The Bovine Bugle

Spreading compost while the sun shines

The dry weather is continuing here in northwestern Vermont and, because of it, I'm getting many of the grazing paddocks covered with compost and stacked manure. Usually by this time in the fall we are battling the rains to get all the spreading done. With nice weather like this I wish the days were a little longer to get more done.


The grazing season is done and we are giving the cows almost 3 round bales a day now, the amount we normally feed through the winter. With the nice days, the cows are still going out to nibble around the pastures and lay in the sunshine. I chase them out of the barn and pull the pole across the doorway to keep them out, telling them to enjoy the sunshine because winter will be here before they know it!

After today's spreading, I've spread about 28 loads of compost and 35 loads of stacked manure, covering about 12-14 acres of pasture. Maybe by the end of the week I'll have a little more than half of the grazing paddocks covered. Sometimes it seems like I'll never get all the spreading done with my little spreader, hauling 4 yards of compost or manure at a time out to the fields. But after having two large liquid manure trucks fly by me several times on the road while running this morning, I guess I like the slow, steady pace of hauling my compost out to the grazing paddocks one load at a time, enjoying the beautiful fall colors and sky.