The Bovine Bugle

Time to feed Mother Earth--spreading compost

With the cows going through the final rotation of the grazing paddocks, it's time to start spreading compost and aged-manure on the fields to get them ready for the next grazing season. We have begun by working on the 500-foot compost row we have been turning this summer. Despite the extremely wet summer, and the minimal number of times we were able to turn the windrow, the compost looks just great. Thanks to Stonyfield for their farmer grant program that paid for nearly all the costs of the Sittler Windrow Turner we use here at Howmars.

We begin spreading on the fields that should be done while the conditions are at their driest. It so happens that these fields are lowest in soil fertility, so we target the compost especially for this area. We feel the compost will raise the fertility faster on these fields than just aged-manure. Once the compost is all spread we will then spread the aged-manure stored in the stacking area. I just hope the weather holds until I get all the hard-to-get-to fields done!

All of my neighbors are emptying the liquid manure pits, spreading on the just-harvested corn fields. It sure hasn't smelled very good around the neighborhood. But when someone stops at our farm I tell them I've spread close to 30 loads of manure and they comment on how they can't smell a thing. That's another nice thing about composting our dairy manure.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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