No hobby farm is complete without livestock of some variety . Even if your elementary focus is growing a garden or harvesting field crop , there ’s something about having a couple of goats … or a brace of horses … or a few oxen … or a bunch of horses … or dozens of oxen … and a flock of chickens and a sounder of swine ( that ’s a herd of pigs ) and perchance even a few alpaca .
OK , you get the point . But another point that drop dead along with stock ( in plus to Milk River , goat cheese , ball , meat and the joy of get brute in your backyard ) is , well , manure , and in the shell of large creature such as horse cavalry and cows , lotsof manure . It might not seem like much when you ’re mucking out stalls ( then again , maybe it does ) , but over the path of a twelvemonth , you might be surprised at what a wad it can bring forth .
Presumably , you do n’t want to let this manure steady down in an ever - increasing pile somewhere on your farm , so you need the means to deal with it over time ( as well as amanagement design ) . luckily , some types of manure eventually molder into worthful compost perfect for garden and discipline , a fact that should be thrill to every hobby James Leonard Farmer who loves to grow things .
Of course , depending on your goal , handle all of this manure and compost requires some tool and equipment , including a manure pitchfork ( you do n’t want to clean it up with your hands , right ? ) and something like a wheelbarrow oryard cartfor hale it away from your barn , static , coop or other animal lodging . Because you ca n’t do with manure until it has turned to compost , your best bet is probably to countenance the manure to the full break up in a destine area before transfer it to your garden usingshovelsand awagonor a front - end loader . This is the path that I follow , and just last week I dug up full-bodied , black compost from a manure pile several long time onetime , then remove it to garden bed as part of a pre - winter project to prepare for next leap .
Another option if you have a few battlefield and the budget for extra equipment is to purchase a manure spreader . This machine does exactly what its name suggests — you draw it behind a tractor and it circularize the substance equally across your fields , applying a rich layer of plant food to your land . Technically , it would n’t need to be fully decomposed if you ’re spreading it on bare fields in the fall , but the stench of fresh manure diffuse across your field is far from pleasant , and broadly speaking speaking you should let it decompose in a pile before attempting to spread it .
Of course , you might find that your farm animal raise more than you’re able to use , in which case you have a third option — sell it . The compost is so worthful as plant food that you might happen that a effective food market survive for prominent quantities of decomposed manure . You might even find hoi polloi who play their own equipment , clean up your piles and drag it by for their own manipulation . Even if they ’re not paying a lot ( and even if you ’re just giving it away to get disembarrass of it ) , there ’s nothing haywire with having someone else administer with your manure , right ?
