COW v HORSE

Which manure do you use for your flower and vegetable gardens? I thought the rule of thumb was sandy soil - horse and heavy clay - cow. How long does it take for the manure to rot down and become useable or do you get it from the farmer when it is has already been standing for some time? Thanks.

I use both cow and horse manure, Louisa. There's a horse stable and pasture across the street from me. I only take from the composted pile so I really don't know how long it takes to compost. :)

P2

Pete - Thanks! So do you use both on veg and garden beds?

I'm partial to using rabbit manure, if you can get it (I have a rabbitry, so no problem here :) It's a superior, non-burn, high-nitrogen manure. If you get too much leaf growth and not enough flowering, you need to cut it down because of the high nitrogen. I add it directly to flower beds, however, it should be thoroughly composted for use in veggie gardens :) Here are the numbers...
MANURES:
Rabbit
4.2 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
2.4 % Nitrogen
1.4 % Phosphoric Acid
0.6 % Potash

Sheep & Goat
6.0 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
1.44 % Nitrogen
0.5 % Phosphoric Acid
1.21 % Potash

Swine
16.0 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
0.49 % Nitrogen
0.34 % Phosphoric Acid
0.47 % Potash

Chicken
4.5 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
1.0 % Nitrogen
0.8 % Phosphoric Acid
0.39 % Potash

Dairy Cow
12.0 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
0.57 % Nitrogen
0.23 % Phosphoric Acid
0.62 % Potash

Beef Steer
8.5 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
0.73 % Nitrogen
0.48 % Phosphoric Acid
0.55 % Potash

Horse
8.0 Tons Excreted /year/1000 lb live weight
0.70 % Nitrogen
0.25 % Phosphoric Acid
0.77 % Potash

Trish

wow trish you really know your shtuff!!! ;] LOL!

Someone's gotta have the scoop on poop..lol. I keep these figures handy since I get umpteen inquiries about what do I do with all of that rabbit "doo"..lol. I give the normal spiel about how great the manure is to visitors here and how they should try their hand at gardening. I even hint that a free feed bag of the "secret weapon doo" has their name on it, along with a seed pack of their choice :)
Trish

Louisa, I use it everywhere! :)

P2

Breakdown depends on if the pile is turned over or not. I have seen cow manure, piled in the winter, still 'green' in late summer, because it just sat, without being turned over. It only composted down a few inches. Horse manure seems to breakdown faster, maybe because it is dryer. I usually put a few spreader loads of fresh horse manure over the veggie and flower garden, along with the pumpkin bed, in the fall. I spread it about two inches thick and then till it in in the spring. If you have a friend with a manure spreader, it sure makes taking s#@t from him a lot easier!LOL!

Wow - What a mine of information I have here at my figertips. I don't think I need to research anywhere else. Chicken pellets are used a lot back home. The scoop on poop eh Trish ---------LOL I love that!!

Whatever is cheap and plentiful is the best. You can't go wrong adding any kind of poop to any kind of garden. Just do be careful that the hotter ones have composted. It will also help to kill any weed seeds that may have passed through the critter's digestive system if you compost it first. After that, throw it around at will. I don't think there is such a thing as too much! I've grown roses in what used to be a manure dump at a stable. It was nothing more than 100% composted manure, and I had the biggest and healthiest roses I've ever had.

And I bet they smelled divine!!

I have 2 rabbits and would love to do something with the poop rather than toss it.
I dont have a compost pile (yet). Can I just put the poop in a pile behind my shed and turn it (how often?) ?? Also if there is some hay in there will that make lots of weeds? How long should I wait until I can put the poop into the garden?
Thanks so much
Janice