COMPOST MAKING

[tw15]

Thinking is idea worth a look . Got a idea to use a forage wagon to pick up the straw in the swath and make a windrow on the headland and then put chicken muck on top and cattle muck on top of that them use a compost windrow row turner to mix it up .
Am i making work or making a nice friable nutrient rich compost .
I know some do it with baling the straw then just end up having to mess about cutting strings and spreading it out in a windrow thinking a forage wagon would do it and pre chop it or would it be a a fire risk with picking up straw. I suppose you can pick up the swaths when they are damp to reduce risks. Any thoughts people

 

[sjt01]

Thinking is idea worth a look . Got a idea to use a forage wagon to pick up the straw in the swath and make a windrow on the headland and then put chicken muck on top and cattle muck on top of that them use a compost windrow row turner to mix it up .
Am i making work or making a nice friable nutrient rich compost .
I know some do it with baling the straw then just end up having to mess about cutting strings and spreading it out in a windrow thinking a forage wagon would do it and pre chop it or would it be a a fire risk with picking up straw. I suppose you can pick up the swaths when they are damp to reduce risks. Any thoughts people

We make windrow compost with our FYM. We tip trailer loads of cattle fym in a line to make the windrow, alongside a farm track. It would be quite a bit of work to add additional material on top in a reasonably even manner.
If you are using a forage wagon, then put all your ingredients in that to achieve your mix. However it might be a bit difficult to clean it out for foraging, perhaps put the first load of forage on the compost windrow to make sure it is clean.
To ensure our windrow is damp enough to compost, we have to jet dirty water into it using our slurry tanker, it needs quite a bit here in the East where it is normally low rainfall, something like 1000 litres to 10 metres of windrow.
When making your windrow with the forage wagon, try to keep a narrow windrow as turning it is then so much easier.
This was 4th turn this autumn

Adding water

 

[sheepdogtrail]

It just needs time to become compost after all you have already done. Would your headland be okay with that? At this stage it would need to sit there for at least a year. Longer if possible. A compost spreader would be a nice tool to get while it is cooking.

Your ingredients would work for sure.

 

[Mr chips]

We make windrow compost with our FYM. We tip trailer loads of cattle fym in a line to make the windrow, alongside a farm track. It would be quite a bit of work to add additional material on top in a reasonably even manner.
If you are using a forage wagon, then put all your ingredients in that to achieve your mix. However it might be a bit difficult to clean it out for foraging, perhaps put the first load of forage on the compost windrow to make sure it is clean.
To ensure our windrow is damp enough to compost, we have to jet dirty water into it using our slurry tanker, it needs quite a bit here in the East where it is normally low rainfall, something like 1000 litres to 10 metres of windrow.
When making your windrow with the forage wagon, try to keep a narrow windrow as turning it is then so much easier.
This was 4th turn this autumn

Adding water

View attachment 1146468

Good morning. Who supplied your compost turner ? We have been using a contractor for turning ours. Thank you.

 

[sjt01]

Good morning. Who supplied your compost turner ? We have been using a contractor for turning ours. Thank you.

We bought ours direct from the manufacturer, Compost Systems

August Würzl Leiter Maschinenabteilung / Head of Machine Department
Compost Systems GmbH
Maria-Theresia-Straße 9
4600 Wels
Austria
M +43 664 48 24 852
T +43 7242 350 777 14
compost-systems.com
[email protected]

When we looked, their price was much more reasonable than Doyle Machinery https://doylemachinery.co.uk/product/tow-behind-turners/ and we have been very pleased with the design and build quality.

I have been pushing for Defra to include these in the grant list for the next round of the Farm Equipment and Technology Fund, so it might be worth waiting to see if it is there.

 

[Mr chips]

We bought ours direct from the manufacturer, Compost Systems

August Würzl Leiter Maschinenabteilung / Head of Machine Department
Compost Systems GmbH
Maria-Theresia-Straße 9
4600 Wels
Austria
M +43 664 48 24 852
T +43 7242 350 777 14
compost-systems.com
[email protected]

When we looked, their price was much more reasonable than Doyle Machinery https://doylemachinery.co.uk/product/tow-behind-turners/ and we have been very pleased with the design and build quality.

I have been pushing for Defra to include these in the grant list for the next round of the Farm Equipment and Technology Fund, so it might be worth waiting to see if it is there.

Thank you.

 

[som farmer]

its just got to be the right thing to do, just need to work out the practicalities of doing it.

on mixing different types, without the 'turning', just put them side by side, and mix into the spreader.

the rules say you cannot have a dung heap, in one place, for more than 1 year, straight FMY is better stuff, left 2 years.

been thinking about sheeting down an FYM heap, and see what happens then, probably complaints about 'untidiness'.

its not only the fert value, its the soil conditioning as well.

 

[sjt01]

its just got to be the right thing to do, just need to work out the practicalities of doing it.

on mixing different types, without the 'turning', just put them side by side, and mix into the spreader.

the rules say you cannot have a dung heap, in one place, for more than 1 year, straight FMY is better stuff, left 2 years.

been thinking about sheeting down an FYM heap, and see what happens then, probably complaints about 'untidiness'.

its not only the fert value, its the soil conditioning as well.

