Horse Manure

I have access to some horse manure, but how old does horse manure have to be to be used. Is one year old enough? Will there be a ton of weeds in it?

One year can be enough time if the pile has been turned every 2 months or so.

It depends on what the horses are grazing on or eating to know how many and what kinds of weeds you will have.

Yes, we still get some weeds from it, but the benefit of horse manure far outweighs any weed pulling :)

You can also haul it in and turn it yourself if you can keep a pile of it around - mix in grass clippings, etc. and you will keep a steady supply or really good "stuff". Aeration is the most important thing so it's not too hot to burn your plants.

Until I bought my house I had access to a manure pile fed by 3 backyard horses. The farmer down the road always swore it was the best manure, so I finally tried it. Dug to the bottom of a 6 year old pile and had the best vegetable garden of my life. Now my husband and I go back to our old house every year to get more. The key is that older really is better. Horses eat alot, and most horse pastures, at least in my neck of the woods, are full of weeds. Once you get milkweed and goldenrod in your garden, you're stuck for life, seems to me.

I agree..the older the better, mainly cus it may have had more chance to heat up and kill the weed seeds.

I used to get manure (stable sweepings) from an Arabian horse farm...their pasture was in wonderful condition (weed free). Once that source was gone I got some from another place and had the worst luck...weeds weeeds weeeeeds! When I went back to that place I saw that's exactly the condition the pasture was in, a weed lot.

So...in essence, it could go either way. If in doubt, maybe you can get some horse poop and compost it yourself, eh?

We got some horse manure several months ago from a neighbor and have had it under a tarp, really getting hot,
is it OK to use it now? I put some of it, mixed with leaves, in one of my composters and now I can't identify any of it, so I assume it's ok to use.
Would appreciate any input. I usually use rabbit pellets but thought I'd try this for a change.

Water it WELL! Turn it for the next few weeks in my opinion ( and we've used lots of this stuff).

Basically, keep it hot, moist, turned and cooking for the next few weeks and then add it to your existing medium. Pull weeds as you see them and get ready for great soil :)

DG, It really should compost for 6 mths to a year, preferably the latter.

i live across the street from a horse stable so i can get all the free manure that i want. it's true that there are lots of weeds but the older the better. cow manure in my opinion is better as they have four stomachs and more of the weed seeds are fully digested. chicken and goose is also very nice stuff.

I had a lady tell me yesterday that she had a pile of horse manure out back of her stable about 18 months old, and that I can have all the chicken poop that I wanted as well. Is this stuff good to mix with Georgia Red Clay? I am trying to use this natural type of fertilizer in flower beds, and cut down on some of the bagged goods I'm amending with.

good info poeple need about now... BUMP UP

Thanks Tamara,
Got my poop yesterday and now I'm all pooped out! Yellow Perfections, how are they coming along? And the music?

Good to see ya!
J

(Re: weeds in the manure/compost.) For those folks who have chickens, I've been hearing that they're great at eating all the weed seeds in compost and then adding their own (seedless) poop to the heap. They also stir it up nicely (messily, but you get good fine compost). Started a thread in "Soil and Composting" about this.

Thanks! Not sure their eggs would taste as good... hmmmm...

The eggs are wonderful :) !!!

Kidding, right? Eggs from chickens who eat bugs, seeds and weeds are the yummiest.

Oh, I just meant the manure, not the compost. Someone I get eggs from tossed in her cleanings from a goat pen (I tried to clean it, the ammonia was awful). I didn't think about it till after I noticed the taste of her eggs were a little off. I agree with Zeppy on bug eating chicken eggs!

Has anyone heard of Heritage Chickens? Guess i need to ask in the Farm Life forum, eh?

You mean the endangered breeds? We're getting some dual-purpose heavy old breeds in two weeks.

The ABLC site's good, and they'll send you a list of breeders. http://www.albc-usa.org/ Have you seen Sand Hill Preservation's catalog? http://www.sandhillpreservation.com

Yep, those! A frind of mine has the catalogs, haven't seen, just heard bout them. REad the article in Mother Earth News. Thanks for the links...