Leaves make great mulch! We always ran the lawn mower over them a few times before spreading them, mostly to keep them from blowing away in the gentle Texas zephyrs we experience! Smaller pieces stay put better.
As to your cattle's output, let it compost for at least six months. Mixing it with left over leaves is good, or just putting it in your compost pile in layers helps heat up the pile and speed up the process. If you have a garden area or flower bed that you aren't going to be planting until next fall, spread the "fresh stuff" and let it compost in situ. Cow manure is a good fertilizer, and some of us don't think it smells bad at all!

My impression of manure as fertilizer is that you don't want to use fresh manure. I am under the impression that it is too harsh and will burn the plants, though I could be wrong.

However, if you mixed the manure with shredded leaves and grass clippings and left it in a pile, it would make some awesome compost! Covering the pile with leaves and other vegetation would help keep the smell to a minimum. I did this with my leaves and grass clippings this year, and I have enough compost that I won't have to buy any this year for my vegetable garden!

Ditto using the manure with leaves and grass !!

Leaf mulch is okay but not very attractive, even more so if it's not mulched up with a mower. Just use a sharp mulching blade and put the bag on the mower.

Unless leaves are applied really thick, they might not last the warm season, hence plants with no protection.

I have mostly red oak and maple leaves (large) that fall in my yard. I got a Leafhog for Christmas which is like a leaf blower in reverse, with an attachment that sends them directly into a garbage can as shredded leaves. Then I can just dump them back in the gardens where I want. Using a mulching mower on the driveway works too, but the Leafhog makes the process go faster for me, with a lot lest raking, bending and stooping. Looks alot nicer than full size leaves too, and hopefully as marlingardener mentioned will not blow away as easily. I'm looking forward to not buying mulch anymore - the more mulch I have to buy, the less I can spend on plants! Not a good thing...

this is exactly what I did with my rose beds in the country. Its fine putting manure on the beds and then the leaves. This will help speed up the decompting process.

See the soil forum as many others have done the same thing.

Autumnshowers

What I like to do in a pinch is spread the leaves out in a thick layer and then spread another layer of something else 'more attractive' over it...like compost or cedar mulch. This will give you a uniform appearance and will help keep the leaves from blowing away. Once the worms in your soil find the leaves and eat them up, they will settle and not be so thick. Later you can til them into the soil, set out your plants and then re-mulch!

I use the "fronds" from my bald cypress trees to mulch things in the beds that would otherwise freeze. A thick layer of these allows for the plants to breathe, but will also offer enough insulation to keep them from freezing. They decompose quickly once it gets hot.