what to do with horse manure and shavings

Here's what to practice with that huge mound of stall waste product piling upward behind the barn

Did you know that one horse produces virtually 50 pounds of manure per 24-hour interval and more than than viii tons per year? Add together to that the 8 to 10 gallons of urine a horse generates daily, and a wheelbarrow or more of used bedding, and in no time at all you take a virtual manure mountain on your farm. That mountain tin accept upwardly a whole lot of infinite that near horse owners would probably enjoy using for far more highly-seasoned things than manure storage (A paddock or training area, perchance!). Plus, you gamble mismanaging with a manure pile: Horses grazing most their own manure tin can be reinfected by larvae that hatch from worm eggs inside. Odors and flies tin plague you or your neighbors, and unsightly poop piles tin potentially decrease belongings value. Plus, runoff from soggy manure can cause serious water quality issues for creeks, wetlands, and drinking water.

Composting is a corking manure management technique to avoid these problems, particularly for small acreage horse owners. "Composted equus caballus manure is a bully source of slow-release soil nutrients for a pasture or garden," says Caitlin Cost Youngquist, PhD, a soil scientist and an area Extension educator for the University of Wyoming, in Worland.

All organic matter, including manure and bedding, decomposes eventually. "Composting is basically a controlled microbial decomposition of organic material, done nether aerobic (with air) weather. This process is happening all effectually us in nature," Youngquist says. "As composters, we are trying to set this process up to produce a more uniform product more than quickly than nature would provide. In order to exercise this, bacteria and fungi require oxygen, water, and nutrients. Our job as a compost director is to provide the best environment possible for them to do their task."

As a bonus, as manure and other stall waste suspension down, the microorganisms generate tremendous amounts of oestrus that destroy weed seeds, wing larvae, worm eggs, and other disease-causing pathogens.

Set to consider harnessing these microbes for good on your ain holding? To begin, Youngquist suggests first figuring out about how much manure yous are managing. How many horses do you take? Are y'all picking upward manure daily from stalled horses, or are your horses mostly pastured?

"Once you know how much manure you are dealing with, your ii best environmentally sound management practices are to either booty manure off-site or compost information technology," states Youngquist. While compost management does crave a time commitment, it provides you with a gratuitous source of a valuable soil amendment for your pastures, garden, or thousand. Compost also saves you money—over the course of a twelvemonth the manure one horse produces is worth $300 to $500 in compost value.

If composting sounds like the right option for y'all, then "you want some type of aerated system, either static or turned," says Youngquist. Both options add air to the compost, keeping it aerobic: A static system forces air into the pile using a blower, whereas a turned pile involves adding air by turning information technology occasionally, usually with a tractor.

Hither is a step-by-step guide to the practical and cost-efficient tractor road:

1. Cull the right location.

Begin past locating an appropriate composting site. Cull an area with twelvemonth-round like shooting fish in a barrel access that's user-friendly for chores. If possible, selection a level, well-drained spot far from waterways or wells then whatever runoff doesn't contaminate surface or groundwater.

ii. To bin or pile?

This is your choice, but a bin system typically helps keep things neater and easier to manage. "Bins tin be fabricated with straw bales, pallets, treated lumber, or ecology blocks (stackable concrete)," says Youngquist. Yous usually need at least two to iii bins or piles. Pile ane is where you add together manure and stall waste daily. Pile 2 is where you monitor temperatures regularly and turn the compost as needed (more on each stage in a minute). Pile 3 is in the finishing or "curing" stage. Y'all can construct multiples of any of these stages or piles. To compost and generate rut, each pile should exist at to the lowest degree iii cubic feet—the gauge size of a washing machine. "In colder climates, piles may need to exist larger in order to generate enough heat," Youngquist adds.

3. Keep information technology covered!

Covering with a tarp, plastic sail, or a roof during the rainy season prevents the compost's valuable nutrients from washing away and causing environmental bug. It also keeps compost from becoming a soggy mess in the wintertime and crispy-dry in the summer. Tip: If you alive in a windy area, counterbalance downwards your tarp with recycled milk or detergent jugs filled with gravel. Because you will need to pull the tarp dorsum every time you clean your horse'due south stall and paddock, make the tarp setup as job-efficient every bit possible. You lot might even want to attach information technology to the back of your compost bin or use bungee cords to secure information technology in place.

iv. Get air into the pile.

