Making Manure:
Manure is basically or nothing more that rotted down excrement combined with other substances like straw, grass any organic matter etc.
Animal waste which has not been properly rotted down is not manure it is just animal excrement . It is not manure and it will not behave in the same way when added to your vegetables. Some of this animal waste, if added straight to your vegetables, would actually burn them. Also there is the chance that any parasitic organisms still living in this animal waste, be it parasitic worms or even things like salmonella, could actually get transferred on to your vegetables and then to you. Imagine the situation where somebody puts animal waste on to a salad vegetable and then picks that salad vegetable the next day where these organisms/germs are still alive and then those salad vegetables are eaten. Can you imagine what could happen !!
This is why animal waste has to be rotted down, some say for at least 12 months in some cases, it all depends on the conditions. Animal waste can include human waste as long as it does not contain any of the chemicals that are used in cleaning your toiletry system. What you add to your compost is up to you as long as it is pure, organic, clean and free from anything toxic or harmful.
All in all no animal waste should never be used on vegetables until it has completely undergone the composting process which can take a minimum of 6 months, but to be on the safe side it would be suitable never to use your manure for a minimum of 12 months so you know that the rotting process has been completed. If you have an open muck/compost pile, you will get a brown liquid run off from this, this should never be wasted and should be stored if possible and used after the same time period or added to the dry muck pile/compost to complete the process. Do not add pet droppings, dog and cat droppings to your manure. There is a chance that they could contain a parasite which can be harmful, so it is best to take their droppings elsewhere and bury them. In fact it is best because of their nature to keep cats completely away from your muck pile/compost heap.
Making Compost:
Compost is just the rotted down non animal waste from your garden and kitchen like grass cuttings, weeds and vegetable peelings but everything ends up getting added including animal waste.
Another problem with muck piles/compost heaps can be rats, which is why it is best that your muck pile/compost heap is completely away from any living area, food store or other areas which need cleanliness and a vermin control operation is in place. It wouldn't be a great idea to locate your compost heap near your boundary with your neighbours for these reasons either. Yes muck piles, manure heaps, compost bins and heaps DO attract vermin such as rats, they like the warmth and any food they may find.
You can prevent these disgusting rats entering your muck piles/compost bins by surrounding the bottom areas with a metal gauze or expanded metal, and attach it in away that stops the rats from entering, but they can still burrow underneath and also climb which rats do very very well. Then again these rats will still enter other areas of your holding looking for food. The only way to prevent this happening is to have a vermin control operation in place permanently and that involves setting and checking traps daily. DO NOT use poison of any kind as there is too much of a chance that domestic animals and other wildlife which are beneficial to your food production directly or indirectly, can end up consuming this rat poison by eating it or by eating a poisoned rat. In which case you could end up wiping out any beneficial animals or even worse poisoning your pets or other livestock. Rat traps are cheap and will last a long time, whereas poison is expensive and the rats soon build up a resistance to it so it becomes ineffective.
Your future manure/compost should contain a lot of added substances which will put organic matter into the ground, such as straw and grass and even unprocessed wood shavings and wood bark/chipping's. All of this will add bulk to the manure when added to your vegetables and will also act as a slow release substance to allow the goodness from your manure to be released at a steady rate in the ground to feed your vegetables. Also, your soil needs a continual replacement and replenishment of what your vegetables have taken from the soil, so all this straw, grass, wood shavings, bark etc will decompose into a rich humus which will create a rich moisture mineral retaining soil which will get better and better as the years go on. In a wet climate like ours in Ireland, it is even easier for the heavy rainfall to wash away the advantages of what your manure contains
Your muck pile/compost heap may or in fact should get hot in the process of the rotting down of this animal waste/organic matter, do not worry this is natural and in fact is an important process as the heating up of this compost muck pile is very important as it shows that the chemical processes are taking place. If your compost heap does not get very hot you will need to add more nitrogen in the form of things like grass cuttings, and also make sure that the ingredients are damp because if your compost heap is too dry the chemical process will not start to happen. Also when adding woody substances in the form of wood chipping's or wood bark to the compost heap, make sure that they are quite small and well mixed in with the other ingredients, otherwise they will not break down in the composting process.
Your manure/compost needs a lot of moisture but it must not get too wet otherwise it may stop working, so a cover to protect it from heavy rain on the wettest days is a must. Do not let it dry out either as this also will stop it working.
If you think you can get enough manure/compost just from your kitchen waste you are very mistaken. You made need to add lots maybe tons of material just to satisfy the most average of vegetable plots, so you will need to import quality material from other sources like animals and other garden waste.
Just as with anything with composting the more varied of ingredients you add the better the end product will be, but make sure it is well mixed especially when adding things like grass cuttings. Mixing and staggering the ingredients will make the best product and allow the rotting down process to take place efficiently.
When adding things like food waste from your own kitchen you must not include meat as this will certainly attract rats to your compost heap. Meat will rot down perfectly ok, but attracting and supplying the worst of all vermin a readily available food supply so they can multiply and cause more damage and spread disease is not a great idea. Any uneaten food from your plate may attract rats but more so meat products, so put rat traps down anyway, (remember do not use poison in case you poison other animals) and if you catch any rats in your traps stop adding your kitchen waste to the compost heap until they have all been exterminated and turn over with a garden fork what you already have being processed. This will disturb any rat nests they may have started in your compost heap and rats hate disturbance.
