What is a Windrow?
A windrow is a row of cut hay or some other small grain crop. This is done so it can dry before being combined, baled, or rolled.
What is Windrow Composting?
As the name suggests, it is typically a fairly large scale implementation of a composting system, which manages agricultural waste. The crop residues are often combined with animal manure, and the result is the production of compost. This method is suited to producing large volumes of compost. These piles are commonly turned for many of the same reasons as home compost piles, to improve porosity and oxygen content, stabilize the moisture, and mix cooler and hotter portions of the pile. Windrow composting is the most commonly used of farm scale composting methods. The same factors that the home gardener needs to monitor, e.g. the ratio of carbon and nitrogen in the materials, the compost pile size, and its moisture content need to be controlled to optimize the production of window composting.
An operation of this scale requires equipment of a different variety than that of the typical home gardener. An operation as seemingly trivial as turing the pile takes on a whole different level of effort when dealing with windrows. Monitoring the temperature and moisture become critical as it impacts the throughput of an industrial grade operation.