Manure 101.

[A. Lyric]

Manure 101.



I just read an ad for “free organic horse manure”. How quickly should I grab my shovel and go?? What does organic imply when it comes to manure? Why would it be free? And how does manure from a horse compare to other manures?

 

[Meadowlark]

At 6:18 am. If true, it means it is free of any bad herbicides and/or other chemical residue.

Some trivia ...one average horse will produce 9 to10 tons of manure per year. That's a lot of horse shit! They say, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" ... but the other end produces great garden amendments.

It is very similar to cow and is best to be composted to kill any/all weed seeds and pathogens before application.

 

[A. Lyric]

If true, it means it is free of any bad herbicides and/or other chemical residue.

Yeah. If true. I'm a little concerned about that and pretty sure I won't be able to tell by looking. It's about an hour's drive, but worth it, if true.

one average horse will produce 9 to10 tons of manure per year

Holy Toledo! If this ad poster has a lot of horses, I can see why he wants to get rid of it!

best to be composted to kill any/all weed seeds and pathogens before application.

Hhhhmm. He didn't say it was composted. As ususal, thank you, Meadowlark!

 

[redback]

You might be required to clean stables. I did it once - when i was about thirty something. An old bloke had been left with all the horses the owners had agisted and then left. We got to lower the floor level in six stables by about a foot each one. The manure at the bottom was aged.

 

[oneeye]

Super for the garden after it's composted. If it's wet it's heavy and you won't be able to get very much in a common truck bed. Horse stalls must be cleaned regularly or the horse's hoof will have problems. It's very hard work and that's why it's free.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

There are herbicides used on grass that go straight through animals unaltered. Organic should mean they are not in there, but if they are y ou could not be able to grow anything but grasses for a couple of years. Fill some pots with it and put beans in them, if they grow properly you should be OK. If they don't then you can stack it for a couple of years to let the herbicides break down, that's no bad thing to do anyway if it is fresh, though maybe not that long if it is clean

 

[redback]

There are herbicides used on grass that go straight through animals unaltered. Organic should mean they are not in there, but if they are y ou could not be able to grow anything but grasses for a couple of years. Fill some pots with it and put beans in them, if they grow properly you should be OK. If they don't then you can stack it for a couple of years to let the herbicides break down, that's no bad thing to do anyway if it is fresh, though maybe not that long if it is clean

That's right. I laid it thickly on the beds and let the grass come up first before planting it. There usually is quite a lot of grass seeds in it.

 

[oneeye]

That's right. I laid it thickly on the beds and let the grass come up first before planting it. There usually is quite a lot of grass seeds in it.

You are right that's why it should be composted well first.

 

[roadrunner]

Organic is one of the most used and abused terms. However, I'd be more worried about persistent pesticides being in the manure. Even if the owner doesn't spray the horse field with this type of manure, if he bought some hay from a farmer that used this persistent pesticide, it will be in the manure and can last in your garden for at least a year.

There are many examples out there about this problem, but here's just one example

 

[A. Lyric]

You are right that's why it should be composted well first.

Okay, if it was composted horse manure, I'm thinking that would have been mentioned in the ad, so I suspect it isn't composted.

I am given “bunny berries” from one pet rabbit. And I have a stackable worm bin that provides vermicompost. When I plant, I put a bit of vermicompost in each hole. I toss the bunny manure on the garden. I'm actually not sure what each does/does not provide in the way of soil health, how best to use it, if it's enough, etc. I've read precious little about either one on the forum.

 

[pepper]

Okay, if it was composted horse manure, I'm thinking that would have been mentioned in the ad, so I suspect it isn't composted.

I am given “bunny berries” from one pet rabbit. And I have a stackable worm bin that provides vermicompost. When I plant, I put a bit of vermicompost in each hole. I toss the bunny manure on the garden. I'm actually not sure what each does/does not provide in the way of soil health, how best to use it, if it's enough, etc. I've read precious little about either one on the forum.

If you have the contact info for this person you should text or call asking if you are going to be getting it from a composted pile or cleaning out the stable collecting fresh stuff. If it's fresh I wouldn't bother driving an hour to get it, it will be heavy as horse sh*t lol, as someone else mentioned. Also I would never add fresh manure to my garden for many reasons, weed seeds in horse manure being one of them as mentioned above.

