Spreading Strawy Dung.

Western Pomise

Hi folks,
Firstly sorry for long post;)
I winter over 100 sheep each year in concrete floored shed,feed silage to them and keep them well bedded with straw to prevent lameness.They would be in for 2 months or so.
Have a fair bit of relatively dryish straw based dung to spread as a result.Usually wait and spread it on Silage ground after cutting in July but tight for grass this year so was thinking of spreading it this week on grazing fields that sheep have well ate down.
See that there’s heavy rain coming on Thursday and Friday.....even with all the drying where I intend putting dung might become sticky to travel on if much rain comes as it’s wet land that doesn’t be long getting wet again after any dry spell.
Wondering is it too early in year to spread dry dung like that?.....don’t want it to remain in lumps on top of field for weeks before breaking down as that would stop grass regrowth.
Or if I got it out would the rain on Friday wet it and help it to decompose iykwim.
At moment half the dung is in dung pit and other half is about a foot or two high in the shed that sheep went out from in April.
Would be spreading with sideslinger.
Thanks for any opinions.

_Brian

Fresh dung like that is slow to break down. It’s best to spread in Autumn when the weather is wetter and will break it down.
Spreading it now and you may indeed be looking at it for a while.

First thing I’d clear the shed and get it out into a heap where it will get wet and start breaking down.

Buford T. Justice XIX

_Brian wrote: »

Fresh dung like that is slow to break down. It’s best to spread in Autumn when the weather is wetter and will break it down.
Spreading it now and you may indeed be looking at it for a while.

First thing I’d clear the shed and get it out into a heap where it will get wet and start breaking down.

A neighbour of mine throws a tractor bucket of soil into the middle of the dungheap when he's clearing out the shed and when he turns it during the summer, he does the same again.

He reckons it helps breakdown the dung and had a huge amount of earthworms running through it when he spreads it.

Say my name

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

A neighbour of mine throws a tractor bucket of soil into the middle of the dungheap when he's clearing out the shed and when he turns it during the summer, he does the same again.

He reckons it helps breakdown the dung and had a huge amount of earthworms running through it when he spreads it.

They're all starting to go into that crack of adding soil to dungheaps and windrows.

Very unconventional here but I added a match to an outdoor dungheap here yesterday. It flashed over the top just a few inches down and then I heaped it up and in with the tractor. It's a lovely heap of black/dark brown atm. I'll be spreading this week for a little insurance against any drought.

I'm just thankful I have wonderful neighbours and wind direction played ball for that hour yesterday with all the smoke and steam.

memorystick

If you wanted to experiment


https://www.originalorganics.ie/tiger-worms-for-wormery.html

wrangler

Western Pomise wrote: »

Hi folks,
Firstly sorry for long post;)
I winter over 100 sheep each year in concrete floored shed,feed silage to them and keep them well bedded with straw to prevent lameness.They would be in for 2 months or so.
Have a fair bit of relatively dryish straw based dung to spread as a result.Usually wait and spread it on Silage ground after cutting in July but tight for grass this year so was thinking of spreading it this week on grazing fields that sheep have well ate down.
See that there’s heavy rain coming on Thursday and Friday.....even with all the drying where I intend putting dung might become sticky to travel on if much rain comes as it’s wet land that doesn’t be long getting wet again after any dry spell.
Wondering is it too early in year to spread dry dung like that?.....don’t want it to remain in lumps on top of field for weeks before breaking down as that would stop grass regrowth.
Or if I got it out would the rain on Friday wet it and help it to decompose iykwim.
At moment half the dung is in dung pit and other half is about a foot or two high in the shed that sheep went out from in April.
Would be spreading with sideslinger.
Thanks for any opinions.

Strawy dung actually depletes soil nitrogen as it rots, it's definitely not good for grass growth while it's breaking down.
I turn the heap every week with the loader until you wouldn't know there was ever straw in it and then spread it.
My sideslinger doesn't spread strawy farmyard manure it just throws it out in lumps

Western Pomise

Thanks for replies.....kinda thought that myself that if would just sit in matted lumps on ground.
Half of dung already put in covered open sided dung heap shed in March.Other half sitting in sheep shed.
Ideally would clean out the shed and throw it all together in dung heap shed.....problem is I’ve no tipper trailer and dung heap shed is a good 50 metres away from sheep shed so would be awful messy and slow job taking one load on front loader at a time to the heap iykwim.
Would the dung in the shed break down at all over the summer if left there?

If it won’t I will have to cut my losses and try and borrow a tipper trailer to clear it all out into dung heap,
Could turn it over on a weekly basis then to help it break down till Autumn.

Say my name

Pile what you have in the sheep shed in a pile in the sheep shed.
It'll break it down faster in the shed.
If you've access to a slurry tanker to wet it or hose, do so. And leave till you want to spread.
Your shed stuff will actually be higher in nitrogen than an exposed pile out in the elements.

Western Pomise

Thanks lads for all yere help....it’s a great community on here for sharing ideas and info..

The only dodgy thing is that the fields I would probably be spreading the sheep dung on are wettish ground so will have to hope we have a fairly dry summer up here (Mayo) to leave them able to travel on in August.

Western Pomise

Say my name wrote: »

Pile what you have in the sheep shed in a pile in the sheep shed.
It'll break it down faster in the shed.
If you've access to a slurry tanker to wet it or hose, do so. And leave till you want to spread.
Your shed stuff will actually be higher in nitrogen than an exposed pile out in the elements.

Should I try and turn the stuff in the outside dung heap over every few weeks?
Would only be able to turn the front half of it that loader grape could reach.

49801

50m doesn't sound that far...could prob make a 10 bucket heap and push across to your heap.

Other trick to help break down is urea thrown onto heap

Say my name

Western Pomise wrote: »

Should I try and turn the stuff in the outside dung heap over every few weeks?
Would only be able to turn the front half of it that loader grape could reach.

I personally wouldn't bother.

Maybe someone else who turns might think it's worth it?

I'd go the opposite way from work. If you have an old holey silage sheet maybe throw it over to speed it up a bit.

The Rabbi

Western Pomise wrote: »

Should I try and turn the stuff in the outside dung heap over every few weeks?
Would only be able to turn the front half of it that loader grape could reach.

Throw the outside heap back into the shed on top of the drier heap if you can,that should improve the quality of it all.When you are intending to spread with a sideslinger turning it will definitely help.