It's funny... I was watching, "Magnum P.I.", the other nite, and they had Higgins spreading compost out of a wheelbarrow for their ending scene.
Back then - even the Hollywood types knew what compostted manure was all about.
Up here we wouldn't put it on frozen ground, and would want to make sure it is worked its way into the soil well b4 winter. Snow has a tendancy to extract OM into the snow bank and wash away with the melt.