Site Menu:
This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below: |
HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Horse Pasture, Fencing, Barns » Manure management » |
Discussion on Manure management-small farm | |
Author | Message |
Posted on Friday, Jan 25, 2002 - 11:17 pm: Hi--We have just short of 1.5 acres. Currently boarding my horse at another farm,but we're planning to move her "home" later this summer. We've got pasture, fencing, cross-fencing,and barn/hay storage figured out....what we could use some advice on is manure management. We'd like to get a second horse, either another for us or a boarder, so we're talkin' dealing with manure for 2! We plan on having 12x13 stalls with paddock turnout, and will cross fence the rest of the property into 2-3 sections, for rotational turnout. The stalls will be well-matted and I would like to use minimal shavings, if any. If so, I would use the wood pellets. I am into gardening big time and would like to compost the manure for my own use, but I've been told it takes up to 2 years to compost horse manure and I know that that can mean a whole heckuva lot more manure than I might need to use by then...so, any advice on composting horse manure or just plain managing it (I don't want poop mountains in the pasture) is greatly appreciated! |
|
Posted on Saturday, Jan 26, 2002 - 7:52 am: How about a dumpster service? That gives you a container to dump into, and will help you keep the "manure area" to a minimum, given your small property where space for horses and turnout is at a premium.I garden (and compost!) too, and add pure manure (no shavings!) to my compost bins, but mix it with lots of green compost and some water so it composts well. (btw, a little goes a long way! I can't use a tenth of what our 2 big horses produce.) Pure horse manure is too dry to compost well by itself. And the last thing you want in your compost bin are shavings -- they take forever to break down and they rob the compost (and your soil!) of all its nitrogen while they do so. Good luck, Melissa |
|
Posted on Saturday, Jan 26, 2002 - 4:08 pm: Everyone I know who has 1-5 acres uses a spreader to distribute the manure on the areas that are not being used. They spread 3 x's a week, though. Or more. The spreader churns up any wood shavings picked. Most of them have beautiful pastures. I don't know if that is a parasite disaster or not. But all the horses seem to graze when they are on it and none of them have parasite problems.I have another friend who has three horses on 5 acres. He uses an area in the back (on the fenceline) to dump the manure, spread it thinly and then just leave it. It breaks itself down, I guess. He's been doing this for a couple of years now and it never gets too high,smelly, ugly, or out of control. jojo |
|
Posted on Saturday, Jan 26, 2002 - 9:52 pm: hi--the dumpster idea is an interesting one. We have a local composting company..I hadn't thought to contact them to see what would be involved with pick-up. Since I live in a very horsey area, I'd imagine they've been contacted before and could even offer some leads or other ideas. I had also thought about spreading it, but I've not done any research on the pros/cons of that approach. I can see that if one were to really keep up with it (like 2-3 times/week) so that the manure was spread thinly, and then keep up with the mowing, which would mulch it further, that that could be do-able. ( I am blessed with 2 wonderful teenage daughters who still think driving and mowing with the riding mower is "way cool".!Actually, my husband doesn't mind either as long as he has a nice cold beverage in the special little beverage holder that sold him on the tractor in the first place! ;->)Many of my friends say we're crazy to bring the horse home..that paying the board is the smartest thing to do....I don't know--my mare is 13 and has had a couple outbreaks of ERU....it sure would be nice to really be able to tend to her. we also have horse-loving neighbors who have lots of experience with small acreage horsekeeping and are excited to see this happen. (I have to check with them to see how they used to handle the manure piles---but they've lived out here a lot longer than we have, before so many neighbors moved nearby--I imagine things were quite a bit different for them than it will be for us). Keep you ideas coming! I really appreciate it! beth |
|
Posted on Sunday, Jan 27, 2002 - 12:36 am: We have a little more than 4 acres and 2 big horses. I can't imagine spreading the manure -- it would be a mess all the time. Also in winter, nothing really degrades here.We pick the pasture 4-5 times a week and dump it in a pile out back. The local dairy farmer collects it once a year (horse manure's too dry, cow manure's too wet, mix 'em together and it's just about perfect; he sells the composted stuff). It takes 3 large dump truck loads to remove our 1 year pile. We pay him to remove it. As a side note re composting, it should not take 2 years to compost manure. The pile should be hot, and should "cook" the ingredients quickly (3 months max). If it doesn't, you'll be spreading hay seeds on your vegetable garden. |
|
Posted on Sunday, Jan 27, 2002 - 7:59 am: Hi,I'm not an expert-but I have two horses on about 1 1/2 acres and have a huge manure pile also-there is no way we could spread it all. We too scoop the pasture almost every day. I had read that you can use a cement slab with 3 walls and put pvc piping with holes to stick up out of the pile as you put your manure in. ( these keep air circulating so it compost better and the walled enclosed space helps to compress the manure) They also recomended covering it so the moisture content stays correct claiming a properly composting pile won't smell. We have a tractor and haul our pile off to neighbors that want it. It took forever! After a year sitting the inside of the pile looked like rich soil. One year I had put several open bales of bad hay on the pile-these didn't compost well. Kim |
|
Posted on Monday, Jan 28, 2002 - 3:00 pm: I just moved from a 1 acre home where I kept 4 horses for 15 years. It was not a lot of work once you got a routine going. I would pick my paddocks everyday just like cleaning my stalls. We had a flatbed trailer with a tarp over it and once a week my husband would take it away. We never lacked for places to dump it. This kept my farm very clean and odor free and I had next to no problem with flies. Two battery operated sprayers in the barn did the trick.My neighbors were not horsy people but never complained. Hope this helps Jeanne PS My husband was a saint to shovel it off every week! |
|
Posted on Monday, Jan 28, 2002 - 10:39 pm: The standard for composting animal manures is 6 months, not two years. The key is to include bedding with the road apples and to turn the pile every few weeks.You are probably right that you would not be able to use the majority of your horse's 'produce', it would be a shame if you didn't compost some of it for your garden. |
|