pure manure

We have two new manure making machines, horse manure that is. We have them on a 2 acre lot and i have been scooping their productions up every evening and adding to my traditional compost bins. I foresee that I will soon need to start a whole new system for dealing with this manure, the problem is before having my own manure supply the stuff I got was from stabled horses and the manure was mixed with stall litter, shavings or such so simply putting the manure-shavings mix in a pile for a year composted itself. to use this pure manure, should I somehow mix with other stuff or still just find an out-of-the way hole to let it age, or what? For those of you who are concerned for the horses, we have a lean too for shelter when they need it,and that is where they eat, but they prefer being out and about where they always have been.

Wow, you are so lucky. Built in nitrogen providers! grin Depending on the location and the amount of room you have available, I would think you could set up a seperate "pile" and allow it to age naturally. You could always add additional straw, etc as needed. Then you could be one of those folks, plp come to to get aged manure for their gardens. Which you could charge for if necessary. Do you have the equipment to move say a load that would fill a pickup bed easily?
Shoveling into is pretty labor intensive. If you plan it out a bit, you could control where vehicles are going and make it as easy as possible for you to get the end produce to the gardener.
You can also spread some on your gardening/flower areas and work it in there as well.

I found the answer to my own question- i can pile my manure and alternate with leaves or straw- I have plenty-o-leaves so that is what I'll do. I think I'll find or dig a depression in my wooded area and kind of mark it off so I have a pile compost instead of my bins so the pile can grow. So anyone near Foristell, Mo? Look me up in spring!

It's a bit of a drive, but we could give it a shot...........LOL

how much you think it would cost to fed-ex it? LOL

The Moon! LOL

Good luck w/ your horse manure!

You are going to have wonderful black gold come spring! :)

Whenever we get to friends who keep horses, we always get loads of the black gold to bring home, after about a year, there is absolutely no smell at all and it is a good crumbly compost. the way they save the fresh stuff is, they built wooden boxes from old wooden pallets, you sometimes see them laying out the back of supermarkets or other stores like DIY etc, they put in 4 good stakes and nailed the trestles to this to make the box shapes, had 2 off those working together, the pallets let some air into the heaps and they covered the tops of the boxes with old carpets , black polythene would also do, the cover is to help keep the heat in and the rain out, the first heap was filled after a few months, so you start the next one, this way after the first box is ready the second will mature for autumn gardening for mulching etc, that way you have your manure ready start and end of the seasons, you do need to turn the heaps every so often if you have to speed up the processes. you can add anything to the heaps, like shredded newspapers, veg/fruit waist, egg shells, the fluff from your clothes drier, and ofcourse your wonderful straw, you add anything that is not man made material. If you plant it too close to your wooded area, just make sure it dont get too shaded as you want to keep the heat build up for the boxes to work quickly. Also you dont need to take all you kitchen waist away far every day, just keep a smaller bucket close to the house and add it say every week, try to set your large horse manure boxes closer to where you want to work them as it saves you time and energy when the weather is not at it's best and you can keep a closer eye on how they are doing. good luck, you are so lucky, most gardeners would love to be able to do what your doing, it's the best stuff you can add to your soil. Weenel.

:-) I have over a year's worth of this stuff that's been sitting around, mixed with shavings and straw. Anyone wants it, it's theirs. Just show up with truck and I'll hand you a shovel :-)

lisaoliver, any hay you don't feed to the animals (gets moldy or collects on the ground) makes good compost and works very well as mulch.

Frank

my neighbor has horses, cows, etc... and he loaded me up last fall. I also put some of my fireplace ashes in with it, not alot but some. The end of feb. its all going into the garden bed. My ground(soil) is mostly DG(decomposed granite), so I have along way to go. Plan on using straw for mulch.

Well you know i was on a website and they said horse manure is not good.

I remember we got some of it a couple years ago and it really worked.

Well good luck to you Lisa

14 what did they say about horse manure that made it no good ?
usually any manure is good. Except meat eating critters that is :)
i bought a home from a woman who was using doggie poo, what a mess. !! and a stink. took yrs to get the smell out of the dirt yuk
chicken is hot so limited use is advisable
i live in the country so we got plenty lol
i also use Llama alot .very good and can use it green as well as it does not attract bugs and can be a deterant for coyotes,raccons and other animals .
Good luck lisa
sue

All animal manure is the best of stuff, that is animals who are vegetarian, not the likes of dogs, cats and foxes who eat meat, plus these kind of meat eaters are known to carry live worms in their intestines and that will either spread to humans, or, into the soil to be picked up by any pets, children or gardeners, so never use this at any cost, I guess the lady who used her own dogs poo was just too lazy to dispose of it properly, she obviously had no sense of smell or hygiene skills, well in my opinion anyway. So go, go, go, all you budding composters of animal manures, it is liquid gold to most gardeners, the trouble with cow manure is that it contains a lot of weed seeds and if not composted hot enough, the weed seeds get growing in the garden when you dig the cow manure into the soil, but it really is great stuff if composted well before use. WeeNel.

sorry, after reading further, I see the horse manure would be good thing. my neighbor down the road has horses. Guess I will have to get brave and go ask them about getting some.? we are only on a 1 acre lot, so I am hoping putting a manure/compost box on the far corner of the property wont upset my neighbors? The soil here is clay and layers of rock down deep. If i get the fresh horse manure, and build the boxes, is the smell strong enough for neighbors to object you think? we are in the country so to speak, but on 1 acre lots in a subdivision.

If your horse owner neighbors are those I've known (and am), their question could be "How many truckloads do you need"?

They may well have a pile that has already aged. If so, youi can just till it in. Horse manure is not very concentrated chemically and doesn't need to be aged nearly as long as cow or chicken manure.

The decomposing strawbales outside are more pungent than any horse manure compost pile I've made. Put it on a high spot on the property (or elevate it), cover with straw, don't let it get soppy wet, and don't let puddles of pooh-tea collect. I've never had flies from a well formed horse manure compost pile.

Some neightbors are funny about this though. You might consider just doing it inconspicuously without discussing it.

Frank

lisaoliver - how did your manure compost look after overwintering?
I also have two horses. I bought a ComposT-Twin a couple of years ago and it produced fabulous stuff, but got over-run quickly - I would've needed a fleet of compost barrels to keep up with Jazz and Whiskey, my "manure machines". I made weekly deliveries to a gardening neighbor who "treasured every turd" that went into her compost pile. I just sold the ComposT-Twin in favor of forming three piles that are tractor-bucket wide and separated by low wood walls, so that I can turn the piles occassionally. Does anybody have other suggestions?

I saw this thread because of SnowlineRose's latest post, and wanted to say I lived in Wentzville MO twice, in '76 and '86, in an old campground called Pinewoods Park. I'm a California girl, so those years in the MO woods, digging clams out of the lakes, walking to town across that old train trestle made wonderful memories. My mom worked at the truck stop there in Foristell, too. Has the area changed much in 20 years?