We started composting the FYM a year ago, I wish I had done it years ago. The product is beautiful stuff, it is amazing what just 4 passes with the windrow turner will achieve. It is also much easier to cut string off than the muck spreader beaters, and finds kick bars, lumps of concrete etc. with much less drama than a muck spreader. The shear bolt is really quick and simple to change.

 

[som farmer]

We started composting the FYM a year ago, I wish I had done it years ago. The product is beautiful stuff, it is amazing what just 4 passes with the windrow turner will achieve. It is also much easier to cut string off than the muck spreader beaters, and finds kick bars, lumps of concrete etc. with much less drama than a muck spreader. The shear bolt is really quick and simple to change.

OM had a mkt for used little bale string, all had to be cut at the knots, went to tie tomato plants up, in green houses. String in spreaders, wasn't really a problem.
till the tomato grower packed up, and we changed to big bales, since then its a bloody nightmare, especially net. The younger generation just don't seem to worry, and its them, that have to cut it out, you would think they would learn !

a valueless calf managed to get into, and get stuck, in the middle of our lagoon, we shot it, safest way out. Soon disappeared, until stirring the lagoon, the skin got wrapped around the propeller, lad working for us, spent a fair time getting it off. And quite happily pushed it back into the lagoon, the next day, while squeezing the yards, comment when told 'oh'

but we all have to make the most, of the muck we produce, with legumes, they are becoming valuable assets.

and the lad didn't last much longer, cannabis was the problem.

 

[Spencer]

Thinking is idea worth a look . Got a idea to use a forage wagon to pick up the straw in the swath and make a windrow on the headland and then put chicken muck on top and cattle muck on top of that them use a compost windrow row turner to mix it up .
Am i making work or making a nice friable nutrient rich compost .
I know some do it with baling the straw then just end up having to mess about cutting strings and spreading it out in a windrow thinking a forage wagon would do it and pre chop it or would it be a a fire risk with picking up straw. I suppose you can pick up the swaths when they are damp to reduce risks. Any thoughts people

What about chopping straw with combine and spreading thin layer of poultry then cattle manure with spinning disc spreader

 

[sjt01]

What about chopping straw with combine and spreading thin layer of poultry then cattle manure with spinning disc spreader

No chance of that composting. It needs to be in a heap so the temperature can build up.

 

[Lowland1]

I have a compost turner but having smashed several windows on the tractor and frightened my wife's horse causing it and her to head into the sunset. I went back to turning and mixing with a loader. I tried using an old Kidd spreader to mix different materials but in the end I've been happy with the loader method we mix muck, old hay and veg waste and we've found a bit of thought gets a nice mix. Heat and moisture is what you need. We like to turn ours after rain.

 

[Spencer]

No chance of that composting. It needs to be in a heap so the temperature can build up.
View attachment 1146562

I wasn’t meaning composting, just chop straw, spread sh!t, drill crop. Keep it simple

 

[tw15]

I wasn’t meaning composting, just chop straw, spread sh!t, drill crop. Keep it simple

We chop everything apart from what is needed for own sucklers and one field for straw for muck deal . My main thought was if the forage wagon would gather the straw as to help soak up the nutrients from the chicken muck so as not to have burnt area where it is tipped .

 

[Brisel]

Bokashi? Tip it in a heap, mix it then sheet it down. You are supposed to do that for high available N manures anyway. At least you won't lose much of the N content in the heap.

 

[mo!]

What is the point of the composting? You're going to spend a load of time, money and carbon collecting the straw, then a load of time, money and carbon stirring it up, and then (guess what) time, money and carbon spreading it back over the land you collected it from. Chop the straw and spread the muck on top. You'll lose less carbon (which surely is what you're trying to avoid) and will have fed the soil.

You won't be one of the cool kids though.

 

[sjt01]

What is the point of the composting? You're going to spend a load of time, money and carbon collecting the straw, then a load of time, money and carbon stirring it up, and then (guess what) time, money and carbon spreading it back over the land you collected it from. Chop the straw and spread the muck on top. You'll lose less carbon (which surely is what you're trying to avoid) and will have fed the soil.

You won't be one of the cool kids though.

You are making a product which is full of bacteria and fungi, which takes the ammonia and immobilises it so it is not lost to the air as it would be when spreading raw on the field, and you are making a material that can be spread on a cover crop without the need to incorporate.

 

[mo!]

You are making a product which is full of bacteria and fungi, which takes the ammonia and immobilises it so it is not lost to the air as it would be when spreading raw on the field, and you are making a material that can be spread on a cover crop without the need to incorporate.

Are they the right fungi and bacteria? What about all the carbon you have burnt heating the compost up? Is it worth it?

 

[Spencer]

You are making a product which is full of bacteria and fungi, which takes the ammonia and immobilises it so it is not lost to the air as it would be when spreading raw on the field, and you are making a material that can be spread on a cover crop without the need to incorporate.

Reckon you’d see more benefit to the cover crop from 2t/ac of

 

[som farmer]

its getting the 'right' bacteria and fungi back into your soil, that's the important bit. Soil health allows better use of legumes etc.