The manure pile should be located in a dry, flat area as far away from downspouts, ditches, streams, rivers, wetlands, ponds, and the property line as possible. Water plus manure makes a muddy mess for you, and can be a source of water pollution.
Horse manure can also be used in throughout the year and needs no special treatment. Just scatter it over your garden area and work it into the soil. It's as simple as that! Horse manure can be a great way to give your garden a boost.
Cover your manure pile with a heavy tarp and good weights to hold it down against strong wind. You will keep the beneficial nutrients and you will not be polluting streams or groundwater.
Minimum depth should be 8 feet; 8- to 20-foot depths are typical, depending on animal numbers, runoff area, the slope of the site, and underground geology. Pits deeper than 8 feet offer these advantages: A smaller surface area requiring less land.
Manure that is piled and left alone will decompose slowly. This can take three to four months if conditions are ideal. It can take a year or more if the starting material contains a wide carbon:nitrogen ratio (as is the case when manure contains wood chips).
The more you turn, the faster you reach the end result. Turning the pile can be done by hand or with a front-end loader. Increase the surface area by chopping, shredding, or breaking up the material speeds up the composting process. If the compost lacks oxygen, it will have a bad odor.
“Composted horse manure is a great source of slow-release soil nutrients for a pasture or garden,” says Caitlin Price Youngquist, PhD, a soil scientist and an area Extension educator for the University of Wyoming, in Worland. All organic matter, including manure and bedding, decomposes eventually.
Blending manure into the top layer of topsoil will help encourage root growth and health because the manure is packed full of nutrients. The main nutrient released is nitrogen which is needed for plants and vegetables to grow in a sustainable manner.
Pathogens, begin to die once incorporated into garden soil, and research has shown that incorporating manure at least 120 days before harvest greatly reduces risks of food borne illness.
Adding too much manure can lead to nitrate leaching, nutrient runoff, excessive vegetative growth and, for some manures, salt damage. And using fresh manure where food crops are grown poses risks for contamination with disease-causing pathogens.
Using manure
You can use manure onsite by spreading it as a fertilizer on an open area, pasture or field. You can also haul manure offsite for fertilizing or composting. Use caution when spreading manure on pastures grazed by horses. Don't spread manure on pastures if there are more than 1 horse per 2 acres.
Turning once a week or once every two weeks had generally lower decomposition rates. To maintain a thermophilic pile (pile with high heat), it should be turned every three to four days, or when the temperature drops below 104 F. However, if most of the material has been decomposed, less frequent turning is adequate.
Don't Use Fresh Manure
If the manure is from a plant-eating animal, it is probably also full of weed seeds, which will not be inhibited from sprouting. If you still want to make use of fresh manure, don't apply it after your garden has been planted.
Vegetable root crops such as beets, carrots, radishes, and potatoes are particularly sensitive to adding horse manure. Salad greens are another vegetable type that can be damaged or burned by applying horse muck to the soil.
Any time between now and March is fine to add horse manure to your beds and borders provided it's well rotted, if it's fresher, you should apply it in autumn and let the winter weather take some of the raw strength out of it before planting.
Horse manure
Horse manure has a higher nitrogen and nutrient content than cow dung. Moreover, horse waste contains significantly less water than cow manure; therefore, it can include up to twice as much nitrogen when dried. Horse manure requires composting or aging to kill weed seeds, larvae, and pathogens.
Apply nutrients in the spring just before growth starts. Avoid using manures and fertilisers in late summer or autumn where they may be lost over winter and pollute water bodies.
Cow manure is a great all-purpose fertilizer. It's low in nitrogen so it won't burn your tender plants, and has a good balance of nutrients. What's more, since a cow's four stomachs digest its food so thoroughly, very few weed seeds make it through, so you don't have to worry about them.
Decomposition will be complete anywhere from two weeks to two years depending on the materials used, the size of the pile, and how often it is turned. Compost is ready when it has cooled, turned a rich brown color, and has decomposed into small soil-like particles. Step 5. Use the compost.
One of the best ways to use manure as plant fertilizer is by mixing it in with compost. Composting manure eliminates the possibility of burning the plants. Another option is to till it into the soil prior to spring planting, such as during fall or winter. Generally, fall is the best time to use manure in the garden.
Traditionally, gardeners dig well-rotted manure into their soil. However, we recommend taking a no-dig approach, which helps keep the soil ecosystem intact. In no-dig gardening, compost is not dug in, but is spread as a mulch over the surface of the soil.
Fresh, non-composted manure will generally have a higher nitrogen (N) content than composted manure. However, the use of composted manure will contribute more to the organic matter content of the soil. Fresh manure is high in soluble forms of N, which can lead to salt build-up and leaching losses if over applied.
Ideally, manure should be removed from stalls daily. If allowed to accumulate in stalls, it can attract flies, harbor parasites and pathogens, increase the risk of thrush and other hoof- related problems, and generate offensive odors. Exercise paddocks may need weekly cleaning.
Manure not only piles up quickly, it is also a haven for parasites, leading to an infestation of flies and other insects and can even attract rodents. Thus, it is imperative every horse owner has a solid manure management plan.
When is it ready? So how long does it take to compost horse manure? Generally, it'll take three to six months for horse manure to turn into compost. The NRCS says this allows fertilizer nutrients to stabilize and weed seeds to be killed.