@Heritagefarms that’s sounds like a plan. Funny how things sound so much easier when you have a tractor. These old arthritic shoulders don’t like turning compost every two days.
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QFT
Horse manure is an available resource which should be capitalized on in appropriate, local applications.
It is a great addition to thermophilic composting regimes, and a valuable deep mulching tool during off-season; applied to beds and fields before winter, to protect soil. However, much of the fertility is leeched away in rains, and so manures of any kind should be kept covered at all times.
I consider horse manure safe for the compost pile after three months or when worms are evident, and safe for the garden after composting or aged alone one year.
Horse manure is a great tool for winter gardening. Fresh manure is collected from the horse’s rear in winter and deposited in deep trenches and buried promptly. The heat from the fresh manure many feet below, and the heat from its continued anaerobic decomposition, safely warms the topsoil above. This method was famously used by the French in the 1600’s (along with cloches) to remedy food security concerns encountered during ‘The Little Ice Age’. The ‘hot beds’ as they were called were protected and used to start seed early, to extend the production season.
I’m a fan of horse manure because it is freely available here. Many neighbours own heritage breeding businesses, stables, work horses, and hobby horses. Almost every one of my neighbours has horses. So there is a lot of manure around here for the taking; several times I have been offered to help myself to unlimited (well, indefinite) amounts.
I use horse manure to weigh down cardboard in the establishment of new zero-cost gardens, particularly when converting thorny brush into annual produce space. With free cardboard from between pallets (no tape, dyes, or staples), it takes minutes to lay out. Free horse manure forked on 12" or thicker to weigh it all down. If tarpage is available, cover it all up for winter. Come back in Spring, and at most it is a little light raking to knock down any weeds, and you can plant right into it. I typically do squash or potatoes for first year beds/rows, or corn+trailing soybeans for fields; large seeds with large roots that will shade the soil and leave behind organic matter is what you want.
However the cow has four stomachs to the horse’s one. They both eat the same hay. One defecates a liquid goo that is weeks away from becoming humus. The other defecates matted clumps of grass which may persist on surface soil for months or even years.
"The rumen efficiently extracts nutrients from food other animals cannot digest. For this reason, cows can eat plant materials (such as seed coats, shells, and stems) that remain after grains are harvested for human consumption.
Cows are known as “ruminants” because the largest pouch of the stomach is called the rumen. Imagine a large 55-gallon trashcan. In a mature cow, the rumen is about the same size! Its large size allows cows to consume large amounts of grass. After filling up on grass, cows find a place to lie down to more thoroughly chew their food. “But they have already eaten,” you might be thinking. This is true, but cows are able to voluntarily “un-swallow” their food. This process of swallowing, “un-swallowing”, re-chewing, and re-swallowing is called “rumination,” or more commonly, “chewing the cud.” Rumination enables cows to chew grass more completely, which improves digestion."
-src: fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/how-cows-eat-grass
Heavy applications of manure turned our moss+gravel plot into a deep garden bed pretty quickly.
But it has now been a few years since I used any manure in my established gardens. I have fertile garden beds which I just maintain with generous mulching. (Woodchips, maple leaves, seaweed.)
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I’m so jealous! I’d love to have something like that. Do you have chickens? What’s the trick with that stuff? We have chickens but I haven’t messed with the poop yet cuz I read it will burn your plants. Does it have to dry for a few months as well? I’ve heard about a tea you can make with the chicken poo but haven’t experimented yet. Don’t want to hurt any of my veggies or my happy trees
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FWIW, horse manure can be hit & miss.
So much goes through a horse’s digestive tract whole. You can end up with seeds and all sorts of bugs, so I really don’t recommend it for indoor use. I’m 100% sure I brought thrips, horseflies, black flies and spider mites into my clean room via horse poop a couple of years ago…never again.
Also some farmers cut the smell of their manure pile with lime and sell/give it away as ‘aged’. The PH issues this causes aren’t worth the hassle IMO.
