How to Enhance Cow Manure for Compost

In addition to being a fertilizer, cow manure is a wonderful ingredient to add to your compost to increase your garden fertility. As a main ingredient in compost, cow manure helps maximize moisture retention and keeps nutrients from flowing out of your garden soil with every single rain storm. Enhancing the manure before putting it in your garden helps condition and prepare it for decomposition, which increases the benefits it brings to your compost and your garden soil. When enhancing cow manure for compost, realize that your cow manure is the main nitrogen ingredient of your compost; all other nitrogen-rich ingredients merely supplement the cow manure.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cow manure
• Rocks/untreated boards
• Nitrogen-rich household scraps
• Carbon-rich yard waste
• Manure fork
• Garden hose

1. Determine a location for the compost pile. According to Klickitat County Solid Waste, locate your manure pile in an area where water will not collect (see Reference 1). Use rocks or untreated wooden boards to section off your chosen area for your manure pile. Leave the bottom of your pile open so the manure and its enhancements can touch the ground, which promotes the introduction of worms to help break down the manure. Dump the manure in a pile next to your compost area.

2. Collect materials high in nitrogen. Options include bread, egg shells, vegetables, grass clippings, fruit peels, coffee grounds and garden waste. Since your cow manure already provides a significant source of nitrogen, you won't need a lot of other nitrogen-rich materials. Adding other sources of nitrogen to your cow manure helps you provide a variety of materials that help promote drainage and fermentation for your compost.

3. Collect materials high in carbon. According to Marion Own, co-author of "Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul," you want to have a compost pile with a nitrogen to carbon ratio of approximately 1 to 3 (see Reference 2). Therefore, collect three times as much carbon-rich material as the amount of nitrogen-rich material (including the cow manure) that you've already collected. Popular options for carbon-rich materials to enhance your cow manure for compost include leaves, straw, sawdust, tea leaves and wood ash.

4. Mix your collected materials with your cow manure using a manure fork. Alternate layers of the manure and other nitrogen-rich materials with layers of carbon-rich materials. Repeat the layering process until you have created a cow manure compost pile that is at least 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet.

5. Maintain your compost pile. Spray it with water and stir it with a manure fork to promote oxygen flow throughout the layers at least once a week. Continue this process for up to six months to allow your cow manure compost to mature and age.

Tips & Warnings

• During the summer, you can offer to rake grass clippings for your neighbors to collect large amounts of this ideal nitrogen source. Keeping a garbage container next to your kitchen sink gives you a place to put various household waste items, such as bread, egg shells and fruit or vegetable peels, that will help enhance your cow manure.

References

• Klickitat County Solid Waste
• PlanTea.com