Thank you bcomplex!

I've been gardening for many years, and consider myself and organic gardener, but I've done little actual composting.
My daughter raised rabbits as a 4H project for several years. When she lost interest we kept the "pensioners", So I've had "bunnyberries" galore for some time. I just dug them into my garden beds in the spring and planted. Never burned a thing and all the plants loved it, though I have been known to overdo it a bit and have fruiting plants produce too much foliage and not enough fruit.
Over the years the bunnies have gone on to that carrot patch in the sky. Only three hoppers are left and they are not up to supplying all the organic matter I'm used to-though they try. Kitchen waste is just dug into a spare spot and waits till next year. That's why I'm kind of ignorant about compost.
Soon the same neighbor is going to bring me some nice fresh cowdookey mixed with grass hay. can I treat it the same way?

What is mixed with that manure? How much vegetative waste is in that mix? If all that you put in that bed is manure then what you have is a bed of manure, not compost which is a mixture of material that can include manure.

When I lived next door to cows, I composted their manure separately, layered with old hay they left in the field. Never turned it, just kept it damp, and it turned into the blackest, fluffiest compost I've ever made.

Kimmsr is right, in that little "overdo" mistakes are less likely to happen if you compost any manure before you dig it in. Today I did dig in some of my horse manure, but in places that won't be planted for another 6 weeks. The rest went in various compost projects.

Here is a link that might be useful: my website

The horse manure is just manure except for a few stray bits of hay. I checked it today and one bed is cooking nicely, it's looking black and crumbly in the center.
The other bed is not cooking as well. I think it may be too shallow. As soon as the weather allows, I will add two or three more wheelbarrows of manure.
I do have a bit of chopped straw I could mix in if that would make a better product.
The fresh cow manure has quite a bit of grass hay stomped into it.
I want it for growing vegetables and flowers.
Is composted cow manure superior to composted horse manure? The horses are fed the best quality third cut alfalfa hay, the cows are fed good grass hay made from Montana prairie grass.

There are so many variables involved that it would be hard to guess which compost will be richer, but they will both be good. If the horses graze in good pasture, that stuff will be less weedy than the composted cow manure.

The original purpose of composting was to stretch manure supplies, and by adding straw or other materials you get more rich organic matter compared to straight rotted manure. It's not necessary, but if it's there, why not use it?

Here is a link that might be useful: my website

I have access to nearly unlimited quantities of manure, but very little vegetable matter! I hoard vegetable matter for mulch. I'm going to have to get to know some townies and talk them into saving grass clippings for me.
Thanks for the info. I couldn't find any other information on composting pure manure.

Compost, a product made of a wide variety of material to ge the most nutrients possible, is a combination of vegetative waste and a Nitrogen source, animal manure is one. That mix should be 3 parts vegetable waste to 1 part manure for optimal composting, and the best range of nutrients to put into your soil.
An analysis of animal manures (this is from Rodales Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, but there are many others available) shows that the NPK of Cow manure is 0.6-0.2-0.5 and the NPK of Horse manure is 0.7-0.3-0.6, not a significant difference.