The Bovine Bugle

The beach isn't the only hot spot

Our trip to Popham Beach was great, with wonderful weather and fun stops along the way to and from the beach. We wouldn't have been able to take a couple days off without my parents here to take care of things, and sister Patty helped out too. When my siblings and I were growing up my parents didn't have anyone here to help them, so overnight trips to anywhere just didn't happen.

The beach weather was nice and hot, but there was some hot stuff happening right here on the farm while we were gone. Ben had cleaned out the bedded packs from the two shelters we overwintered animals in, placed the material in a windrow; and turned it with the Sittler windrow turner. The material had plenty of hay bedding in it, and it heated up very fast. This morning when I took the pictures the windrow was steaming, and you can see by the thermometer that the temperature of the material was over 160 degrees in some spots. HOT STUFF! These high temperatures will cause the composting process to proceed at a good clip, and will kill weed seeds and pathogens that may be in the compost material.

The conditions around here are still very dry. We won't have to use the compost covers to keep excess rainfall off the windrows, and turning the windrows will go easily with the good traction along the edge of the windrows.

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Planting season begins and demand for compost starts

The sunny, dry weather had given a jump start to spring around here. Everywhere you went farmers were actually starting some field work, and homeowners were out raking and picking up their lawns. Planting season for trees, shrubs, and perennial plants was starting, too.

We had a call for compost from one of last year's customers. He was planting fruit trees and asparagus and wanted compost to mix in with the soil while setting out the plants. We had a full windrow of finished compost under a compost cover all winter. I brought some up from the windrow with the manure spreader and piled near the road for easy loading. The compost looked great, and Jacob seemed happy with it. Two bucketloads filled the back of his pickup and he was off to start planting.

We're coming closer to composting all of our dairy manure. Seeing the transformation of the raw material of hay and manure into a rich brown/black compost is very satisfying. We love having this rich material to put back on our pastures, and to sell to people who want to feed their plants and gardens with something really good. I plug my nose when I drive by farms spreading liquid manure, but I love to smell sweet, earthy compost.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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