What do you do with your sh*t?

[brokeback]

Turn that pile occasionally and add lime in time you'll have a super rich compost mixture. The chain spot I filled in actually grew 3 healthy tomato plants! I'm guessing the birds dropped seeds there, or it could have been in some of the dog shit as I've fed them extras from the garden.

Those plants got huge but were late in the year and froze before they were able to produce tomatoes. I use the compost to fill in any ruts made by gofers or the mower. I used some in the flower beds also. Not quite sure I'd use it in the garden but I've read where folks have.

My buddy had a large yard 50+ he dug a giant hole with his backhoe and piled it up with dog waste, sticks and his household paper trash and burned it. That is another good option but I never liked the smell of that smoke lol And I don't like to burn around the dogs very much if I can help it.

S_B

I will turn it and add lime, appreciate the advice, SB. From the research I have done I've figured that I'd use it for a flower bed or filling in holes and such but I won't use it in the vegetable garden. Like you said, some say they do but I don't want to do it. lol I thought about burning it also but I don't want to have that smell either. Appreciate you starting the thread in the first place and the friendly advice you've added along the way.

[S_B]

I will turn it and add lime, appreciate the advice, SB. From the research I have done I've figured that I'd use it for a flower bed or filling in holes and such but I won't use it in the vegetable garden. Like you said, some say they do but I don't want to do it. lol I thought about burning it also but I don't want to have that smell either. Appreciate you starting the thread in the first place and the friendly advice you've added along the way.

That's what we're all here for ain't it?

[CRISIS]

i heard it was "no bueno" to use carnivorous shit for garden compost? i cant remember where i heard it, but it was linked to ecoli poisoning i believe.

[brokeback]

You're orrect, CRISIS, that's what SB was referring to above. It's ok in flowers or plants but not a edible vegetable garden. But like SB said some people do it, I read it a few times in my research I've been doing also. I won't put it in the vegetable garden though.

[TFX]

This is a worthwhile topic! Disposing of shit is a real issue for dog folks, and it's interesting to see how people handle this. I too live in the country, but that isn't a magic recipe for easy or sanitary disposal. Moving shit from a dog's area to another area where it is still a problem for flies and odors is only of minimal efficacy. Even country folks need a system that works, and everyone's environment is different. I can tell you as a young dogman living in the suburbs, I faced the worst fly problem ever. Those were the days when you had to rub down a dog's ears with pink Swat® paste to keep them comfortable. Now I live amidst cattle, and my dogs are never fly bit. Why? Flies go to the dirtiest, smelliest organism or material they can find. Any flies in my current situation attach themselves to cattle, and avoid the dogs.

Here's how I deal with dog shit today. When I scoop, I grab loose rocks, bedding, and dirt, and mix it in with the shit right in the scoop. So I have already diluted it, and coated it to reduce the smell. Then it gets dumped along the outside of a fence line. With a little bit in an area at one time, the pasture grass grows right up through it, and then it gets covered up. A little rain comes, breaks it all down, and the process starts over. No odors, no flies, and cows seem to be discouraged from grazing that area, smart critters that they are.

[S_B]

TFX I have friends that do it that way as well. I also have livestock around sometimes on the eastern corner I should try that to keep them away! Most of my dogs are used to them but I have a few that will never give in.

Surprisingly there is no smell to my rather large dog shit compost pile. But I do keep it turned and put lime on it once or twice yearly. The armadillos love the pile because it is chocked full and I mean full of grub worms.

S_B

[TFX]

My observation is the cattle want nothing to do with the tall, green grass mingled with dog shit. Give it a try!

[brokeback]

Thanks for sharing what you do, TFX.