Feeding Horse Manure To Red Wigglers- Outside Windrow

Please make sure that you only feed fresh manure on one side of the pile, and leave a section of the pile with broken down, decomposed manure. That way, if the fresh manure heats up, your worms will have a cool area to move to and avoid getting killed by hot composting which is caused when fresh manure is added. Continuously feed fresh manure to one side of the pile, and you will create a windrow, where the worms have a cool habitat zone to live in, while they work towards the fresh manure which you are adding and convert it into worm castings. You can harvest castings from the oldest section of the windrow first. Finished castings will have no odor, and will have a granular appearance like coffee grounds. 

You will need to be mindful of the location of your manure pile. In southern climates, it's best to make sure it receives shade in the summertime, as excess high temperatures combined with direct sunlight can kill your worms. Also make sure that the site has ample drainage, as standing water at the base of the compost pile can create anaerobic conditions which can kill your worms. In northern climates, you are better off to pick a sunny location and also build up your pile as large as you can, as the extra thermal mass will keep your worms from freezing to death during the wintertime. 

Unfortunately, there are various farm pests which can kill your worms. Rodents such as rats and mice will burrow into your pile and eat your worms. Make sure your barn cats are doing a good job or just have a good rodent trap system in place. Other pests like moles and shrews are much more problematic, moles can be trapped (not easily, use the tunnel traps), but unfortunately shrews are even much more evasive. The only control i've found that has worked for shrews was barn cats. Moles and shrews are both very destructive and can devastate your worm population if granted access to your compost pile. 

Another pest to be aware of is fire ants, these will eat your worms. Make sure to find an eliminate any ant hills on your farm with insect killer granules. Also, keeping your compost pile wet will discourage ant activity. Another pest that can wreak havoc on your worms is birds. Thankfully, they cannot do as much damage as shrews, moles and ants, because birds won't dig deep in your compost pile to gain access to your worms, they primarily feed on the surface. Although birds are an ever-present threat for worms, they can easily be excluded from your manure heap by putting a mesh cover on top of the pile. I like using heavy duty insect netting for this purpose. It can easily be purchased on amazon and similar websites.