The Bovine Bugle

Spreading compost to prepare for fall

Ben has been spreading some finished compost the past couple of days. He spread the compost, mixed with some lime, on two of the grazing paddocks the older group of heifers/steers graze during the grazing season. We usually start spreading compost and aged-manure this time of year to make sure we get all our pastures covered before it gets too wet in the fall to do any spreading.

The compost windrow that Ben cleaned up was built last September, turned several times last fall, and then turned 2 or 3 times this summer. We usually spread the compost at 8-10 yards per acre. We add a couple hundred pounds of lime per load of compost to keep the pH of the soil in the 6-7 range, best for growing forages, and to keep enough calcium in the soil. Finished compost is so much better for the soil than raw manure, and it spreads very evenly, giving good coverage over the whole grazing paddock.

With the windrow all cleaned up, we can start building another windrow with material we stored in our stacking area over the winter. It took Ben about 4 hours to spread 8 or 9 loads of compost. It will take 4 or 5 hours to draw 16-18 loads of compost material from the stacking area to the windrow site. This is why we try to take material from the barn directly to a windrow site. By not putting material in the stacking area when we don't have to, we avoid having to handle the material another time.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at August 25, 2004 11:23 AM