pt03, what you have there is from the USDA, a group of people known to be not very serious about organic gardening/farming. Most of the organic farmers on the policy making board are really upset because the recommendations given to the USDA are very often changed bu those people to make them more friendly to people that are only interested in marketing to the growing number of us looking for organically grown foods. So while those that are serious about organic certification strongly recommend not applying animal manures to your soil until it has aged 12 months, the USDA people, that published the "standards" you posted, changed that to meet the needs of agribusiness, the CAFO's. Those "standards" also talk about "raw manure" which is different from "fresh" manure.

What I have been doing is loosening up the soil close around the plants. Sometimes about an inch deep, and maybe 2 "deep a little further back, then putting on the manure, and mixing it in. But I dont think you would have to do that. I would think the rains would wash the nutrients down around the roots. I did it because my soil is so bad, and I am trying to loosen up the packed clay. I seen a huge difference in my plants in just a few weeks. Tammy

what a sh*tty job.. lol.. they are 'nuring the fields right now.. out here in farm country ... they want the spring rains.. to wash it into the soil .. and they want to do it.. before we all open our windows.. and hope to die.. lol.. you wont have that problem ... if i recall.. the stuff is barely 1-1-1 .... but good black gold.. humus/compost .... i dont really think there is any bad time... ken

what I mean is ,assuming it has composted enough already,am I going to lose the nutrients in it by spreading it out in the open under the plants at a time that the plants themselves are dormant (I assume that the roots are equally as dormant as what is above the ground in the winter) So is it better in that case to stack the compost rather than spread it? (of course I can see that it is probably not going to actually harm the plants if I do spread it-I am just trying to prevent the compost becoming leached with the great amount of rain we always get here in the Winter.)