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Discussion on Manure management strategy - aerated static pile composting? | |
Author | Message |
Member: Mwebster |
Posted on Sunday, Jun 1, 2003 - 4:58 pm: I've been investigating some strategies for composting the output from our 3 horses. Up to now, we've bedded on pine shavings (cheap and plentiful here in the northeast), and we pay quite a bit to get the pile hauled away once/twice a year. Then, we pay to have our acreage fertilized, and then we buy compost for the garden(!)So far, I've learned that: pure horse manure (no bedding) has the ideal C:N ratio; pine shavings take forever to break down and rob the manure of most of its nitrogen (they're very high in C) and no matter how carefully we pick, we create a lot of shavings waste; the pile needs to cook to get rid of weed seeds and parasites. We only have 4 acres, so spreading without composting doesn't seem like a good idea. Leaving the stuff sitting in a pile doesn't result in good quality compost, and even if I were to add nitrogen to it, we don't have a "real" tractor to turn the pile with. So here's what I'm thinking of trying, and I'd love to hear from anyone who's doing something like this. There are 2 components: First, fix the "ingredients" problem, so the bedding doesn't wreck the C:N ratio of our waste pile. I've test-bedded 1 stall using cardboard bedding from HuntClub. So far, it seems to cut the amount of waste from the stall by 2/3, and the manufacturer claims this stuff will break down in 10 days in a compost pile. So I'm thinking this looks promising. It also cut the time to muck in half, another benefit. I looked at pelleted sawdust, but didn't try it out, as a friend knows of 2 horses that colicked from eating the pellets. Second, I'm looking at aerated static pile composting, thinking I'll build 3 6'x6'x6' bins, with plenums (aeration chamber below the floor of the bins), and aerate with a 400cfm blower, on a timer, as needed to get the pile up to temperature/prevent the pile from overheating. That way I don't have to turn it. The literature says aerated static piles can turn out mature compost in 30 days, and I think one 6'x6' bin will hold about 30 days worth of waste including everything we pick up from the paddocks. So 1 bin to stockpile, 1 to cook, and 1 holding the finished product, which could then be spread directly on our small acreage and on the gardens without any parasite or weed seed concerns. Has anyone else built one of these systems, or used the cardboard bedding? I'd be grateful for any comments and suggestions! Thanks, Melissa |
Member: Hwood |
Posted on Sunday, Jun 1, 2003 - 5:51 pm: Melissa,That sounds so interesting, and you have certainly done and are doing your research. I have never done this, but I have heard of something similar . . . 3 piles and using red worms that migrate from pile to pile leaving compost behind . . .From what I remember, they have to have the right temperature . . . can't be in the hottest pile, so they migrate to a cooler pile after they've digested one, and meanwhile you are making a new pile of hot manure. After you take the compost pile, you start a new manure pile on that spot, and by then, the previous pile will be cool enough for the worms, and they will leave another pile of compost for you. Holly |
Member: Tagloili |
Posted on Sunday, Jun 1, 2003 - 6:32 pm: I built one out of landscape timbers, three bins, each 8 feet long, the timbers were spaced 1/4 apart and lag screwed into the upright which were five feet above ground. I might add tho that I was lucky, behind my barn was a DrOp off. I built into the side of this DrOp off. The top of the composter was at ground level, and the bottom was at ground level. So I built a ramp so I could just lift up one cover and dump into a bin. On the front, I put 2x8 that slide down into a slot in the front and could be removed when the time came to empty. I used a compost thermometer to keep the temp at 120 and would turn with an auger, and keep wet. I put nothing else in the compost except horse manure and pine bedding. After about six months, I would empty into manure spreader and spread on pasture. Perfectly composted.Hope that helps. George |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Monday, Jun 2, 2003 - 1:39 pm: Melissa, don't forget the urine is rich in nitrogen... but still the problem is valid: how does it all work out? George: do you add nitrogen to the mix, or do your have clover on the pasture? This is always the problem I have how much nitrogen do you add to the pile, currently I just scatter some high nitrogen fertilizer on top ever so often.DrO? |
Member: Mwebster |
Posted on Monday, Jun 2, 2003 - 3:18 pm: DrO,Thanks for jumping in. Yes, I know the urine is high in N, and am thinking it should correct for the cardboard that's absorbing it, as the cardboard has a C:N ratio of about 400. I am surprised how little cardboard I'm throwing away, actually. Another benefit of this bedding is no dust at all, so it would be good for horses with respiratory problems (though I don't have one of those, fortunately). It's a little weird looking, but I'm getting used to it. So far, the stall still smells fresh. We'll see how that holds up as the weather finally gets warmer here, and the cardboard "ages". The cardboard absorbs a lot of moisture without looking very damp, so I don't know if it will start to smell. If I were going to try this aeration thing without changing bedding, I'd probably start 2 piles, one with and one (substantially) without. Then, I'd compost the low-shavings mix as, well, compost (fertilizer) and compost the high-shavings mix as mulch. In that case, I'd need to add a high-nitrogen fertlizer to the piles. But I can't really use that much mulch, so I'd still have to get it hauled away. It would cost less to haul, as it would be a smaller pile, but I think it would be a lot of work for a product I'd still be paying to get rid of. So if the cardboard idea works out (if I still like the bedding a few weeks from now), then I'll be generating only about 8 cu yds a month for 3 horses for everything including bedding and the manure from their paddocks, which will come to about 4 cu yds a month in finished high-quality compost. I figure I can use all of that here, and/or give some to my good buddies. M |
