The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: suomi on February 01, 2009, 03:56:23 pm
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My question is how long does it take for sheep poo to compost?
we ahve 8 sheep bedded on straw, come the spring we will clear it all out, so can I...... spread it over an area to be left fallow for a year? or should I leave it in one massive heap, mixed with chicken s**t to do its thing(!) :chook: :sheep: and then use it as a compost?
I would much rather only move it all the one time! will it break down in a year? remembering of course we have snow fronm Oct--may!
Thanks. :farmer:
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Guidelines here for spreading muck onto fields is let it break down for 22-26 weeks before spreading. For garden use we leave it in a heap for about 3 months to let the composting begin then either dig it in or spread on bare earth. any earlier and the muck will USE nitrogen rather than release it.
one problem i find with sheep muck is that it does tend to be dry and flaky so isn't as good for plants that need lots of moisture
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Hello Suomi,
you could spread it on the fields as is , once the snow has gone and the ground warmed up a touch.....but you may be better off stacking it in heaps and letting it go through it's composting process . Mixed with straw it should heat up and then start to break down . You can make the process even more effective by stacking it in a heap , letting it heat up for a few days then as it reaches it's hottest , turn it into another heap next to the first. You then let that heat up again and then move and mix again . This process is hard work , but it speeds up the composting process by weeks and you can then spread compost that resembles peat in both look and smell. Horse manure would really speed things up , but if you don't have any then the sheep and chicken will do fine. Spreading it direct and un composted on the fields will slow grass growth a bit ,so in your short growing season that may not be a good idea. Composting as described would allow you to spread direct without any burn or hold back to the grass. The time it would take to compost this way would be 4 weeks or so as long as you have the correct amount of straw to manure mix. The chicken manure would help speed things up greatly. Another alternative would be to build the manure heap and leave it till next year and spread it then . That way you end up with two heaps , one rotting down for the following year and one getting built with fresh muck .... Here in Wales and in most of the UK , it would take about 3 or 4 weeks for muck spread thinly to break down , but you would have to keep all stock off the field till all signs of manure had gone. If you could leave empty after an early spreading then you may even get a cut of hay or haylage or silage , depending on your climate/weather etc....
hope that makes some sense , and is of help....
cheers
Russ
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Thanks for the replys.. ;)
Rustyme, I think I will make it into heaps and let it do its thing!!
thanks for the info it really does help to have other peoples input, knowledge and advice.
thanks guys :)
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I would heap it first if its for the garden, particularly if it is as strawey as it sounds. Straw locks up a certain amount of nitrogen during the intial stages of breaking down.
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We use sheep manure exclusively but only because that's what the local farmer has a lot of and is glad to be shot of it. Tend to leave each year's delivery in a heap for use the next year or even the year after by which time it's a rich black colour and let passing wild pig, badgers, dogs or whathaveyou rootle in and turn it. In use if we have the energy we dig it into trenches because of the drying out problem or failing that just rotovate it in.
I'd never turn gift sheep manure down although I know some are not keen......
regards
David
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sheep manure in a hession sack, suspended in a barrel of water makes the best feed for tomatoes, well diluted
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I tend to leave all my manure to rot down wheather its from the sheep or the pigs it all goes into 1 pile each year and I use the previous years pile.
Just one thing though like hexhammeasure said sheep poo does tend to dry into flaky lumps so try to cover it to keep it moist during the rotting down stage I tend to put some grass cuttings over it.
Hope this helps
Kind regards
Joe