Compost and Compost from Poo

[Bill HH]

The reason for the two hole seat Bill was so that one side could mature whilst the other was used.

I am fairly sure that I have read that the French used to have loos in their farm houses set above ground sat on a shaft. Occasionally they would open the door at the bottom and recover the proceeds for use on the land.

Potty

Ah that lays to rest my reccuring thoughts of my mom and dad sharing delicate moments together. What a relief.

As long as nobody stuck a leg down each! that would be very unfortunate.

[snakeshack]

Apparently it's possible to make a small scale biogas digester which uses doggy do. It produces gas for your camping stove and a good quality fertilizer without smelling.1large lump produces enough gas to make a cup of tea


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[Bill HH]

My wife came up with one reason we dont use human poo on vegetables and that is that much of it would contain medication that could be harmful. However that does not explain the natural revoltion we have to human and dog excrement that has been so since humans began. I think it is one of those natural instinctive habits brought on by Darwinism. There is no doubt that fresh poo can carry diseases and without knowing it our species had evolved to regard it as dangerous. Even cats and dogs go to some length to keep themselves out of their own mess and frequently cover it up by scratching soil over it.

[Scarlet]

I dont know much on the subject and I did try composting dog poo in one of those composters but it didn't work for me...
We are naturally revolted because dogs and cat poo is harmful to us. We run dogs on parks where adults and kids play/frequent, their worms can infect the ground so picking it up and getting rid of it is a natural precaution for us.

[ancee]

I'd have a bin full in a week! Perhaps it would be ok if you had smaller dogs but my two donkeys would provide enough for a street full of compost bins! I have plenty if any wants to collect? Sorry I cant deliver..... x

[mothhawk]

...We are naturally revolted because dogs and cat poo is harmful to us....

Actually, I'm naturally revolted because dog and cat poo stinks! I've worked with cows, goats, sheep, horses, domestic fowl, and pigs, and kept many cats and dogs, but it's only the pong of cat and dog poo that I can't stand. Even pigs smell sweet in comparison. (Actually pigs that are not intensively farmed don't smell bad at all, and have very clean toilet habits).

[Dorothy rouse]

Ugh..... Yuk......

[DannyRam]

Saves carting the stuff about!!

[Bill HH]

Even pigs smell sweet in comparison. (Actually pigs that are not intensively farmed don't smell bad at all, and have very clean toilet habits).

Have to agree on the pigs, they have a reputation for being dirty but when I used to rear weeners in a loose box they always reserved one corner for the toilet area, sheep and cattle dont do that.

[Two_Sheds]

Your Qs are answered on my thread: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ste_26959.html

compost dog poo ... How does this not stink!?

You can't smell dog poo when it's buried, can you?
When you compost it, it is buried in the compost heap.

I have 2 full dog poo bins at home, 10 ft from the kitchen door. They don't smell. I also have 3 smaller heaps that are having a year's "cold rot" ~ they don't smell either.

Does it need to go in a separate dalek to be composted on its own

No, it should be mixed with a wide range of materials, eg grass clippings, kitchen scraps etc. You should always aim for a range of materials in a heap, in order to attract as wide a range of detritivores & composting organisms as possible.

Your heap doesn't need to be hot either. When there's oxygen present, the heap is hot (but only in places). Then it cools down and other composters move in (eg. worms).

There are two things that kill pathogens: heat, and time. People panic about roundworm in the soil: well, my dogs are wormed regularly, so there aren't any roundworms in the compost.

If you think about it, you see dog dirt everywhere: on paths, beaches, in town etc. Yet human infection is rare: "The Health Protection Agency (HPA) only recorded 30 cases in England and Wales between 2000 and 2010"
source: Toxocariasis - NHS Choices

You get infected by putting infected soil in your mouth: so don't eat compost, and wash your hands thoroughly before eating, and you'll be fine.

Has any one else done this.

Yes, some states even have a public policy of composting dog waste, eg. South Australia: http://www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au/uploa...eFactSheet.pdf

It seems insane, to me, to be putting tons of the stuff in plastic bags in landfill, when it's a perfectly natural biodegradable product

[Two_Sheds]

I suspect what you feed the dog makes quite a difference to any odour, and - quantity.
A dog fed on raw meat/bones will digest a lot more of its food than a dog fed on lower quality tinned or dried food that has a lot of filler

You're dead right. I walk other people's dogs as well as my own: the other dogs are fed on cheap biscuit food, and their turds STINK, are huge & sloppy, hard to pick up in a plastic bag.
My own dogs are fed on 100% meat/bone/skin, and their presents are small, firm and don't smell. They are like owl pellets

Is there any particular reason why we tend to view human or doggy doos as revolting while we are happy to handle cow or horse manure? Is it transmition of various worms or diseases ?

I know people already use composting toilets but do they use it on the veg beds?

Yes, some do: I think on here Planetologist does. There's superb info in The Humanure Handbook - Table of Contents

A great read on the composting process, even if you never intend "doing" dog or human manure

Probably mostly because the poo from meat-eating animals is much richer

Most nutrients should have been removed by the animal's digestive system.

we dont use human poo on vegetables and that is that much of it would contain medication that could be harmful.

I don't think any of it is able to survive composting & end up in the veg that you eat.
The Pill's hormones are in the water supply and are changing the sex of fish, but we carry on using the Pill.

I did try composting dog poo in one of those composters but it didn't work for me...

I haven't made them work either: you really do need to use a good range of compost material, not just dog doo. You should include grass clippings, kitchen scraps etc

We are naturally revolted because dogs and cat poo is harmful to us.

No, it's POTENTIALLY harmful to us, just as driving, drinking and having X rays are potentially harmful. You need to understand the risks (zoonotic bacteria like toxocara) and manage the risks (practice good hygiene, don't put dirty fingers in mouths).

dog and cat poo stinks!

Again, only when they're fed poor quality food. Dogs aren't designed to digest grains, yet they're put in dog food because they bulk it out cheaply.
Dogs & cats have the teeth of carnivores, they don't have any grinding teeth like we do.

I've been happy to experiment on my own dog: she had a year on dry kibble but had dietary problems (diarrhoea, vomiting etc) on even the most expensive.
At 8 months I switched her to a raw meat & bones diet, and she's been terrific since. Her tartar has all gone, she doesn't do those stinky dog farts, and her poo is so small it looks like Maltesers.

[Two_Sheds]

Is there any particular reason why we tend to view human or doggy doos as revolting while we are happy to handle cow or horse manure?

That's exactly what started me reading up about humanure and composting dog poo. There are risks to human health from ALL poo, not just those two. You can catch legionella, salmonella and e-coli from horse muck, yet we all think of it as this safe benign magical substance. Same with the new fashion, chicken manure.

Everyone will cite poisoning from using raw sewage on veg, but that stuff hadn't been composted. It's composting that makes the manure safe. Heat will kill a lot of pathogens, and time/lack of a host will kill the rest.

Personally, I fill a dog poo dalek to the brim, then uncover it and leave it for a year to "cold rot". I spread the contents this week onto my flower beds: you can't tell the difference between dog compost and any other type of garden compost.

If we had a composting loo in our 60s semi, I'd be using that too.