Originally Posted by sbl

Commercial bagged cow manure has been composted--that kills the pathogens and weed seeds. The real question of adding composted cow manure to a planting bed depends on the soil. If you have a good draining soil like the sand we have here, there will be no problem--you are simply adding organic matter with a little fertilizer, but if you have a clay soil that does not drain, you will be creating a "pot without a hole"--unless you do that as a raised bed.