Organic is one of the most used and abused terms. However, I'd be more worried about persistent pesticides being in the manure. Even if the owner doesn't spray the horse field with this type of manure, if he bought some hay from a farmer that used this persistent pesticide, it will be in the manure and can last in your garden for at least a year.

I keep hearing lately about pesticides and herbicides being in manure and no doubt in my mind it is, if we people can't get away from it being in our own food from the grocery stores then animals are just as likely to be eating stuff that was sprayed too. But if it only stays in the garden for a year or two then how long could it possibly last in manure if it's piled, aged and composted, being out in the elements? I've never ran into a problem using manure and I fill my truck for the garden and compost piles with aged horse manure and knowing the farmer I get it from it's highly unlikely his horses are organic lol. But I just don't see it being a problem in any manure unless it's fresh. If it was that easy to wipe out weeds and pests farmers wouldn't be spending the money having to soak their crops with it year after year, they would spray it every few years or so and that's full strength mix, not diluted in manure being rinsed with rain while it slowly composts in a pile.

Even all the stuff that I buy in grocery stores is always sprayed, I never buy expensive organic stuff. And whatever I don't eat always ends up in my compost, so with or without manure, herbicides and pesticides are getting into my garden. But at a level so low it does no harm at all after its all composted.

 

[cpp gardener]

Yes, it's very important to compost horse manure. They have very inefficient digestive systems and lots o seeds pass right through. Ruminants like cows have much more efficient digestive systems and hardly any seeds pass through undigested.

 

[Meadowlark]

There are many examples out there about this problem, but here's just one example

I don't normally view these videos posted here but this one is worth watching all the way through. He nails it re Grazon. "The chemicals of greatest concern are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid because they can remain active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure and compost for an unusually long time." ..."breakdown can take as long as three to four years."

Composting helps but it certainly is no guarantee. Those chemicals persist through composting. It completely baffles me how any conscientious gardener can just dismiss this as low-level contamination.

The best thing you can do if you are importing manure is to ask the producer if they use any of those chemicals particularly Grazon. Most will give you an honest answer. Do you believe for a second that the big box stores selling bagged poison will give you an honest answer?

The effects can be subtle, not necessarily total death to everything growing. You may see just reduced production and not understand why. You might see a plant here and there with visible effects and dismiss it. No, it isn't worth the gamble...just ask the supplier.

p.s. I did note that the person in that video was walking around barefooted while collecting samples...clearly not someone with any experience with cattle!!

 

[pepper]

I don't normally view these videos posted here but this one is worth watching all the way through. He nails it re Grazon. "The chemicals of greatest concern are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid because they can remain active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure and compost for an unusually long time." ..."breakdown can take as long as three to four years."

Composting helps but it certainly is no guarantee. Those chemicals persist through composting. It completely baffles me how any conscientious gardener can just dismiss this as low-level contamination.

The best thing you can do if you are importing manure is to ask the producer if they use any of those chemicals particularly Grazon. Most will give you an honest answer. Do you believe for a second that the big box stores selling bagged poison will give you an honest answer?

The effects can be subtle, not necessarily total death to everything growing. You may see just reduced production and not understand why. You might see a plant here and there with visible effects and dismiss it. No, it isn't worth the gamble...just ask the supplier.

p.s. I did note that the person in that video was walking around barefooted while collecting samples...clearly not someone with any experience with cattle!!

But you are making it sound a lot easier then it actually is. First you have to find a farmer who doesn't spread their manure over their own garden and crops. The ones who don't do that most likely don't have crops to feed their horses or pigs, sheep goats whatever they have so they buy it, usually as cheap as they can get it. I don't think many of them care if it's organic or not, and even if they do it doesn't mean the person selling them the feed is straight on the Bible 100% honest and going to say "yes, I saturate my soil with chemicals. Even just for a person like the OP to find free manure is hard enough when you live in the city and don't know any farmers, but finding someone truthful these days who isn't out to make a buck is not all that easy and it's a guess if someone is being honest with you unless you know them. It's not a matter of simply accepting there is more likely then not small amounts of chemicals in the manure, it's just accepting there probably is.

 

[Meadowlark]

But you are making it sound a lot easier then it actually is.

No one said anything about it being easy.

What are you advocating? Don't ask, don't tell? The more we ask, the more we bring the issue into focus.

Personally, I abhor the attitude of "just accepting"... But to each their own.