# If you compost your goat bedding...



## Madeleine M. (Oct 26, 2007)

how long do you let it "age"? We are getting the stalls completely cleaned out in anticipation of having kids. We put the bedding in a garden bed thinking that it would be ready to plant in next spring or fall at the earliest.

The thing is that some plants are volunteering there which must mean that the goat bedding is not too hot. How long would you wait before planting in that spot?


----------



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

You don't have to wait at all with goat or rabbit manure


----------



## rrziga (Nov 29, 2007)

Wow, that is super great to know!!! I learn new things everytime I get on the forum. I am glad you asked the question. Now all I need to figure out is how I am going to get it over to the garden! :crazy


----------



## Guest (Feb 23, 2008)

I usually pile it up by the garden in a big pile and let it compost some. Have a tractor with a front end loader and turn it ever once in a while. I usually keep two piles going. I leave one to compost down until it is basically used to cover seeds with. The other I use for mulch. I have taken it straight out of the barn and mulched with it before never has burned anything.


----------



## ecftoggs (Oct 26, 2007)

We completely clean out our barn usually in January and the big pile sits on my garden until they are able to haul it to the fields sometime before the fieldwork begins. With all of the snow and rain that is on it during that time quite a bit of the nutirents are leached into my garden and I always have a great crop. Goat manure is great and can't imagine my garden not getting it. 
I've never had any problem planting young plants and burning them. Since we are talking gardens does that mean that Spring can be far behind. Getting pretty tired of the below zero temps in Iowa!
Mary


----------



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

agree composting is ideal but doesn't have to be composted to use or put on your garden now. I pile mine all up outside a goat pen and then when I want to use it I use my lawn tractor and trailer or just haul by hand in buckets.


----------



## [email protected] (Oct 26, 2007)

I usually allow the manure pile to compost for a year before I use it. This allows the hay to rot down into manageable pieces for me to fork. Something that can speed up the piles is a compost activator. This is just bacteria you mix with water and dump or spray on the pile. It really speeds it up. 
Gotta love that compost, and boy am I thinking about gardening right now.


----------



## LMonty (Oct 25, 2007)

goat and sheep manures are "cold manures". it can be applied raw. if theres a lot of hay mixed in the bedding, you might want to compost to kill weed seeds from the hay, but the manure itself is pretty safe. straw shouldnt have the same weed seeds problem. Ive used it raw without problems quite often, tucked under mulch or side dressed on even young plants.


----------



## Patty13637 (Oct 26, 2007)

Yep we throw ours straight on the garden most of the time. We have yucky clay soil and are improving it year by year . Goat , rabbit go straight on Chicken ,Horses and cows go in a pile.

Patty


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

My big milkers pen doesn't have hay in the barn, they have to go around to another section of the barn for their hay. So I use their rakings straight on the beds. Anything with hay in the barn gets composted! I do raised beds and when I fill a new bed with fresh out of the barn manure and shavings, I simply make a small furrow, fill it with good soil and plant right into the soil when using seeds. When putting in plants they go right into the coarse bedding. Vicki


----------



## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

Ours has enough straw/hay in it to get *very* hot, steam rising out of the compost pile hot. It takes it about 3 weeks max to break down to the most beautiful 'dirt', though, which is much shorter than our horse manure.


----------



## XCricketX (Feb 22, 2008)

I didn't know you could use goat manure like that! I have rabbits... and have been using that... but I'm so glad to know about goat manure!

Cricket


----------

