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Friday, March 18, 2011

We'll Show You A Crappy Time

Flowerweaver and Farmer Rick came to visit for a few days. I'm not sure what it says about you or your company when the most enjoyable activity you can come up with is taking them out to see a big pile of, well, crap.



This is Claiborne Farm's composting facility. Yes, the Claiborne Farm of Secretariat (among many others) fame.



I'm not sure how many horses are stabled a Claiborne, but it's a considerable number. Which makes for considerable waste. While not something many of us think about, all that has to go somewhere. The best place is obviously back to the soil.



Farmer Rick is really into his composting out in Texas. Here Tom Leith, coordinator for the Licking River Valley Resource Conservation and Development Progam, is explaining this large scale operation in Bourbon County, Kentucky.



This is the machine used to turn the windrows inside out periodically. I should have been paying better attention to the whens and hows instead of trying to take artistic shots of, well, crap, but here's a link to a manure composting site that looks pretty good.



What starts as big, tall rows of dirty stall bedding eventually breaks down into a small percentage of its initial size and becomes prime fertilizer. Here's a batch getting close to being ready to spread back onto the fields.



As far as the eye can see.

We enjoyed visiting with two of our favorite farm friends. To meet some more Farm Friends on a Friday...

17 comments:

Lori Skoog said...

That's a real load! We compost our manure and use it in our gardens...the soil is very rich and airy.

Alice said...

I thought it was a typo, but "windrow" is a real farm machine. Thanks for the scoop on manure.

thecrazysheeplady said...

A windrow is actually the long row and is formed by a machine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrow

Deb W said...

It made me think of .......strawberries!!! they say the best thing for strawberries is straw-y horse crap.
Reminds me, gotta get my strawberry plants in this weekend!!!!

Mimi Foxmorton said...

Well, who *doesn't* love a big pile of crap?
;)

Pam said...

I was lucky enough to procure a few truckloads of Claiborne's, well, crap, before they started saving it for themselves. It was like brownie mix-dark and crumbly. My garden loved it!

Bee Lady said...

Hey thank you for the very crappy post! Very interesting.

Cindy Bee

Gayle said...

Now that is compost with style!! So much better than my pick and shovel method.

Sheepmom said...

You know you're a farmer when you have compost machinery envy. Awesomely cool tool. Take that, Troybilt!

Shelley said...

Very interesting! I learn so much from your blog. Really, I ain't joshin'!

Sally said...

Very interesting to learn the fine points or many sides of farming.

Dreaming said...

That's a lot of crap!
I know that my two generate their fair share and in short order! We also compost and spread it on the pasture, as well as use it in the gardens, when we plant trees and give it to friends. What a nice gift, eh?!

Sarah said...

wow...they must have a zillion stabled horses to produce that much poo! SO is that like a months' worth? a years? please don't say a weeks!

Sarah said...

wow...they must have a zillion stabled horses to produce that much poo! SO is that like a months' worth? a years? please don't say a weeks!

Anonymous said...

This is the best compost. I have my DH bring some home since he is in charge of all this "crap"...

Verde Farm said...

We do use our manure on our garden but this is at a whole new level. WOW! It’s a cool set up they have there. Thanks for sharing the sh-t Sarah :) LOL I just had to say that. LOL

luckybunny said...

I love the title of this post!