We recently had 2 to 3 yards of cow manure/sawdust mix delivered from a friends farm. This will be distributed throughout our 3 bins and added to the huge pile of shredded leaves from the fall. Then the county decided to widen a road very near our house and has ground several stumps into a lovely pile of sawdust shreds. How convienent! We have gotten loads and loads. Now we need a huge immersion blender - LOL and warm weather!
-Kim
Composting Bounty
The power company was trimming trees and bushes back from the lines in our sub-division. DH got them to dump a load near the end of our driveway. He told them if they had any more to feel free to drop it off. Hope they do. I wish I had a manure source, but the closest I get is guinea pig litter from my granddaughters piggy.
The horse farm where I board my horse has an endless supply of both well-aged "black gold" (manure that has been aging for multiple years) and fresh manure. They dump it in their woods a short distance from the barn. Most horse farms are only too happy to have people come and haul away as much of the stuff as they like. For those who don't think that they have a manure source, I highly recommend that you check your local listings (phone book or internet) for riding schools and stables. Give them a call and see if they'd be willing to let you come out with a shovel and some garbage bins.
wrightie, Should I leave the fresh manure in the garbage cans for some period of time (if so, what?) or just toss it in with the kitchen scraps and leaf fodder and let it break down that way?
How about lama droppings? There's a place nearby with 2 or 3 lama's.
I just throw the green, aka "hot" horse manure in with my regular compost, but I am careful to make sure that it has broken down completely before using it on my garden, and especially before applying to my vegetable garden. Cow manure is better than horse in that it's well-broken down and does not tend to contain as many weed seeds as horse m. I don't know about lamas, but I'd certainly check it out. My assumption is that it would be great stuff(?).
I buy Turkey and chicken compost from a professional composter. He uses a compost barrel 10 ft in dia and 50 ft long. when it comes in from the turkey barns he puts it in the compoater and it rotates one time every 17 minutes for 4 days. at the end of that time it is composted beyond and smell of Amonia. I buy it at that point. But he also mixes it with corn cobs ground to about the size of pea gravel. the later is very good for plowing in since the corncobs give more water rfetention. He sells many many tons of this stuff I but it by the pickup load. His composter will hold 55 tons at a crack. The operation belongs to a 3 family Co-Op and they have 15 turkey barns in my area.
Mary, maybe you could ask them what the llamas eat before you ask for the manure. I have no idea what they eat, but I would only use manure from vegetarian animals on my gardens to avoid the bacteria from meat byproducts. You'll have to get back to us and let us know, what do they eat??
Llama is a great source of manure for your garden i use it all the time !!
it doesn't need to be aged you can use it green , it doesn't attract bugs like reg horse or cow either.
it can also help with repel deers in your yard .
Llamas are like cows and eat only veg matter and grain .
sue
I attempted to stop by the llama farm today on my way home but the driveways were both gated. I think I will write a note and attach to the gate asking if I could muck up some of the manure from time-to-time. I'm not sure how much llama manure a small, backyard gardener will need.
Is 20 gallons (4, 5-gallon buckets) per week too much? Or do that twice a month? Or would it be better to just get one 5-gallon bucket a week (or bi-monthly) for a small, steady supply?
What do you all think?
Thanks
Mary
Mary, How many sq. feet do you garden?
Good question Dave. I expect it will be less than 500 sf. (maybe as small as 300sf).
Let's see: at 400 sq ft at 3"= 100 cubic feet. Now all we need is to find out how many cubic in a 5 gal pail. I'm clueless here but it can't be too many (4??).
On second thought, just keep getting it & spreading it. By the time you cover it all, you may be ready to start over (if you have the time & energy). Your soil will be great!
A cubic foot equals 6.25 gallons +
This message was edited Dec 27, 2006 10:11 PM
I'm with Dave here, I would take all you can get and spread it heavy to let it mulch over the winter. Any extra you can always put in your compost pile for later.
I left a note on their gate this morning asking if I could muck up a bit of their llama manure. I hope they will let me.
They also have sheep and ostrich. The llama are just so darn cute. They always look like they are smiling at you! And the ostrich! oh my. So curious. Several of them walked over to the fence where I parked the truck. The fence is probably 8' tall, it's 1" square steel rods set a few inches apart. Anyway - the ostrich have this way of elongating their necks to get their lil beaks up and over the top of the fence to look at me. They were not content to just check me out through the fence rails. What funny little beasties they are. And according to Google, they are also vegetarians, ditto the sheep. Might have a real bounty here. Hope the owners are interested in my little bitty gardening project.
MaryMcP, unless they use it for their own garden, chances are, they'll laugh and watch you and tell their friends about this crazy lady who wants their manure.
Then eventually they'll start bagging and selling it!
Now I am wanting to get some llama manure. There are also some emu's on a farm nearby. Lots of choices around here. Hope you get your manure Mary!