Member: Tagloili |
Posted on Monday, Jun 2, 2003 - 10:37 pm: I added nothing to the manure except water. |
Member: Presario |
Posted on Tuesday, Jun 3, 2003 - 9:03 pm: check out www.mastercomposter.com - lots of ideas on how to build and manage compost piles |
Member: Apcohrs |
Posted on Monday, Jun 9, 2003 - 6:19 pm: Just remember, EVENTUALLY, it WILL compost.Even if your pile is built all wrong, it WILL eventually compost. But since we are all always in a hurry and would rather have finished compost than a fly palace, here are some composting rules of thumb. If the pile has too much nitrogen in it, it will stink to high heaven - think pile of slimy grass clippings. If the pile has too much carbon in it, it will not heat up. If you have bedding in your pile (especially shavings) your pile probabaly leans toward high carbon. You can balance the pile by adding a high N fertilizer like Dr. O, or you can add grass clippings from mowing the pasture or lawn. Hay has some N, straw does not. For small operations, kitchen scraps are also good sources of N. The pile should be moist, but not wet (think wrung out sponge). If it is too dry, it will not heat up. Covering the pile is useful in climates that are too dry or two wet. Turning the pile (or a fancy aeration scheme) will speed composting, but unless your pile is really high (6'+) it is not necessary. The pile should be at least 3x3x3 (since we have horses, this is NOT a problem) Once a pile is built, don't mix in fresh material. |
Member: Mwebster |
Posted on Thursday, Jun 19, 2003 - 10:17 am: Well, an update. The cardboard bedding is pretty smelly. So it's back to shavings in the "test stall". |
Member: Dres |
Posted on Thursday, Jun 19, 2003 - 10:21 am: my experiance with cardboard is that it was very heavy when wet...did you find this to be so as well..?? Ann |
Member: Mwebster |
Posted on Thursday, Jun 19, 2003 - 11:14 am: No, it didn't really get heavy. The manufacturer says to remove the soggy matted stuff (and of course all manure), but leave any merely damp cardboard in the stall and fluff the stall to "refresh it". But I never got soggy matted stuff. The closest I got was very dark but still separate pieces of wet cardboard, which I always removed.What I think happens is the cardboard gradually loses its ability to absorb both moisture and odor, but as you are adding fresh bags periodically, you wind up with a mix of clean cardboard pieces and aging, smellier pieces, and can't separate them out. In the beginning, I literally couldn't find any wet spot immediately after my mare peed, that's how much of a sponge it was! But over time, there'd be wet cardboard pieces where she'd peed, and more and more smell. Even though I added 2-3 bags a week of fresh cardboard with its added deodorizer every week, I couldn't make the stall fresh again. So, twice the cost of shavings, and about the same amount of work, once a few weeks had gone by. We usually bed fairly deeply in shavings, pick very carefully, rarely need to strip a stall -- maybe once a year. There's always a good layer of sawdust at the bottom of the bed, up against the interlock mats which make a great moisture barrier, so we can remove all the urine easily, and it never smells. My eyes were tearing cleaning my mare's cardboard bedding! |
Member: Paul303 |
Posted on Thursday, Jun 19, 2003 - 3:49 pm: Great discussion guys! Thanks for the update Melissa! |
Member: cjlewyn |
Posted on Saturday, Jun 13, 2009 - 9:20 am: Hello everyone...Any feedback on this situation would be appreciated! I'm trying my best to be impeccable about picking up manure on my property. There are a total of 45 acres, with about 35 in pasture. My barn guy made a place where the manure can be dumped into a ravine on my property, far from the barn. It's about 20 feet down a hill (not near water). My question is...if it's dumped in a big pile (uncovered and not compressed) from a higher distance rather than making a proper composting pile, will this be encouraging flies/larvae or will it act like a regular compost pile? I don't care about making the compost, I'm just concerned about the flies breeding and defeating the purpose of dumping it. Thanks in advance!! |
Member: mrose |
Posted on Saturday, Jun 13, 2009 - 10:33 am: I wouldn't think the height you are dumping from would make any difference. I know of several large farms do a similar thing and I don't think they would continue to do so if it didn't work and increased the fly population. |
Member: cheryl |
Posted on Saturday, Jun 13, 2009 - 11:10 am: Cindy - I would think fly predators would solve that problem - as long as the manure is contained in one area the predators would be easy to distribute - should do a fairly good job -Cheryl K |
Member: cjlewyn |
Posted on Sunday, Jun 14, 2009 - 2:12 pm: Thanks for the feedback, guys...that gives me one less thing to fret about. I am using the predators, but we'll see if that makes a difference.Cindy |
Member: cgby1 |
Posted on Sunday, Jun 14, 2009 - 7:43 pm: Hi Guys,Great discussion, I read the whole thing. I have 5 acres and need to enrich the soil without spending a fortune so I am really interested in composting. I have been confused about incorporating horse manure with leaves and chipped wood. I also wonder about using rice hulls as bedding, the ads say that very little end up in the manure pile. Has anyone used it and what do you think of it. I have used shavings but sifting the manure is labor intensive so I would love something to use with my stall skins in the barn. Cynthia |