composting muck?

jackessex

jackessex

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Do many of you do it? if so how long would you expect a straw,poo,shavings mix to take at this time of yr?ive read somewhere it is best to cover it to reduce the flys and heat it up?i have a pile that is prob about 4ft high by 12 ft long i guess its about 5ft wide,is it worth doing it or should i just get it taken away(we normally do)but im into growing my own veg etc and it just seems so silly to keep paying to remove it when i could put it to such good use!!thoughts please :)
 
Yoou need to pack it down really hard and turn it regularly which takes time and a hell of a lot of energy.

Probebly cheaper - in time and effort to get rid of it and buy ready made compost.
 
I use mine as compost and it works really well, the local gardeners practically fight over it!

I use deep litter shavings over the winter and muck out in the Spring so the process has already started and the bottom layer of shavings have a fair bit of ammonia which helps.

I just make a simple square heap and there aren't that many droppings added, just the ones that are near the heap as I bag them up separately every day and the gardeners collect them. 'Grassy' poos aren't very good as they just go slimy.

I don't bother turning or covering the heap and after 6 months to a year I have lovely compost that goes straight on the garden.

I find dry/clean shavings take much longer though.
 
Yes, have been doing it all my life. It's really easy, and I have gardeners coming from up to 8 miles away for it - it's free.

Best to have two or three sections if you can; one that is in use, one that's 'maturing' and one ready to be used. I put in all the poo, the shavings, old bits of hay/haylage and our household compost too. In a normal year you can then just press it down when your particular pile has got high enough, and let nature take its course. However in very dry weather, like now, I do water it liberally, as otherwise you don't get the worm action.

Try not to let the heap go into a pyramid shape. Get up on top and level it off so you have a higher pile and one that is easy to pitch onto. Ideally, Section No 3 should be empty so that after 9 months you can turn section No. 2 into it - but that IS VERY hard work and it's not the end of the wrold if you don't do it.

It really is highly satisfying to make, as you wee the process develop. For fun we took the temperature of a heap last winter. It was a night when the ambient temperature was -11C. In the muck heap it was 50C and too hot to stand on for long in wellies.

Give it a try - you won't have to pay someone to take the muck away, you'll have wonderful veg, and you'll make a whole lot of new acquaintances with the gardeners who'll come flocking.
 
I just leave it ie a 4 ft high muck heap after 6-12 months will be black gold! It will end up about a foot high(its 70% water anyway poo)

Agree you may need to do a couple of heaps . Wouldnt cover it ..straw can take a bit longer to rot though
 
Once my bay is full ( Ramp too steep to push barrow up lol) which is usually yearly in early spring, I have it moved to a field, piled to rot for spreading that autumn. Seems really well rotted, always black and crumbly. Being reclaimed (worked out) bog the humus level in my soil is dire so I do need the humous on there. All the cattle round here are kept, in winter, in those horrid slatted floor sheds with slurry pits so I've no access to cow manure with substance.
I do manage the heap in use to some extent, not turning but packing down and levelling regularly as well as keeping neat sides and block shape.
 
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