See? It's all in the WAY you say it. I hope you all get s^*#!
Let's not overlook alpaca manure! There may be a few alpaca farms near you. They are grass eaters. The final, finished product is great for the garden. Just don't get them upset. Alpacas (and I think llama too) can regurgitate and spit that cud faster and farther than you think when they are upset. Manure piles will smell very sweet if you've every encountered the green slime of a mad camelid.
g_m, there are times I just don't want to know how you know what you know.
ROFL! Life is to be explored........sometimes you get a few startling surprises.
Then I hope you've learned to duck!
Luckily, I've never minded getting dirty. I was at the zoo once and the llama was practically talking with me. Took one look at the guy I was with, and PATOOOOOOIE. I just laughed. (And eventually agreed with the llama...)
Aha! so you DO have first hand experience with llama slime. hee hee.
Wonder how many customers one would get with a llama/pet date screening service?
Perhaps a zoo date should be de rigeur before considering a relationship 'serious'. If you find yourself wanting to leave your date in the pen and take the zoo resident home instead, it could save big $$$.
Thanks claypa. I had no idea that a 5 gallon pail can't even hold 1 sq ft..
So Mary you would start with 120 5-gal. pails (more if you don't fill them to the top- -which I would highly recomend!) Seriously, it's a great opportunity and the more the better.
I'm focusing on mosquito manure because I have so many of them right in my own backyard. Only problem is that it takes soooo long to fill the 5 gal. pail.
I rely heavily on those conversion sites that appear in the search bar when you type in the units- the thing with the gallons is there's a small difference between wet and dry measures. But you're right, the real question is how much can you fit in a car or truck, and your yard!
And what's the diff between alpaca, llama, and vicuna doo ? LOL I guess they all have multiple stomachs that completely digest their food
Mosquito manure - hah! That's funny.
OK, so I'll fill the bed of my Toyota truck and dump it all around the yard. My cat will love that!
They did not call me yesterday. Maybe they don't want to be bothered with someone coming around. Remember, it's a totally gated property. I'll keep looking for another, more socially friendly, site. Thanks for all the support out there for dung shovelers.
I noticed a local landscaper was bagging leaves for disposal; knowing they have to pay to get rid of them I suggested he dump them on a vacant lot we own next door to our home. This lot is low and tends to be boggy after a good rain. At first the guy thought I was kidding but I conviced him and he now makes regular stops here. I have been able to put down almost a foot of leaves over a significant area. The leaves pack down quickly but I know by next summer the soil there will be wonderful and full of worms.
I wish I could handle all the leaves from the multitude of landscapers that pick them up and haul them away.
He called. He called. He said I could have all the llama pellets I want - and I don't even have to muck it up myself. "[His] guys rake everyday...." if I just drop off some buckets, I can come by and pick them up full anytime. Yes!
We'll probably see him on-line. I told him all about the knowledgeable folks at Dave's Garden because he has some questions about greenhouses and stuff. Says he's growing 7' tall tomatoes!
And those ostrich are really emu's after all.
Mary McHappy - I'm going to have the best-est garden around.
Mary jhust make sure you got a good nitro reading guage and make sure you use it on top the ground. That fresh it will burn worked in. I leave my turkey compost on top in circles around my hosta because it will send still send the meter about off the scale. By spring it will be cooled down and I can turn it in a little with a spade.
ozarkian, Thanks for the heads up. I'll get a nitro reading gauge. However, it's my understanding that the beauty of llama manure is that it is *not* hot. They have 4 stomachs and by the time the grains and grass finish processing, the manure is good to go. I'll double check though. Thanks again for the heads up. I always appreciate learning the easy way - as opposed to trial and error.
Llama poo is easy to collect as they are communal defecators... it's all in one place, LOL.
There have been several composting forums about Llama poop and the big plus is that it can be used directly on the plant no composting needed. I'll look for the thread.
Check with your high school Ag. dept. I get all my manure from there. I just scoop it from the pile they leave behind the barn from stall cleanings. The good part is the pigs and steers are all in stalls so I dont have much of a problem with seeds in the manure.
Boy Tracy, what a realization of how different parts of the U.S. are. Up here you would be hard pressed to find a high school with an Ag. Dept.. If you did, they wouldn't have horses. Good to hear that's an option somewhere!
Boy howdy, Dave47. I was listening to a radio station in CT once, and the DJ had gotten some letter from TX and said, "I'm not even going to try to pronounce that city." I suspect it was Nacogdoches.
It's hard to find a high school down this way that doesn't have an ag dept.
Tracy, Hello! I can relate. We have a local college here that now does a lot of political polls. It's fun listening to the news anchors trying to say Quinnipiac.
Good 'ol Naca-no-where! Another good place to check is craigslist. Type manure or mulch into the search. After DG, that is my most looked at web site.
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