the pile to heat up, I think poultry manures have the highest concentration of nitrogen.

Poultry would be nice, but I have no way of getting any of that. I don't know a soul with poultry farms. :(

Hi All,

Believe it or not -- I found sheep manure!!!! guess where? On e-bay of all places. So I think with my alpaca poop and newly discovered sheep manure, I should be OK next season. Thank you all for your suggestions. I know there's a vendor out there that sells it, but no one (and I mean *no one*) can tell me who.

Please post back if you hear of/remember a vendor selling bagged/composted sheep manure.

Thanx again, and happy holidays to all.

Here in colorado, where of course there is LOTS of sheep and horse manure available, the gardencenters have a product called "sheep & peat". I have found it useful when planting bare-root roses esp., since the sheep part is well composted and ready to use, and the peat is good for the very fine roots that the bareroot roses have to put out quickly and penetrate our bentonite clay soil. I would say you could get good results with lilies also. Everything else I use a combination of horse manure : chopped yard waste of 40:60 over winter, then plant in spring. Both are free, which is nice. A friend contributes rabbit litter (alfalfa, poo, urine) for the tulip beds, because we have discovered that the squirrels won't touch it.

The best manure is what you can get as much as you need for free, or maybe the cost of hauling it home. Beyond that it is what ever might be available to you, and if you must buy manure the dehydrated manures, either cattle or sheep (if you can find that) is better than the bags of "composted", wet, manure that are mostly water.