Horse Sh##

[John D]

Well after finaly getting a tractor and cleaning out stalls,runs and pens I now have a mountain of manure. I have heard its not that good for gardens. I also have a large hill of oak leaves that has been composting for a little over a year. can this be used for anything? should I add them together? when I got down to the dirt there was grubs as big as you thumb. never seen them that big. jb

 

[deereguy]

I would pile the manure on top of the leaves, then once a week or twice a month (whatever your time permits), run the loader into the bottom of the pile and put the bottom on the top of the pile. It will be a steamy and rather smelly mess at first. The moisture from the manure/bedding will break down the leaves and in a year or less you should have some great compost. The pile needs to stay "hot" and turned so that weed seeds won't germinate.

Make sure the pile is in full sun and well drained. I have been going this for about 6 years and had great success until last year, I didn't have time to turn it as often- looks like a pile of weeds now.

Good Luck!

 

[bontai_Joe]

I am surprised to hear that Horse manure is not as good as "blank" for gardens. It sure works fine for me and zillions of others. They eat basically the same stuff cows eat and that also works well in a garden, so I would dismiss that thought. Mixing and turning it with your leaves will give you excellent compost as mentioned above.

 

[Jimbrown]

Well cows have 7 stomachs and horses do not. Horses by nature are flee animals and their natural instinct is to run. Their digestive system does not process the grass ect completly. It does not digest seeds hardly at all. If they are fed bermuda grass hay and you put the poop in your garden you are gonna have a nice crop of bermuda.

 

[ToadHill]

If you want to compost it you have to remember that you need to have a ratio of about 4 parts carbon (leaves) to one part nitrogen (manure). For the carbon you can use anything that was once green, leaves, grass clippings etc.

 

[drssg]

I've read about people who find a landscaping company to come pick it up free, and sometimes even pay for it! I suppose it would vary by area, but if you'd like to minimize your horse sh## handling, it might be worth looking into.

 

[Mike120]

There's not much you can do with horse manure and bedding other than composting it or finding someone who will delight in taking it off your hands for the same purpose. You just have to get it hot enough in the compost pile to kill the seeds. I looked at O2 Compost ( O2Compost -- Compost Systems & Training ) before I took the other approach and bought a manure spreader. It's a lot less trouble and now I just spread it on my hay fields.

 

[John D]

Thanks for the info guys. I would like to spread it but cant see spending alot of money on a spreader to use 1-2 times a year. some of the neighbors have gardens and could prob use it. jb

 

[bontai_Joe]

I confess that I had forgotten about the seeds. I was thinking more about the value of nitrogen, etc.

 

[kossetx]

John, Blend the manure and those leaves together, make some compost and spread it with your fel by backdraging, or make some tea.

Now that I've talked you into using it do you still have some for me?

I've never even noticed this forum until you pointed it out to me. Duh, I probably should have put the compost thread here.

Yes, Bamboo fly rods. It takes about 50 hours to complete one but casting with a live fiber, OK, once alive fiber, is much more enjoyable to me than using plastic.

As usual, just my .02, MP