That's impressive!

Lloyd

I assume you mean the novel? Perhaps i should have begun with "once upon a time" - Just couldnt quit describing once I started, i guess i have a problem with run-on thought processes!

No problem for me. Quite often people post stuff without enough information to make a recommendation. In this case I had a mental picture that was complete as far as I'm concerned. I read it three times just to make sure I didn't skip something or read something incorrect. It sounds like you have a system that works for you with the equipment you have. All that in just a few years? Like I said, it impressed me. Not that that really means anything.

Lloyd

The only advice I'd give you is that you should give the freecycle idea a shot. You may be surprised and find that since it's free, somebody will want to pick it up. Craigslist may work, as well.

I'm guessing you're currently paying to dump it, so if you give it away, it's a win-win situation. You get it hauled off for free, and the person hauling it gets the manure for free.

Thanks for looking
Yes, i am paying to have it hauled away right now - and it would be nice to be rid of that expense. I'll think about offering it once the DBF moves in this winter so i'll have protection out here in the country (lol).
I was wondering if anyone could give me a little insight, my compost is essentially out in the open, i dont have a cover over it, and the walls are pretty open, and alot of the specific "horse manure composting" sites indicate that i should make sure to cover them because of runoff, and because they will get too wet and smell - so far (2 years s of nov 5th) there has been no odor at all, and if anything, they over dry - it stays pretty windy here year round for the most part. There is never standing water around the bins. So should i be concerned about runoff? I am miles from the nearest flowing water, but my livestock, and most of my neighbors houses & / or livestock are on well water...
Thank you for looking!
-Jenn

Here is a link you probably already saw. If you disregard the sniping, there are a few good posts in there. Seems there are a couple of horse people around, maybe they can peer review your post and offer some insight.

From what I've read of your situation, you have a good handle on the potential problems and are monitoring for them. Good on you.

Lloyd

What you could do if you have room is to expand the garden a bit. Then divide it into plots. Then save one plot each year to pile the compost in. Then plant the heavy feeders like corn in that plot the next year. It would be hard for a rain drop to splash E-Coil as high as the corn cob. That would save you moveing the pile one time.

Good for you, even better once you don't have to pay to have the last 1/3 of the manure hauled away.

Have you ever read the Humanure handbook? If not, you might enjoy it. If you have the time.

My personal knee jerk reaction was that you are a bit overcautious but that is really your choice. I'm not overly educated about e. coli but the ones I've heard of being a problem on uncooked food or in meats are mostly from humans and cows, not horses. For my part, I don't plant my lettuce and other salad greens in anything resembling fresh manure. Most other things, given enough time before harvest, I'm a little more lax. (granted, in my current garden, my own compost has some time before being ready so the amendments are in the form of Mushroom compost-composted horse manure with straw that has been steam treated for growing mushrooms-, and composted yard waste from the county.)

Anyway, if you have the space, you could probably manage a windrow for that last 1/3 of the manure which you could use yourself of let someone from freecycle or craigs list come get it. This wouldn't require a "bin" but it would probably be easier if you had a tractor to haul stuff to the location though probably little harder than what you are already doing.

It looks to me like you have a good handle on composting requirements and a good understanding of run off and leaching. (perhaps if you get a really wet season, you might need to throw some tarps or cardboard over the bins.)

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Thank you guys for looking at this - i feel much better, i was worried that it was going too smoothly and i was missing something obvious.

PT03 thanks for the link, i saw some interesting stuff there.

Planter - I suppose i could compost in place, but since i already don't really turn as often as is recommended, i sortof thought that the pile moves would aerate the piles more? If i could compost in place i could probably handle more though, which is a good point..

TC - you're probably right about being overly cautious - but there really is a LOT of material available, so i thought that it wouldnt hurt anything - i'm not sure where i would set up a windrow, i'll think about it, a tractor would be so great, but its just not in the plans for now. I guess the craigslist/freecycle thing is another issue of overly cautious - i'll feel better about that this spring once the DBF moves out here with me and he can deal with the strangers!

I will look at that humanure book, thank you for the link!

I agree that composting in place is a good idea, especially if it would enable you to keep all the material onsite instead of sending some to the landfill, saving you both time and money.

The concerns you have about turning the compost and covering the bins would be important to address if you wanted compost faster or had limited space. In your case, since you're not in a hurry, you have lots of land, and what you are doing is effective, the less work the better -- I think it 'll be more productive to figure out how you can spend less time on the composting process (move piles only once, to their final locations, for instance).

I have 6 compost bins and a relatively small garden plot (at a community garden, so I have to use bins). I turn them rarely, and I get good compost. Without turning, it takes a little longer. My understanding is that turning can speed up the process if you monitor temperatures daily and turn after the temperature spikes and then declines, and that otherwise turning doesn't make so much of a difference.

Covering compost does help control moisture levels and help keep the compost critters warm and happy, but if it works without covers, that's ok too. I have one bin made from hardware cloth, which was drying out too much during the dry season, so I added some cardboard to keep moisture in. It's not pretty, but after one dry season, it does look like it has been very effective. Again, the cardboard sides and the cover help speed up the composting process by conserving moisture (and, to a much lesser extent, heat), but I got compost the old way, too.

When I do turn my piles, it's because I see ants, which tells me there are dry spots, so I water it and then (if I have time) turn it and make sure the materials are more evenly distributed. But dry spots usually occur if I've put in a bunch of stems and twigs, and not enough small loose stuff to fill the spaces, so the stems and twigs stay dry. If I were composting only horse manure and watered as I went along, dry spots probably would not occur.