Horse Manure & Compost

[PKBoo]

What's the most efficient/quick way to compost horse manure? We have 3 horses being boarded in our pasture, and DH & I are going to "scoop poop" tonight.

Our garden area was used as a riding ring, and had loads of foundry sand brought in, so we have a LOT of soil building to do. I started 2 leaf/grass 4x4 piles two weeks ago, and have been turning them every 3 days, hoping to accelerate the composting process. We have a lot of old hay available, and also a lot of fallen leaves under trees.

[Tricky Grama]

Sounds like you're doing it the fastest way-I guess in the sun would help.

Patty

[Maura]

The more you turn it the faster it will decompose. Make sure you have some moisture in the pile. If you have it on a tarp, you can turn onto a second tarp by lifting the edge and rolling the pile. This may be easier than using a shovel. Covering the pile will also help by increasing the heat and keeping moisture in.

[PKBoo]

Thanks for the tip about covering it - my other piles seem too dry, and that's probably why. I was going to water them before I turned them next time. Should I just add the horse manure to them? I wasn't sure if I should make a separate pile and add old hay to the manure, or just mix the manure in with my existing piles?

[mistletoad]

I would just add the manure to your existing piles, but it is a lot easier to wet the piles down after you turn them - wet compost is heavy. I turn mine the laziest way I know how - I keep one bin empty at all times, then turn the next pile into it, hosing it down every few pitchfork loads. I wait for the newly turned pile to heat up and then when it starts to cool down, I turn it again.

[PKBoo]

Mistletoad - do you use a compost thermometer, or do you just go by feel? I know my piles have been heating up, but I've just been turning them every 3 days regardless...
Thanks for the help (especially about the watering - leave it to me to do it the hard way!)

[mistletoad]

I do use the thermometer - if you aren't going for certified organic you really don't need to, but it is great fun to see how hot those piles can get.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by farmwannabe

Mistletoad - do you use a compost thermometer, or do you just go by feel? I know my piles have been heating up, but I've just been turning them every 3 days regardless...
Thanks for the help (especially about the watering - leave it to me to do it the hard way!)

You just keep doing it the "hard way" as long as you've got the back and energy! I'd also error on the dry side when adding water. As long as the material is damp, that is sufficient.

I'd also not worry about the foundry sand that was spread in the ring. It no doubt has a hard soil base under it. Mixing the two by deep tilling can only improve both. I'd do that now and plant a simple cover crop such as annual rye. That would also give you an idea of what weed seeds may be laying dormant in that soil.

Martin

[Sci_Fi_Mind]

If your not going for organic lime will speed up the composting and also help balance out the acidity of the horse manure.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by Sci_Fi_Mind

If your not going for organic lime will speed up the composting and also help balance out the acidity of the horse manure.

I believe that you will find that horse manure is usually the more alkaline of farm manures. Therefore lime would not be required to neutralize the pH.

Martin

[Shinsan]

Get some worm boxes going. Won't be too long before you're looking for more horse manure. You can use the worm oil and castings on your own gardens, and generate a bit of pocket money from sales of the same.

[Homesteader at Heart]

OK, what is worm oil?

[PKBoo]

Martin - when you say err on the dry side, do you mean you'd rather the pile be too dry than too wet? I mixed the manure in today, and added about 10 gal of water to the pile. We don't have water at the garden (something we've got to remedy before too long...) so I use the 2.5 gal bottled water jugs to haul it up there. The pile was bone dry before mixing! I did cover it with a tarp when I was done, so that should help.

And how do you keep the little manure balls from rolling off the pile??? I tried to keep the pile flat as I went, but they just kept rolling off. All the rogue turds ended up on the top when I was done!

[Forerunner]

We use junk hay or straw bales to form up the sides of the offhand compost pile. That keeps any renegade turds in the hot spot where they belong.
As for the moisture level of the pile, try not to err at all.
Keep it moist, but never sopping wet, as you construct each layer.
It should be at the moisture level of a lightly wring spunge, according to Rodale. We find that excess moisture will drain to the bottom of the pile during the wet season, after which we turn the pile only to redistribute the moisture.
A well built compost heap, finished with a layer of sawdust or other benign material, need generally not be turned as it will heat uniformly and decompose just fine as it sits, according to Joseph Jenkins in the "Humanure Handbook",
and, according to my own experience. Turning the pile is only necessary if you are trying to make fast compost, or, if there is moisture imbalance somewhere along the way.

As for the "best" way to compost horse manure, which is a very forgiving compost commodity, mix it half and half with sawdust, straw or other carbonacious product, (which may already have been done in the bedding material), adjust the moisture level properly, if required... pile it, cover it lightly with more benign carbon or a tarp, and let it rot.
I would recommend a minimum of 6 months. A year would be ideal.