Oxygen is a crucial component to composting, every bit over again, bacteria and fungi crave oxygen to do their work and suspension downwardly organic matter. The simplest mode to provide it is to use a small tractor to turn the pile. If the compost is starved for air, it will become foul-smelling rather than earthy. How often you turn information technology determines how speedily your compost volition exist ready to use. Aerated static pile (ASP) systems employ a fan instead of mechanically turning the pile. This unit requires piffling treatment for several months until the pile is done—an investment option for larger facilities, every bit this system can handle a greater volume of material with minimal time investment. Depending of the scale of your operation, ASP equipment and setup costs $500 to $three,000 for a iii-bin organisation.

5. Proceed information technology damp.

Compost should be about as damp as a wrung-out sponge. For dry out climates or in the summer, find a chore-efficient way to water your compost, either with a garden hose as you plow the pile or by hosing down the manure and stall waste product daily before dumping. Compost should be damp but non dripping. (If you clasp a handful of material—wear a glove if you like—just a drop or ii of moisture should clasp out from the edge of your hand).

6. Monitor the heat.

The estrus the beneficial microbes generate can cause the pile to get fairly warm—about 110-160° F. To impale parasites and pathogens, compost needs to reach at least 130° F for at least three days, says Youngquist. Y'all tin monitor temperatures easily using a long-stemmed compost thermometer purchased at a plant plant nursery or garden store. "An increasing temperature ways that the microbes are working for you and doing a good job," Youngquist says. "When the temperature goes down, that's the sign that you lot need to plow and mix the compost. After turning several times, if the temperatures stay low, that indicates yous are moving into the curing phase and out of the agile composting phase."

vii. Curing compost.

This is when the finished compost sits and "stabilizes." Worms and small insects move in and intermission it down further. "When y'all cure it, cover the compost with a tarp to prevent weed seeds from bravado in and colonizing your compost," suggests Youngquist. Compost piles can cure for a month up to a year; the longer it cures the more stable it becomes, and the less likely that nutrients volition leach out at the commencement driblet of rain.

8. Finished compost.

How actively y'all monitor your pile's air and h2o and how frequently y'all turn it determines how rapidly it will cease. It should accept around three months, perhaps longer in the winter when microbial activity slows. You will know your compost is ready when the material looks evenly textured, crumbly, dark-colored like dirt, and is earthy-smelling. Its temperature should be 90° F or less.

ix. Put that blackness gilded to good work!

Compost improves establish and soil health and moisture. Apply a manure spreader or a shovel to spread it on pastures, lawns, or gardens during the growing season. Spread it in a thin layer, near ¼ to ½ inch at a time, and no more than than 3 to 4 inches per season in the same area.

Troubleshooting Compost Pile Problems

Symptom	Problem	Solution
The compost has a bad aroma	Not enough air	Plough the pile to add together more than aeration.
The compost has a bad smell and is soggy	Not enough air and as well much water	Mix in dry ingredients such as straw or shavings, add aeration, and comprehend with a tarp.
The within of the pile is dry	Non enough water	Add water when turning the pile. It should be as damp as a wrung-out sponge.
The compost is damp and warm in the middle, but nowhere else	Pile is too minor	Collect more raw materials, and mix them into the quondam ingredients. Piles smaller than 3 square feet take trouble holding estrus.
The pile is clammy and smells fine, simply is non heating up	Also many shavings, forest chips, or bedding (carbon source) and not enough manure (nitrogen source)	Mix in a nitrotgen source (e.g. straight manure, fresh grass clippings, claret meal, alfalfa, or nitrogen fertilizer)

Your local Soil Conservation Commune or Cooperative Extension (nacdnet.org/full general-resources/conservation-district-directory) part might exist able to provide additional resource on composting infinite requirements, and bin designs.

Take-Home Message

Finished compost is a precious soil amendment infused with micro- and macronutrients that work in a time-release fashion. Information technology adds "life" to soils in terms of benign leaner and fungi. Studies have shown that compost makes plants healthier and more disease-resistant. Compost too helps your pasture soils hold moisture in the summertime—critical if your fields demand to survive a hot, long drought.

"Composted horse manure is a great resource for providing nutrients and every bit a soil builder; information technology's highly valued past gardeners and easy to give away." says Youngquist. "It'south all almost how can we change the conversation virtually manure and then that it's seen every bit a valuable resource instead of a liability or waste matter production."

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Source: https://thehorse.com/17205/9-steps-for-composting-horse-manure/

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