Need ideas - compost / DIY related

[Kusanar]

Ok, so, I have horses, they are going to be fed hay all winter in a run in shed which = lots of horse manure all in one place. Over the summer they have been wandering almost 10 acres so no need to clean any of it up but I will need to clean some this winter to keep them from getting their shed super gross.

My thought is to make compost bins from landscape fabric, essentially just a 3-4 foot across circle that is open on both ends so it is sitting on the dirt and open on top to be filled, and just put them near the fence in that area, let them sit and compost down until around this time next year (which should give the freshest manure around 9 months and the oldest around 12 months composting time) then take it down to the gardens and till it in in the fall to make room for next year's crop of manure.

I have researched humanure and those compost piles are not turned and are fully broken down after 1 year, so I do not believe that turning will be NEEDED since I am willing to let them sit in place for a year. Horse manure without bedding added is also pretty firmly in the ideal C/N range so I don't think it will need to be mixed with anything, there will likely be some stray hay gathered as well but not much as they are eating from a hay net.

The issue I am trying to wrap my head around is that I believe these compost bins will need to be able to be opened in order to empty them and I am trying to figure out how to secure them closed in such a way that I can open them again later. I do have a sewing machine and am willing to sew them and am thinking about sewing 3-4 channels in each to slip a piece of PVC or a dowel in to help hold the fabric up for filling and then pull back out once the bin is full and will stand on it's own.

Does anyone have any concerns with this idea or ideas on how to close it and open it again later?

 

[Sally PB]

I'm not sure landscape cloth would be strong enough...? A big pile of compost will be heavy and push hard against the side.

Here's some thing I do for another purpose that might work. I take regular fencing, the 2x3 coated wire stuff. For a 4' diameter bin, you'd need about 12.5' of fence. Cut the horizontal wires right next to a vertical, so that you have 2" of open wire end. Make the circle of fence (ground for the bottom, open on top) and use those 2" bits to wrap around the other end of the fencing, one 2x3 opening to each wire. You don't have to do every one, but that's the most secure. I use 3-4 posts to help hold the shape and make it stand up. Fence posts would certainly work, but the posts I use I just push into the ground. They don't have to go the whole height of the fence.

When you're ready to open it, untwist the wire ends and open up the circle. The coated fencing will last quite a while.

I envy you your horse manure! I have a big garden, and chicken poop was one of the reasons I got chickens.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Pallets work well for holding in compost piles. Don’t need to rip them apart, just secure them together like a fence.

I don’t do this now, but as a kid we always put the horse manure on the garden in the fall then planted in the spring. It’s just high in nitrogen so it had time to break down. We didn’t actually compost it at all. Cow poop doesn’t even need to be composted and can be put directly on the garden and planted immediately.

 

[Kusanar]

I’m pretty sure that straight horse manure is NOT the ideal ratio for composting. Way too much N without enough C.

The good news is it sounds like you have some waste bedding and hay available, which are ideal additions to even the pile out.

I haven't actually tested myself, but, the internet ( .edu sites) states that it is ideal by it's self.

This Link
" 1) A carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio between 15:1 and 40:1. Horse manure itself has a C:N ratio of 30:1"

This Link
"The ideal C/N ratio for composting is generally considered to be around 30:1, or 30 parts carbon for each part nitrogen by weight."

I only have them in a run in shed with a dirt floor and minimal hay wasted due to small hole hay net. I COULD add some sawdust from my cat litter boxes, but that would be urine soaked so not sure what it's C:N ratio would be and what it would do to the general ratio.

 

[21hens-incharge]

That is only for the feces, those aren't in the sawdust. I use pine pellets for litter, they use it, any pellets that get wet turn into sawdust and are removed, the feces are removed separately and at this point trashed. I don't see how cat waste would be any worse than human though and human is fine to use on food crops once composted.

There is actually a product called Milorganite which is (depending on who you ask) human sewage, or the bacteria that lives in human sewage. This is packaged as fertilizer and shipped all over the country for lawn and garden fertilizer. Article about it
Their actual website stating it is fine on gardens.

I think I will stick with growing as much of my own as I can.
To many reports/recalls of listeria and other nasty things going on with our food.

I use composted garden plants and chicken manure.

 

[Kusanar]

I think I will stick with growing as much of my own as I can.
To many reports/recalls of listeria and other nasty things going on with our food.

I use composted garden plants and chicken manure.

My understanding is that the listeria issues are mostly from leafy greens which are close to the ground, when they water or it rains the soil tends to splash up which will coat the plants in whatever they are growing in (soil, fertilizer, compost, etc) unless they are mulched. I seriously doubt that any of the big commercial growers mulch their fields of lettuce.

I'm not going to grow anything close to the ground in fresh manure of any sort, and really, there is nothing keeping the foxes, raccoons, barn cats, etc from pooping in my garden and putting fresh manure in there, but my entire property was once a dairy farm, there is a good chance that every inch of soil has been pooped on at some point and not properly composted...

 

[Wolfie2]

i have heard of it happening. As said the N2/C ratio is about right. I have a few goats and use the manure directly in the garden in the fall and it works well for me. I just have to dig the years accumulation out of the barn.Also use it again in yhe spring but till it into the row before planting. Mind that this has, for the most part, been in the barn for a while so I call it aged manure (It does not get enough water to compost. Still has hay in it when I dig it up) and not fresh.One thing I would be aware of is weeds come spring if tilled in in the fall. Horses pass a lot of seeds through and if does not get hot enough to kill the seeds they will still be viable.

 

[Kusanar]

I’ve had piles of straight horse manure before and they were absolutely chock full of worms! The good kind I think. Even though it didn’t officially compost, being turned into worm castings is a pretty worthy endeavor. I couldn’t say whether the biomass was infested with nasty pathogens or not.
I had one lovely pile I tended all winter. Scraped horse and cow poop and had visions of spreading it and how much it would improve my garden. One day I went out to feed and it was gone!!! I laugh about it now but I was just crushed! And pissed! Really really pissed!

Did it just melt? Worms steal it? Reminds me of a lady I worked with that had tulips in front of her house and she swore they were getting shorter every day... Finally she went out there and tugged on one, apparently chipmunks had tunneled under them and were eating them from the bottom up and pulling them into the ground!

 

[Kusanar]

I'm not sure landscape cloth would be strong enough...? A big pile of compost will be heavy and push hard against the side.

Here's some thing I do for another purpose that might work. I take regular fencing, the 2x3 coated wire stuff. For a 4' diameter bin, you'd need about 12.5' of fence. Cut the horizontal wires right next to a vertical, so that you have 2" of open wire end. Make the circle of fence (ground for the bottom, open on top) and use those 2" bits to wrap around the other end of the fencing, one 2x3 opening to each wire. You don't have to do every one, but that's the most secure. I use 3-4 posts to help hold the shape and make it stand up. Fence posts would certainly work, but the posts I use I just push into the ground. They don't have to go the whole height of the fence.

When you're ready to open it, untwist the wire ends and open up the circle. The coated fencing will last quite a while.

I envy you your horse manure! I have a big garden, and chicken poop was one of the reasons I got chickens.

The landscape cloth is to do a mix of these 2 methods as well as I have seen a guy sewing grow bags from landscape fabric.

Amazon Link

I'll look at the wire you suggested.

 

[Sally PB]

Oh, I was thinking landscape fabric like weedblock fabric! D'oh!

Sure, if the fabric is strong enough and you have a machine that can handle it, I think your idea of PVC pipes to hold it up would work fine! How about a strip of Velcro to hold it closed? That stuff is very strong.