Horse Crap (no, this is not a political thread)

Robert_in_NY · Mar 4, 2006

I have been thinking of expanding my hay business into taking the hay back when the horses are done renting it. Most of the horse farms here don't have any way to get rid of their manure and I can haul it easy enough and have plenty of ground to store it on (and for those people having trouble with neighbors who do that don't worry, we have plenty of land where the nearest neighbor would be at least a half mile away).

What I am curious about is what would I have to do to make the horse manure into a good fertilizer? I can store it until fall and then spread it on my own fields but if I can make it better by mulching it somehow (I know nothing about mulch) then I would like to do so and cut down on fertilizer cost.

Also, for the horse folks out there, what would you be willing to pay for having your manure hauled away? What about having it spread on your own fields?

Jstpssng · Mar 4, 2006

This is second hand information, but a nursery owner I know turns horse manure into weed free potting soil. His method is to spread the manure out and apply 10-10-10 fertiliser; he then tills it regularly and by the end of the summer has a finished product. I'm sure there are a few steps e omitted, but hopefully thi'll give you something to get started with.

Good luck.

RHW

ToadHill · Mar 4, 2006

The best way is to compost it . Many municipalities are doing it with yard waste. They pile it up in long piles about 50 to 100 feet long. When it has heated up they turn it to keep the microb activity working. If the pile gets too hot the microbs will die, and the turning also gets air into the mix. It usually takes about 60 to 90 days to convert into compost. Some places that compost now will give demonstrations on how to get started.

RonR · Mar 5, 2006

I have purchased composted zoo doo from a recycle center. They get all the zoo poop, and people pay to drop scrap wood/trees there. They chip the wood.

I don't know what all they mix with it or how long it takes, but they have some BIG equipment to turn it. A huge drum like machine, about the size of a cement truck hopper stirs the stuff. They feed it into a coveyor that going into the hopper, and it comes out the hopper on another conveyor. I think they have to stir it fairly often.

It is NICE when they are done with it. Does wonders on my yard!

ron

Egon · Mar 5, 2006

Contact your local agricultural agent and do some internet research on composting. There is lots of information on the topic.

The little I have read indicates proper composting within time frames requires a little more than just making a pile and waiting. [ type of material's required for nutrient balance, ph, temperature, size of materials and so on]

Good luck and good composting. You can make it work! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

JJT · Mar 5, 2006

You may need to add additional organic matter into the mix. We have a couple of local guys doing this. They mix sawdust, cow manure and vegetable waste. 1 guy has a 100 yard drum, the material gets turned for 10 days and then it get piled for composting. Based on the temperature of the pile dictates when the pile needs to be turned. As another noted, too hot and all the good bugs get cooked, too cool and the weed seeds don't get cooked. You may need to add water. You'll be turning your piles every couple of days. I bought a 20 yard load that was 4 months old and it was still cooking 2 months later when I spread it on the garden. Expect at least a 50% volume reduction. A grinder on the front of the process and a screen on the back make for some very nice material.

Are your plans to go commercial or is this just for personal use? If it's commercial, pm me and I'll hook you up with my friend

JerryG · Mar 5, 2006

Robert,
This site should answer all of your questions.

Robert_in_NY · Mar 5, 2006

I don't plan on going commercial. It would be for my own fields so I don't want to sink a lot of money in it. I can get wood chips and such rather easily as the power company is always looking for places to dump and I know a few of the tree service companies that can dump some loads.

Jerry, thanks for the link. It will give me plenty of reading to do and hopefully I can catch on to this quicker then I can with hydraulics /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Does anyone have an idea what would be fair to charge for hauling manure away from farms? I guess the better question would be how would I charge to haul away? By the yard, mileage or what? I would have to figure in bringing one of the loader tractors over to load with so distance might be a factor. I almost think I need to come up with a basic fee for each yard of material and add in mileage if the farm is too far away. Any ideas?

cowboydoc · Mar 5, 2006

Robert,

I know NY is a different place but in our areas you couldn't get horse people to pay you to take the manure away. Most just spread it themselves. The bigger places will give it away free to people or people will pay them for the manure. I know for my area it wouldn't work but in your area it may work great. At any rate I don't think it would be worth much to people as if it was too expensive they would just get their own manure spreader.

Robert_in_NY · Mar 5, 2006

Hi Doc. Most of the horse farms here don't have enough land to begin with. I know the one farm that boards horses has a huge pile they keep adding to. The owners husband has a machine shop and a oil drilling company with the equipment to remove it but they don't have any way to spread it or enough land to spread it on. Plus he doesn't seem to have the time to do it.

I am not sure what most of the other farms do. I know where I bale a lot of hay the owner takes his out and spreads it by the 5 gallon bucket in his grapes.

I don't know if you have ever run across Bill Wilson (he goes by Hay Wilson on the Ag talk board) but he is the one who mentioned this idea to me. I forget where the guy was from that does this but he makes money from both ends of the horse. I figured why not do that here if I can since I have the equipment (minus the spreader but we have been thinking of getting one anyway).

On to the topic of mulch. We have a lot of food plants here because of all the vegetables and grapes grown in WNY. There are 5 large plants in this area that process fruits and vegetables. I know the guy who runs the company that hauls the waste away and I can get it to add to the manure. Right now they take it and dump it on other farmers fields and the farms spread it on their own fields. I will have to talk to some of the locals here and see what I can learn as they are begging for places to dump the organic waste instead of having to pay to dump in a landfill.