Horse Manure Compost - The New "In" Thing
An article on theHorse.com today caught my eye: "Kentucky Horse Farms Go Green with Composting." According to the article, over 50 horse farms in Kentucky are composting. Click here to read the article.
We've been composting that special horse by-product for well over a dozen years, and it's so easy! We simply constructed a four-bin composting area (downwind from our house -- although there is rarely any odor) using 12' x 12" x 2" treated lumber. Our simple frame sits on the ground. Each bin is approximately 6' wide x 12' long. We cart the horse manure over to one bin, slowly filling it to about 3' high. With four horses, it takes about 1-2 months to fill. Of course it fills faster in the winter if the horses aren't spending the daylight hours out in the pasture. Then -- this is very important -- we let that compost pile cure for at least 2 months. Sometimes we watch the steam come off the pile; in Ohio summers it can get pretty hot. And sometimes we have a neat crop of mushrooms growing on top! (We haven't tasted any yet...) We do our best to separate out the sawdust from the stall droppings and put them in their own bin to use for mulching our flower beds.
After the 2 month curing process we hook up our tiny trailer to the Dixon lawn mower and shovel the compost in the cart, drive over to the horse pasture and dump the compost out slowly as the trailer is driven forward. We spread it thinly over the grass. This part of the process takes some time and energy.
Now that I've started growing daylilies, I've been incorporating my special horse compost into my newly dug flower beds. The daylilies love it! I really would suggest that anyone with a horse look into growing daylilies! They are such colorful plants! WARNING: growing daylilies can be addicting!
We've been composting that special horse by-product for well over a dozen years, and it's so easy! We simply constructed a four-bin composting area (downwind from our house -- although there is rarely any odor) using 12' x 12" x 2" treated lumber. Our simple frame sits on the ground. Each bin is approximately 6' wide x 12' long. We cart the horse manure over to one bin, slowly filling it to about 3' high. With four horses, it takes about 1-2 months to fill. Of course it fills faster in the winter if the horses aren't spending the daylight hours out in the pasture. Then -- this is very important -- we let that compost pile cure for at least 2 months. Sometimes we watch the steam come off the pile; in Ohio summers it can get pretty hot. And sometimes we have a neat crop of mushrooms growing on top! (We haven't tasted any yet...) We do our best to separate out the sawdust from the stall droppings and put them in their own bin to use for mulching our flower beds.
After the 2 month curing process we hook up our tiny trailer to the Dixon lawn mower and shovel the compost in the cart, drive over to the horse pasture and dump the compost out slowly as the trailer is driven forward. We spread it thinly over the grass. This part of the process takes some time and energy.
Now that I've started growing daylilies, I've been incorporating my special horse compost into my newly dug flower beds. The daylilies love it! I really would suggest that anyone with a horse look into growing daylilies! They are such colorful plants! WARNING: growing daylilies can be addicting!
Comment
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Comment by Heather Troglauer on January 8, 2009 at 7:38pm - I just wanted to see the construction...so maybe we should wait. LOL
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Comment by Karen Brenner on January 8, 2009 at 7:03pm - I'll try to snap some photos for you in the next few days. Right now it's covered with snow! Will that be good or bad for the photos???
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Comment by Heather Troglauer on January 8, 2009 at 6:22pm
- Do you have any photos of your project? I have wanted to start composting, and this may be a great way to get into it.
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