Some people say you should turn or aerate your manure/compost every few weeks or every month, but you mainly will only ever need it a few times in the year and you need it most before planting in the new season, so whats the point in making more work for yourself getting something ready which will get itself ready if you leave it alone. That's how it has been done for hundreds of years, just a pile in the corner of a field left to it's own devices and believe it or not it worked. But may be turning it often improves or speeds the process up? it's all down to personal choice as long as you have enough well rotted manure/compost at when you need it that's all that matters.
This is a way of making a tidy continuous supply of manure/compost. If you make 3 bays large enough for the amount of manure/compost you will be continuously making/using, then this will make a perfectly rotted down manure/compost/fertiliser. These bays can be made from block or timber and simply require you to move the manure from one bay to the other every 4 months so your rotting down manure/compost is completely turned over and aerated to provide maximum heat and bacterial activity. Filling bay no 1 for 4 months then moving it to bay no2 for 4 months, then on to bay no 3 after 4 months will oxygenate the mixture so feed the bacteria and improve the rotting down process. At the same time filling bay no1 with fresh material when it has been emptied will provide a continuous supply of rotted down manure/compost which will be ready every 4 months. These bays will have to be covered and be inspected regularly to see if they are drying out and may need water adding. The last bay needs to have worms added to finish the process, so this could be situated on top of soil around your holding. Of course when moving them from bay to bay the quantities will become much less as the rotting down process progresses so your first bay could be twice the size of the other two, or maybe reducing by a third in size each time. This method is great with straw based animal waste.
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How To Use Seaweed As A Manure/Fertiliser:
Your manure will contain nitrogen to feed the plants and also a certain amount of minerals which would have passed through the animals. If at all possible when your manure is rotting down if ever you could get your hands on any seaweed, this would make your manure far superior as the seaweed would contain probably all the minerals that your vegetables could ever need, so get as much of it as possible........ do anything for anybody if you can get a free regular supply of the stuff.
It contains nearly everything your manure/compost needs to contain and will give you the best of feeds for your home grown vegetables. It will rot down in your compost heap or when digging your soil it can be be also very lightly applied neat (well before planting) where it will slowly dissolve into the soil supplying much needed minerals.
Seaweed can be collected from the beaches and shoreline in a lot of areas and by the time it ends up on the beach it is already dead, most probably ripped off the sea bed by storms. It will then rot on the beach causing an awful stink so i should imagine most people would be only too glad for it to go away but check with your council first.
It may have a high salt content which can be mostly got rid off by having a separate area for it and allowing the rain to get at it or soaking it with a hose pipe then either apply it to the soil if in winter times or to your muck/compost for further rotting down. After washing you can add it to a barrel of water where it will semi-dissolve in to a gloop which can be further watered down with other liquid type manure for a liquid feed.
Horse Manure:
Get as much as you can. Horse manure is very fibrous from the grass that the horse has eaten, but also is most probably mixed in with straw or wood shavings which will give it this rich moisture containing humus which is perfect for your soil.
Horse manure has to be completely rotted down so some say up to 12 months before it can be used. The good thing about horse manure is that a horse never stops eating so produces lots of it.
Cow/Cattle Manure:
Cow manure is very rare today as most cattle are over wintered in a slatted house, where their droppings fall through the slatted floor into a tank which is then pumped away and spread on the fields in a form of a raw slurry. This is a very quick release system which should never be used on your vegetables, it should only be used on uninhabited grazing land only. Storing the slurry needs a lot of space and also the smells associated with it are not very pleasant. If however, you get the chance to get hold of cow manure where the cattle have been over wintered in a stable on top of straw, you will have manure which is supposedly better than horse manure.
Poultry Manure:
Poultry manure is the richest animal manure and is much sought after and used by all organic vegetable producers. Poultry are often kept on wood shavings which soak up all the poultry deposits which are usually wet . Some poultry, may be your own, may be kept on straw, the straw will also soak up the wet poultry droppings, thus you have this extremely rich damp fibrous manure which if not composted will damage your plants so must be rotted before use and after this process has taken place you will have an extremely rich vegetable fertilizer.
Pig Manure:
Pig manure is great for the small and home producer, as the people who use it usually have their own pigs kept on straw, so again after rotting you end up with a very rich fibrous manure.
So above, these are the animals which would be kept partly indoors or over wintered indoors. Where their waste products have to be disposed of but must never be thrown away and will make as good a vegetable feed as you could ever get or buy. In fact, they would make a better vegetable feed because you would know exactly what has gone into your animals so you will know exactly what will come out, so you will be in complete control of the contents of what you are feeding your vegetables and what you are feeding you and your family, and that probably is the most important factor of this whole process.
Because humans are very similar to pigs, our waste, if mixed with straw, will produce a very similar product after the composting process has been completed.
Of course, most of the year your animals will be outside in their natural environment and their droppings, you either leave to feed the grass, or you can collect up once a week in a wheelbarrow and then put these on to your muck pile/compost heap (rotting manure), and remember any food waste from the kitchen (except meat) and any plant toppings from the garden then get your hands on as much seaweed as you can possibly beg, steal or carry and you will have the best vegetable fertilizer possible.
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