Which cow manure to collect (with a cart in a field): fresh(damp) or not fresh(dry)?

[Peter Parker]

Good day! I want to wet a compost pile of leaves( "brown" compost as some sources call it) with cow manure emulsion in water in order to add nitrogen to it(initial goal) and perhaps to reduce its ripening time like alfalfa pellets can heat a compost pile(one forum member said, not positive about that) meaning promoting microbiological processes. Which manure is better to collect with a cart: dry(as it is easier to collect, there is more of that and its lighter(less water content) and I don't have to mess with flies), or fresh(messing with flies, heavier, not that many of that). As for the oldness of the old one, I can't discern if it is a week, a month or a year old, maybe anyone has suggestions how to tell if the manure is not too old and not divested of nitrogen? If fresh manure is much better I would collect fresh but if they differ a little I would collect more of dry(if it is not too old)
Best regards,
Petek Montez
Sorry for my English, I am Georgian

 

[Meadowlark]

Howdy, @Peter Parker and your English is just fine.

Fresh is better and the longer it stays in the field diluted by the elements e.g rain, sunshine the less nutrients it will contain. The old "cow chip" that has been dried by sun and diluted by rain for months that you can pick up intact by hand is of little nutrient value compared to fresh.

The ideal situation is to gather where the manure is concentrated such as a feeding area. Here you can also harvest urine-soaked hay and topsoil. Urine is high in Nitrogen and acts as a catalyst to heating up that compost pile. When harvesting you should try to get the very top layer of soil or whatever the manure in on. It has absorbed valuable nutrients.

For many years, in the winters I have fed my cattle in the same spot for a period of time and then push all the material, manure, urine, hay, and top layers of soil into large piles which almost immediately begin composting...reaching high temps which kill off seeds and pathogens quickly.

It helps to have equipment to handle this operation, but it can be done manually especially if all you are doing is amending other compost with the cow materials. Makes for incredibly high-quality material which I have had tested out showing no N, P, K need to be added to it to be successful.

Examples of my compost piles:

 

[Peter Parker]

Howdy Meadowlark! Thank you very much for that info and sharing the experience! That's huge piles. If I can contact the cow owner maybe I can collect manure on the feeding spot. Otherwise I would search in the field

 

[Meadowlark]

In the field you miss that invaluable urine, the primary nitrogen source.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Meadowlark has a flag on one of those pictures saying "Compost, my only fertiliser." , but I am pretty sure he grows legumes and tills them in for nitrogen as well.
Of course he is right, fresher will contain more, but everything will contain something, personally I wouldn't go round saying "That's old and easy to collect, I'm not having that." I'd have whatever I could get, even if it has not got many nutrients and doesn't get your leaf pile hot the vegetable matter in it will a good amendment to the soil and add something as it breaks down.
There are other sources of nitrogen you could add, a legume crop chopped up and added to it for example, or blood, and bone, or blood fish and bone, which is a left over from abattoirs and not too expensive, as long as you buy a fair quantity, not little bags from garden centres. Basically any organic material will help, even if you just till those leaves in without composting they will help hold moisture in the soil, attract worms and break down over time, I put in everything I can get, especially if it is free.
By the way, your English is very good, I have experience of EFL and could only see two minor points.
"maybe anyone has suggestions" we would say 'someone' rather than 'anyone', and I would say "Sorry about my Georgian" if I knew any, rather than 'for' it, as I say, very minor things.

 

[gary350]

Growing up on a farm in southern Illinois fresh Diarrhea cow pie was not easy to pick up in a 10 acre field. Urine is high nitrogen and not easy to pick up either. Fresh burned wood ash mixed with fresh urine converts to Potassium Nitrate at 70 deg f and warmer in about 2 days. Dry cow pie is easy to pick up with a pitch fork and makes very nice looking garden soil. 1 day old poop is probably the best easy way to pick up with a shovel. In the barn, urine, hay, poop, soil, all gets mixed well by several cows walking on it, lots of work to shovel it to the garden. We had no loader 20 empty 5 gallon buckets work good.

 

[Meadowlark]

... We had no loader 20 empty 5 gallon buckets work good.

Been there and done that! One five-gallon bucket refilled 20 times.

Whatever it takes to get it done.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I get fourteen buckets of horse manure at a time into my little fiat 500 with the back seat down.

 

[oldigrow]

Good day! I want to wet a compost pile of leaves( "brown" compost as some sources call it) with cow manure emulsion in water in order to add nitrogen to it(initial goal) and perhaps to reduce its ripening time like alfalfa pellets can heat a compost pile(one forum member said, not positive about that) meaning promoting microbiological processes. Which manure is better to collect with a cart: dry(as it is easier to collect, there is more of that and its lighter(less water content) and I don't have to mess with flies), or fresh(messing with flies, heavier, not that many of that). As for the oldness of the old one, I can't discern if it is a week, a month or a year old, maybe anyone has suggestions how to tell if the manure is not too old and not divested of nitrogen? If fresh manure is much better I would collect fresh but if they differ a little I would collect more of dry(if it is not too old)
Best regards,
Petek Montez
Sorry for my English, I am Georgian

get it all

 

[Oliver Buckle]

get it all

Several inches all over, great idea. Then dig it in in Autumn and do it again

 

[DirtMechanic]

As long as I use your tools to turn it! Its a real downer to find a pile that got locked away from oxygen in the middle. Fresh manure could not be helpful in that situation!