In dry anaerobic digestors operated in batch mode where a liquid phase is sprinkled on a static solid phase, the choice of a liquid or a solid recycle form a previous batch into a new one is a key factor for a better industrial management when looking for a balance between energy production, substrate biodegradability and the initial investment. This work aims at studying the influence of this recycling on the kinetics and the performances of three systems filled-up with only solid cow manure. In the first batch the solid fraction (SF) of a previous reactor is recycled in the new system, in the second only the liquid fraction (LF) is recycled while in the third none was used and the system was started only with water (W). Results show that the use of the LF is a better choice in terms of volumetric methane production, whereas using SF is more useful to improve the kinetics of the process and the VS degradation. In contrast, the third batch shows that an additional inoculation is not absolutely necessary for manure. Indeed, the simple use of water does not conduct to a start-up failure but induces lower global performances.