We had a lovely question recently from a small farm with goats, chickens and ducks, producing around ten wheelbarrows of manure and straw each week, as well as plenty of green waste from their flower farm.
At the moment, it all goes into a heap and sits there for about a year.
So, could Bokashi Bran help?
Absolutely — but I’d actually start using it before the manure even reaches the heap.
Let the animals do some of the work
One of my favourite ways of using Bokashi Bran on the farm is to sprinkle it straight onto the animal bedding.
For goats, chickens and ducks, I’d start with roughly a good handful per square metre, concentrating a little extra on the wetter, muckier areas. Then add a little more whenever you put down fresh bedding.
The clever bit is that the animals do the mixing for you.
As they wander about, scratch and generally get on with being animals, they trample the Bokashi Bran through the straw, manure and urine, spreading the microbes throughout the bedding.
This encourages fermentation rather than simply allowing everything to putrefy. In practice, that can mean less smell and less ammonia, making the housing nicer for the animals — and considerably nicer for whoever has to muck them out!
And all the while, you’re starting the composting process before the bedding has even left the shed.
Then build your heap
When you muck out, layer the treated bedding with the green waste from the flower farm — spent flowers, stems, leaves and other plant material are ideal.
Add another light sprinkling of Bokashi Bran as you build the heap, squash everything down well and cover it if you can.
You don’t need an elaborate system. A simple pallet bay with a tarpaulin over the top could work perfectly well, as could an IBC-sized container. You can even make a heap in the open, although I would cover it where possible.
The combination of manure, straw and green plant material should work really nicely together.
Instead of having a heap of muck sitting around for a year, you’re actively managing it and ultimately producing something far more useful to put back onto the flower beds and soil.
And don't forget the kitchen
Of course, I’d use Bokashi for the household food waste too.
That’s what I love about Bokashi on a small farm or holding. The same bag of bran can deal with kitchen scraps, help manage animal bedding and ultimately improve the material you're returning to the land.
So you're getting value from it twice — first in the animal housing, and then again in the compost.
If you want to give it a go, I’d start with a 5kg bag of Bokashi Bran. Use it for a while, see what happens to the smell and condition of the bedding, and then see how the muck behaves once it reaches the heap.
Sometimes the best way with these things is simply to start small, watch what happens and let the biology do its stuff.
