I've built three pallet bins to take horse manure and almost filled the first. Now I can fill the other two at my leisure although with the ground so hard there's not much else to do other than cycle down to the stables and come back with a trailer full.
Anyway - now the first one is full how much will it compact over the course of 2009? I've read not to top it up as it shrinks but will it end up as a small puddle by 2010 or be roughly the same size as it is now?
I've done leaf mould over the years and that never fails to surprise me as to just how much compacts to almost nothing.
Is it pure sh*t, or mixed with straw? the stuff with straw will diminish more, to about 50%, the pure stuff to about 60% (ish) ;)
Thanks for the swift reply.
It's 50% sawdust with very little straw.
That gives me a rough idea how much I will have to play with next year when I need to fill my raised beds. Or probably just the one if it compacts that much!
If it's got a lot of sawdust / woodchip in it, add a large amount of P*ss (human) to the heap, and cover with a waterproof cover, the nitrogen will help the bacteria to break down the wood.
;)
Hi, I fill a breezeblock midden each year to the top, about 4 cu yds, with horse muck with about 10% hay and straw mixed in. Then I cover it with old carpet and leave it. It rots down to about 50% of original volume. Round about end of November I turn it out into an open heap and cover it again, leave it until the worst of the weather is over and I can start work on the plot and spread as a mulch. By then it's pretty much like compost rather than horse muck. By planting time, the worms and microbes have done their work and it's just a case of hoeing over it to remove any green growth that's defied the mulch. Much easier than digging :) If you keep topping up the heap, you'll find the stuff underneath will take forever and a day to rot, better to have a few shallow ones than one deep one.
It didn't occur to me I'd need to add some of my own nitrogeon to it, I reserve that for my other heaps of leaves and stuff. I assumed the horses had supplied enough of that already. You live and learn.
I've been after some old carpet for ages but can't find a bit small enough - in the mean time it's covered but it's not ideal.
I'll prepare myself for some serious shrinkage by the sounds of things!