Uncontrolled stockpiles of horse manure can be an unsightly, smelly and fly-infested mess. Whether you are an equine enthusiast, veterinarian, or operate an equine boarding facility, handling and disposing of horse manure can pose numerous challenges. Proper manure management is important to a clean healthy facility.
Horse manure is easily broken down into usable compost. Composting is the controlled breakdown or degradation of organic material into a product known as humus. Composting makes the nutrients contained in the manure more readily available for plants to absorb. Once manure is composted it is a good soil amendment and can be sold directly from your facility to the public or used for your own personal gardens, flowerbeds, and pastures.
Manure requires three basic components for proper composting: Compost Pile Size, Moisture and Oxygen.
A proper compost pile should be long and narrow. The overall size of the pile should be small enough that you can easily stir the pile, however large enough to create a positive environment for composting. Generally, a manure pile eight feet wide by five foot tall and as long as needed. If the pile is too big, it will starve the composting process of oxygen and will slow or stop the composting process.
Compost requires moisture for the microbes in the soil to live and break down the manure. The manure should be moist, not too wet or dry. Without purchasing expensive equipment the easiest way to judge moisture in a manure pile is by hand. Dig about a foot into the side of your compost pile with a shovel and grab a hand full of your compost material. Ball your fist up with the material in your hand. When you open your hand the material should make a semi solid ball. If the material does not ball it is too dry, if it squishes between your fingers it is too wet.
Oxygen is the key to good composting. A compost pile should be turned and mixed at least once a month. This ensures that the moisture and oxygen are evenly mixed throughout the pile. Adding straw or bedding to the pile will help to keep it from becoming too thick and compacted and therefore starving the living organisms in the pile of oxygen. No oxygen, no compost.
A compost pile is a living breathing thing. With a little effort that big pile of manure can become a pile of money.
Manure should be viewed as a resource not a waste.