Moving Compost

Every time we milk we start with cleaning out the cow shed.  The stuff gets thrown into a pile next to the shed, a pile that has grown over the last six months.  It's time to move those piles.  We were able to get our hands on this little bobcat which is small enough to get into the shed but it picks up a lot of stuff at once.

In half an hour my husband alone was able to get as much moved as would have taken two hours with all of us using wheelbarrows .

The hay we buy has been treated with long acting herbicide (sad face), so we don't use the manure on the garden until it's composted for at least a year.  This pile will sit for six months, get a turn, and be ready for the garden next spring.

The cow shed is so icky.  It's been needed to be cleaned for quite a while.  Getting everything cleaned out and fresh straw down will be so nice.  When Christina came last summer, things started clean and it stayed that way until the winter set in and we ran out of straw.  This year we'll have a lot more straw going into the winter.