[sugarbush]

Horse compost is big business around here. The farms have large powered composters that run down the rows and turn the manure every day. They sell it to mulch companies who sell it to landscapers and gardeners. They actually get a little more for the thoroughbred compost over the standardbred compost; like it is somehow superior

[Ravenlost]

Either I'm doing something wrong or composting is way more complicated than I realized. I'm a lazy composter. Hubby mucks stalls and piles it up. In the Spring he brings it to the garden by the truckload, spreads it and tills it in. During the summer we use it (the straw/manure mix from the stalls) as mulch. Garden grows like CRAZY.

LOL...I figure Mother Nature knows more about composting than I do, so I let her do all the work.

[mistletoad]

Lol Ravenlost, you aren't missing anything, it isn't at all complicated until the government gets involved! The NOP requires that we get our compost to a certain temperature and turn it a certain number of times. Hot compost here dries out very quickly so we have to add water to get things cooking again. I have never managed to over water a pile even in this humidity (where you might expect things to stay damp), but plenty of times we have had horse manure dry up rather than compost - as soon as it gets wet again it heats right up.

[Shinsan]

Originally Posted by Homesteader at Heart

OK, what is worm oil?

Sometimes it's called worm 'tea', or 'pee', but it's just the liquid runoff that can be collected.
This website, (http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/index.asp?id=1030), from a local council in Sydney, has some information on worm farming in a small way, and at the bottom is a picture of one of the Reln Worm Factories that we use here, 'though ours have an extra working tray fitted. Herewith, some information from my files:

The Worm Farm.

Currently we have ten Reln Worm Farm boxes set up and linked together for collecting the liquid fertilizer, (Worm Oil). These easily handle our kitchen waste, along with a large amount of horse and cow manure, and grass cuttings. To make the grass cuttings more attractive to the worms, they are first left to dry out, then placed in barrels with a good handful or three of garden lime, and semi-dry horse manure that has been put through the garden mulcher - about three bags of grass to one bag of manure. Water is added, so that the mix is wet but not soaked, and the barrels capped and left to compost for a couple of weeks, being given a few turns each day. At the end of this process you have barrels about 1/2 full of good compost, or worm food. My theory on this is that the bacterium in the manure, which is enjoyed by the worms, has been carried right through the grass cuttings. You could buy compost tumblers for doing this, but it's cheaper to use the plastic barrels that pickles, capers and olives, etc. are transported in, and support them on castors that have perhaps fallen off a shopping trolley. (Although, if your shopping trolley wheels are anything like those used around here, it's anyone's guess where your barrel could go.) If you want to try worm farming on a small scale to start with, polystyrene boxes that are used to transport broccoli to supermarkets are also good to use as worm growing boxes, and the supermarkets are usually quite happy to part with them. (We call them 'pollycolly' boxes.) At present I am scouring the countryside for three or four more bath tubs to replace my current set-up. By installing these at a comfortable working height, I could also connect their outlets to a common collection pipe to deliver the liquid run-off to storage drums. My old worm farm boxes will then be available for teaching organic gardening at local primary schools. The worms from this project can be used to help feed the chickens, and the fish, whilst the contents of the worm boxes, vermicast, can be safely dug into the organic vegetable garden beds.

The liquid is an extremely rich fertilizer, and must be diluted (9:1) with water for use on the gardens, orchards or pastures. (You could also fill plastic containers with it, and sell it to others.) Whacko! – Another source of income!

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by farmwannabe

Martin - when you say err on the dry side, do you mean you'd rather the pile be too dry than too wet? I mixed the manure in today, and added about 10 gal of water to the pile. We don't have water at the garden (something we've got to remedy before too long...) so I use the 2.5 gal bottled water jugs to haul it up there. The pile was bone dry before mixing! I did cover it with a tarp when I was done, so that should help.

You want it damp, not wet. You can always add a bit more water but you can't take it out. The bacteria needed to break it down aren't into swimming. If you've got too much, the water is passing through the material and taking the nutrients with it. Then they don't do you any good in the ground under the pile. Compost piles can heat up to peak temperatures without the addition of a single drop of water if the green material portion of the mix has a high water content.

And how do you keep the little manure balls from rolling off the pile??? I tried to keep the pile flat as I went, but they just kept rolling off. All the rogue turds ended up on the top when I was done!

I have the same problem when building my hole mix pile. I end up pulling some loose stuff down on top of them and they're soon gone.

Martin

[MELOC]

i like the nugget control method, lol. i did the reverse this spring. i needed manure, but only had fresh with sawdust bedding as last years piles were not turned and watered enough and not fully composted. so i used the angle of repose of the pile to sort out the "pure horse nuggets" from the sawdust and i used the fresh nuggets on the garden.

i can only share my experience. i have a little trouble making compost fast with horse manure and bedding alone. it really dries out fast for me. the garden weed compost pile works really fast and i never add browns. i imagine some of the weeds dry out and get mixed in when brown, but i never add dry stuff and that pile is awesome. i think that sawdust really sucks up water and that is probably why it makes good bedding. in the future, i think i will try saturating the pile at least once to make sure the sawdust gets wet.