Muckheap rotting/compost/disposing of haylage

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now_loves_mares

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Sorry for the title but I'm a bit confused! I have two horses who during the winter are stabled overnight, bedded on rubber mats and cardboard. I was hoping that I'd be able to keep my muckheap small and alledgedly cardboard breaks down quickly. The plan then was/is to mulch my garden with the "well rotted horse manure" !

I also have a couple of dalek style compost bins and once in a while throw in some of the cardboard waste in there to help the compost mix.

However the other week I decided to turn my muck heap by hand
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Glutton for punishment. Two things struck me - one is that the heap was quite dry, though how I don't know. The other thing is that it was quite mouldy and therefore a bit dusty, and it seems that the haylage was causing this. My horses both seem to waste quite a bit so I always throw it on the muckheap. However the downside is that most days, haylage takes up about 60% of my barrow, and therefore my heap is much bigger and slower rotting than I had hoped.

Do any of you try to keep your heap to rot, or does everyone get it taken away? If you keep it to rot, what do you do with the haylage? I'm partly trying to save money getting it removed, and partly trying to improve my garden soil so I can grow my own
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But the haylage is ruining it
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Also - for those of you who are composters, do you still keep it separate from a muckheap? Or should I just put my weeds and grass cuttings and veg scraps and stable muck all in one enormous pile
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I would say you could put all your kitchen waste in the same pile, as the variety of 'ingredients' should make it a well balanced compost. (PS you can also compost old jeans, only the thread is non-compostable
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) Can you try to sift out the haylage into a separate pile to rot on its own?

We have a separate poo compost bit that we only put in bits that have been poo-picked from the field and out of the horsebox so no bedding in there. It depends on how much space you've got to leave the muck heap to rot - as I think this is the reason lots of people will have theirs taken away. I think it is good to turn it over as much as you can to rot the bit on the outside, as the bits in the middle (as I'm sure you'll have noticed) will be the warmest. The warmth is what speeds up the breakdown of the waste.
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Plus I think if the temp gets over 70 degrees, it kills all the possible nasties thta you might get, and leaves only the good stuff.
 
The worms break down the muck heap where I am, its teaming with them even in winter and the muck heap is always warm. Its like a giant wormery.

Is your muck heap fairly new without worms?

The haylage we put in the muck heap is not touched by the worms so, if you can I would have one for haylage and one for muck and also put in a bit of vegetable waste, spud peelings etc to encourage the worms.

It could be that your muck heap is new and needs to get established.
 
We are on our second year of 'composting our own'. Last year I was using shavings and it is still composting.... This year we are on aubiose and it is roasting in there. Main thing is to keep it damp, in dry weather put a watering can of water on it each day, the bacteria need it damp. Also agree with the above keep the haylage separate, it takes forever to compost. It can be used to mulch young trees etc.

Also I turn mine, at least the top couple of feet, once a week. Everything else goes in, kitchen peelings, vacuum cleaner dust, grass clippings. It needs the added nitrogen in the green stuff to balance out the brown (cardboard/aubiose).

Happy growing, my OH wants to grow melons on our heap and has just bought a load of mushroom spore, as well as it feeding our veg plot and hedges, great stuff.
 
Our waste hayledge goes to the cows. Don't know if that is of use?

Also put it out in the fields when there isn't as much grass.
 
Thanks for all your replies (except Tyramisu who is just being rude about my tomato plants, I'll get her later
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)

Yes think I can figure out keeping my haylage separate, and yes it is a new muckheap. Had to have the old stuff removed as previous owners had left me a shavings pile that was certainly not composting!

So still a bit of work to do before winter, by the sounds of it. Still, the workout beats the gym
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Mine are living out so don't get much waste or bedding mixed in. I approached the local allottment and offered to put the poo pickings straight into feed bags and drop them off daily on my way home. They snapped my hand off and so have no muck heap to tidy/dispose of and may just get some free veg!
 
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