The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on January 15, 2011, 03:51:37 pm
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Have got so much of it, don't know what to do. Have tried offering it out to gardeners but no joy yet. will put some in my own veg patch. Have got nearly a years worth rotting down (goat and chicken) but now have several muck heaps. is there something you can put on to expediate the rotting down? is there anything its really good for so that I can convince friends to come and take some ;D
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is there anything its really good for so that I can convince friends to come and take some ;D
roses, pumpkins & squashes, melons ....
we have "extended" the area under a wall known as the allotment by emptying the barrowloads of manure there, then eventually we add soil on top & plant it up.
at the end of the season I dig it all together really well & leave it fallow til spring... its seems ok!
If we had a log burner, I'd make "bricks" to burn, but dont really fancy trying it on the barbecue :D
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might be extending my veg patch this year so would have more room for it but thanks for the tips - didn't think beyond the veg so rose garden it is!!
don't think my facebook friends are very forthcoming of my offer of free poo yet...
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Spread it on your fields.... On the plum trees. Free natural fertiliser! Trouble is its quite hard (and very dirty) work by hand. I'd love an atv and a dung spreader for it..... Dear Santa....
Beth
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THat's a good idea, will get it over to the orchard over the next few days. problem being its bumpy and hilly so wheelbarrowing is very hard work (but will get me fit!)
can you ask santa to bring me the same please Beth!
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Lol, will do!
Beth
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I do agree there is a lot of it! I am lucky enough to be able to have a bonfire and I don't have to wheelbarrow it too far :goat:
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Potatoes also love good compost, anything in the polytunnel - toms, peppers, squashes, cucumbers... I seem not to have as much as I could use.... maybe I don't muck out often enough???? But I find it needs a good two years rotting down (we use straw as bedding), so have several heaps as well....
Muckspearder/atv not so high on my santa list - baler, hay tedder and mower for hay much higher up.... (no chance I know....)
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covering with a sheet of black plastic, weighed down by tyres, speeds it up alot. iv got some fantastic compost for use this year - just wish i had an atv to shift it aswell.
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How about building a hot bed? It is a victorian propergator, like a deep cold frame but with a good layer of rotting poo beneath the normal soil to create heat.
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I love that idea! the house is victorian (and this might sound daft...) but we've tried to do lots of things here in keeping with the victorian era so a hot bed is just the thing! what can I grow on it?!
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Put it on Freecycle, you will be suprised how many people get in touch!!
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You start your seed planting in them just like a modern propergator but using the heat from the rotting manure instead. There are some good diagrams and explanations if you google hotbeds. Just googled myself to check the info is on there.
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I love that idea! the house is victorian (and this might sound daft...) but we've tried to do lots of things here in keeping with the victorian era so a hot bed is just the thing! what can I grow on it?!
the victorians loved growing exotics like pineapples. so melons, stuff like that will love it. extends the season a bit too .free heating for the greenhouse. but they ran the bed alongside the greenhouse as a pit that got filled with manure to heat the greenhouses a s well
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When you say "muckheap", it brings to my mind a picture of a pile too wet for aerobic decomposition to take place. Make sure and layer your wet, "mucky" ingredients between buffers of dry, fibrous ingredients to ensure proper airflow and expedient breakdown. You want the pile to be damp throughout, but not sopping. After it's gone through a heat (3-6 months), you can turn it, re-moisten and let it compost again for a more refined product, or chunk it through a spreader and onto your fields as is; the initial heat is enough to alleviate most problems caused by the application of raw manure, though I would only use thoroughly finished product in the dressing of crops grown for human consumption.
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Also, might like to take a little extra care with the poultry litter. It's got the potential to be a mite "hot", due to excessive ammonia locked up in it. It's good to mix it down with other manures for balance and plan to mellow it a bit longer than you might your average pile.
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Thank you :)
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Goat poo is great, you can spread it out and fertilize the green stuff straight away, no letting it sit for a yr its from the bum to the soil straight away lol
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from the bum to the soil
lol ;D :D ;D :wave:
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Goat poo is great, you can spread it out and fertilize the green stuff straight away, no letting it sit for a yr its from the bum to the soil straight away lol
Last year our lovely 'wizard' told me to fill a sock or pillow case with goat poo and let the rain drip through it onto my tomatoes. he said it was better than tomorite. so I did half with wizards goat pooo and the other half without. Sure enought, the goat pooo tomatoes shot up and we had loads of gorgeous tom's :)
Still missing you Wiz xxx
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I got that tip from Wizard as well but on RC when he was a member there. I hung a bag of poo in a barrel of water to make a liquid feed.
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Even better if you also chuck in some comfrey leaves, that's what I do. I have a plastic bin just outside the p/tunnel and everything in the tunnel gets watered with the diluted brew once a week. It does stink to high heaven though.... but the toms are great.
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I use comfrey, it is good for growth but the poly smells like an open sewer sometimes.