Is Manure Happening to You?

If you care for horses on your own place, then you have no doubt wondered what to do with that huge mound of manure and stall waste generated by your horse. One horse can create a serious pile in no time - about 50 pounds of manure per day, more than eight tons per year. Add to that the wheelbarrow or more of bedding you use each day, and in no time at all you will have a virtual manure mountain.

A traditional manure pile behind the barn raises other concerns besides the amount of space it eats up. Horses allowed to graze near their own manure are quickly reinfested by larva that hatch from the worm eggs deposited in the manure. Runoff from soggy manure piles can cause serious surface and ground-water contamination problems. And you will have associated odor and fly problems, which may concern your neighbors as well.

But you have many great options for managing manure, many of which conventional farmers previously used. All manure management options start with two important components:

1) Cleaning stalls and picking up the manure in paddocks, pens and turnout areas on a regular basis, at least every three days. This helps to break the parasite reinfestation cycle and gets the manure into your management program and out of the threat of becoming a mud or an environmental problem.

2) Covering your manure pile or bin, if you live where moisture is a problem. This can be done with a tarp, plastic sheet or roof. The cover controls moisture, keeping your piles from becoming a soggy mess in the winter and too dry in the summer. Covering also prevents the valuable nutrients you're saving for the pasture from being washed out into the surface water and causing problems.

Begin with those two components and then choose one of the management options below.

Store manure and apply it to pastures.
Advantages: Manure is a great fertilizer. Applying manure back to pastures (at the agronomic rate appropriate for your land) creates a natural nutrient cycle that will save you money and greatly improve your soil and the plants that grow on it. Your local county extension agent can provide specific information about the best time and rate to apply manure so that you are providing nutrients when your pasture most needs them. One horse produces about $150 in fertilizer value each year. If you have enough pasture and don't want to go through the composting process, you may be able to dispose of all your manure this way. This method is also fairly easy and labor-efficient to accomplish.

Disadvantages: You'll need to have a good deworming program in place, and if you have too much bedding in your manure, you may have to add a source of nitrogen to your pile. Also, if you don't have enough pasture, you may not have enough room to spread all of the manure. Storage space can be an issue, depending on how frequently you spread and how many horses you have. Composting can be a great solution to these problems.

Costs: All you need with this option is a way to spread the manure and enough land to apply it at a rate appropriate for your pastures. (Tip: Check around in your area. You may be able to hire someone locally to come in and do this for you.)

Apply composted manure to pastures, gardens and flowerbeds
Advantages: When done properly, composting reduces the amount of manure you have by about 50%. The composting process also kills worm eggs, pathogens, fly larvae and weed seeds while providing a valuable soil amendment. (See Making Horse Manure into Fertilizer, April 2004)

Disadvantages: Composting takes more time, labor and money than stockpiling. And, while it's not difficult, it will require a certain amount of education on the process.