I guess I would be worried about the freshness of the manure and the potentially harmful pathogens it might contain. Infection is usually a numbers game, so if you are exposed to a small amount of say, salmonella (and we often are), then no biggie. But if you are exposed to an extremely large amount of salmonella then bad news, game over, call the hospital! Generally you want your manure composted (from a health standpoint) because it reduces the number of potential pathogens so that you are less likely to get an illness from baddies in the manure that come into contact with the veg you are planning on eating. It sounds like the cows would be producing fresh manure next to your melons all summer. I don't know what might be in fresh cow manure that would be bad for us, but I know that there would be a lot of it! I would put the melons elsewhere and bring the composted manure to them instead, also.

If it is 'mostly powdery' it may become hot with the addition of water. It may also be mostly saw dust or other bedding material and the clumps you are finding are the manure. As long as you have finished harvesting, you can use it as mulch on your asparagus bed. I mulch my asparagus beds every fall, after I cut them back, with composted horse bedding. Of course, I know that my neighbors, who supply me with the bedding, don't use vast amounts of drugs on their horses. I wouldn't want some of the residual drugs in my garden compost.

gatormomx2 is correct, an accurate diagnosis - based on info provided. Not a problem in compost, nor on spread of compost on turf. But bacteria are not killed by exposure to air alone. DigDirt is correct. Herbivore manure is not essential to production of quality compost - but studies do indicate that humus content, microbe populations and nutritional value increase when manure is used - other conditions being equal. I use manure - always, when available. Infection from possible pathogens in any herbivore manure is not likely, and while 130+F heat created by thermophyllic fungi certainly will kill pathogens thusly exposed, remember that the exterior of a pile often does not heat sufficiently. So a 2nd heat is important, with all exterior material being turned into the center/bottom of the new (1st turn) pile and the rest of the initial pile thence to exterior (a technique called 'scalping'). That being said, the primary demise of pathogens in a compost pile are due to activity of beneficial bacteria and to a lesser degree, the beneficial fungal populations, which comprise thousands of species in the life-cycle of a finished pile - if microbe populations are properly managed. Mesophyllic (non-heat causing) microbes do most of the decomposition, following initial depletion of sugars and carbohydrates in pile material by thermophyllic fungi. I only tarp my piles when too much rain would be an issue, (leaching of nutrients from the pile) and thereby overflowing 'tea' collection capacity. Tarping a pile (even tightly) will have no adverse effect if the pile is properly constructed, as gas exchange by wind affects only the exterior 3"-5" (which retards effective generation of heat by thermophyllic fungi do to drying conditions). Tarping piles at a commercial composting facility is too expensive a labor-intensive activity without profitable purpose. Compost piles do not need sunlight at all, and the principle reasons that piles 'die' is lack of oxygen, not food. Microbes intake oxygen and 'exhale' CO2. When the pile fills with CO2, microbe populations perish, regardless of the C:N ratio and supply of food. Screening a pile through a section of chain-link fence during turning, provides sufficient internal pile oxygen for at least a month, unless it is overwatered or compacted (which drives out air). When in doubt, turn/screen the pile and water-in each layer (unless a 'soggy' condition is encountered). Dry spots will not readily decompose due to restricted microbe activity.

Actually, Skybird, the link is to Whatcom County. The WSU is Washington State University. Whatcom County doesn't ring a bell . . . think, Bellingham. Yep, just south of Vancouver, BC. Wet, cool or wet and cold, so your shoes and all your clothing will grow mildew if you leave them too long in the closet. Whatcom County, home of Holland Days!! (Lynden Washington elevation 58 feet.) The idea of not putting your compost where it will sit in a pool of water makes some sense. High tide may carry it away. Here, I like to dig down about 8 inches in our rapidly draining glacial till and start the pile, below grade. I bet a hose could be run full-on for 24 hours without filling a 7'x7'x8" "pool." One result of digging down is to provide me with SOIL Â a component I think of as essential for building a compost pile. Most of it will go on top after I've finished my layering. And, layering is important, too. This "recipe" doesn't say much about other ingredients. Horse manure and bedding won't decompose as well if used alone. The bedding is an important issue which the writer considers. I'm afraid that lots of folks who keep horses are too sanitary. I used to go to this conscientious horse trainer who brought in wood shavings by the dumptruck load and kept his stables spanking clean. Unfortunately, wood doesn't decompose very well and I finally gave up on him and begin getting manure elsewhere. If youÂre lucky (or not) Charlene, your neighbor wonÂt be so tidy. You can overcome the wood by adding a good deal of weeds, grass clippings, and/or chicken manure. If anything can work its way thru wood itÂs chicken manure. Don't be afraid to add fertilizer. A good balanced fertilizer can't hurt a thing and certainly isn't wasted since you are applying it all to the soil anyway. Some folks think that you should have at least 5 different components for your pile but I think we do a little better than that. We enjoy a good deal of fruit and vegetables, year-around and that means lots of peelings and such from the kitchen. All of it goes in the compost. Turning compost? I'm not really up to that anymore. I just keep it moist, pull the weeds off it (to compost in pile #B), and allow it to decompose at least 18 months. And, Cnetter is right, "(Horse poop) does absolute wonders for the texture of the soil." Steve