Are you turning it? How often? The standard answer it to compost it past the heating stage. That could be as little as 2 weeks if it is turned often.

Be aware that dairy manure can have a fair bit salt - they feed it to the cows to make them thirsty, and various disinfectants etc used in the milking sheds which gets mixed in with the collected droppings.

Perhaps leave the pile uncovered and hope for some rain to help rinse the nasties out.

I only know from reading about the windrow method... but looks like the pile of aged manure will do to start the worm "composting army". Then add fresh material along the side of the material populated with worms. The worms will move into the new/fresh material as soon as it has cooled down. If you plan on doing this commercially, you might note the comments about developing a market.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mid-Large scale vermicomposting

This young lad(24) runs a small operation he feeds 50% pasture&50%silage I'll ask him about the salt but when his wife was feeding I didn't see them add any salt.sbryce I'm going to have to let it stand my brother has the tractor.

This study might interest you. What caught my attention was that the worms were put into 'recently-deposited' cow manure. VERY FRESH. In plastic containers. Which makes me think that if worms can survive in FRESH manure inside a plastic container, they surely can in an open windrow. Anyway, hope this helps.

...snip....Recently-deposited cow manure was collected from the Waterman Dairy Farm at the Ohio
State University, Ohio. Approximately 2500 g of the manure (77 % moisture content) was placed
into each of 8 plastic containers (0.4 Ã 0.27 Ã 0.15 m). Earthworms, Eisenia andrei, were
///
...snip....In summary, we demonstrated that earthworms could alter the biochemistry of cow
manure considerably and accelerate the stabilization and maturity of the organic waste.
Our laboratory-scale experiment of processing cow manure by earthworms may
not fully duplicate large-scale commercial conditions, but provides valuable insight
about the process and the changes brought about by earthworm activity. It appeared
that the first few weeks after introduction of earthworms to the manure were the most
critical. During this period, most of decomposition and stabilization of manure by earthworms
occurred although NO3-N and pH did not change much. The C:N ratio
decreased significantly and the ash and total nitrogen contents increased. As the vermicomposting
process progressed, biological activity began to slow down, due to a
depletion of readily available organic matter, and most of the nitrogen was converted
into the nitrate form. The final product, in contrast to the manure from which it was
derived, was more mature and stabilized which was demonstrated by the increased
plant productivity it produced.
added into four of the containers, while the other four containers without earthworms served as
controls. The number of earthworms introduced initially was 250 per container (ca. 65g), including
juveniles and adults. All containers were covered with lids perforated for aeration, and
maintained in the laboratory at 24±2°C for a period of four months.

Here is a link that might be useful: Changes in cow manure by vermicomposting

Will plants (perennials) grow in very active worm farm soil or is it too rich?...Gary

Will plants (perennials) grow in very active worm farm soil or is it too rich?...Gary

Will plants (perennials) grow in very active worm farm soil or is it too rich?...Gary

less then a week or 2. i believe manure is rich in nitrogen and if you put nitrogen rich items alone it will compost pretty fast. i did this with food scraps in less then a week it heated up significantly so it won't take long. you want it to cool down though before adding any worms.

once it heats up and starts cooling down try turning it then wait again for it to heat up.you can probably just leave it as well and let it age without turning it.

gkb48 are you trying to plant perennials in the bed your worms are actively composting in? Or adding finished vermicompost to a bed?

I would not try growing plants in an actively working bed. I've seen pictures of people growing melons in a (huge, thermophilic 3 bin) compost bin, but I think perennials wouldn't like the conditions in a worm trench much.

If you're adding vc, just topdress or dig in to the top of the soil, the plants will love it. (With the usual caveat about not adding to plants that like very acidic or low nitrogen soil)

hope that helps a bit,
Ivy