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We do have chickens but there coop clean out material gets mixed into a giant compost pile, chicken manure on its own is very strong and can definitely burn plants. I would recommend composting it for at least a few months if not a year and then add that compost as a top dress or mix it with your native soil to improve it , but yea be careful with chicken and cow manur , horse manure is mostly fiber and is no where near as hot as the others.
@Yetigrows you nailed it on the head I definitely would not use it on indoor plants unless it has been composted into dirt. It is poop after all and will attract all kinds of little critters.
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Also can have health risks if not properly used, this is why there are ecoli outbreaks in things like lettuce, leafy greens should only be grown in very mature soils or with compost that you know hit a certain tempature for a length of time. My compost pile gets so hot I have to turn it and water it to prevent it from catching on fire. It bellows smoke and stern when I turn it so I know all viruses and seed are cooked to death.
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I had a horse ranch for a few years. Horses are vegetarian so their poop doesn’t stink like other species.
We had 50+ acres of pasture, but too many horses to leave one empty to grow our own hay (insert crazy horse lady ex-gf comment here 
). We spent so much cash on round and square bales to feed them that it was crucial to grow as much grass as we could to minimize the cost. That meant buying a manure spreader.
We had a 10 stall barn and would pull the tractor in with the spreader behind it. As you clean out the occupied stalls you pick out the shit (there will be some pine shavings from their bedding mixed in) and dump it into the spreader. When it’s full, drive the tractor through the fields while the spreader evenly disburses its contents in a thin layer. It’s excellent fertilizer when used correctly.
I’m actually on very good terms with my ex who still runs that farm. I live a couple of hours away now so it isn’t practical for me to get any from her…
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Your absolutely right. Iv had good luck with sheep manure lately with chicken poo as a top dress
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Sounds like the mix they use in covelo … are you in Mendocino ? lol
My buddy up there swears by pig and sheep shit mixed with pine needles and broken down into this black oily top dressing.
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Yep we have tractors and all those fancy pull behind back saving Tools, I’m just trying to convince the people who own the place how to use everything correctly. There from the city and bought a old ranch now I’m making it come to life again.
I’m currently having the herd rotation discussion because they think you can only have 3 cows per acre and it’s making me lose my mind a little, I want 10 per acre with a 3month rotation between 4 paddocks.
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Lol no I’m not. Sheep poo is good stuff fresh or composted. Black as coal either way. It’s not hot fresh so you can apply it whenever
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I read somewhere that rabbit and sheep/goat manure is the best.
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We happen to have a mix of goats ,horses , cows, chickens, and a couple donkeys so I get a little bit of everything in the mix 
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Rabbit manure is very high in nitrogen. People use it in compost teas for a nitrogen boost.
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My kids had a Giant Flemish Rabbit for years. Pooped a ton. I had enough to put on my garden…indoors and out. It was amazing for making earthworm castings. It’s not a “hot” manure and is very light and fluffy after passing through a worm bin.
I’ve also used alpaca manure before from a local farm. It’s not hot at all and can go directly on plants or into a worm bin.
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All information I read on fresh rabbit manure is its supposed to be hotter then chicken poo.
Sounds like rabbit poo is the shit!
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Cool article. I wasn’t aware of the comparisons to the other manures. I need to grow some rabbits.
It said it has more of everything than the others but IS NOT hot and can be used immediately without composting. That’s pretty cool. I wonder if I could sell the rabbits for meat and recycle them through. I doubt they would do winter here well, at least without shelter with protection.
I had a friend that raised them for him and his buddies for meat. They also split the costs and meat from raising one steer a year also. it made lots of sense and you have organically raised meat. I’ve just never been a livestock farmer much. Might be fun.
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Fun? No. There’s a reason cattle are stupid. Stupid cattle taste better.
I READ that you could put your worm farm direct under the rabbit hutches…buti haven’t tried it.
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