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Horse poop

Friend owns and boards horses.... i have access to a lot of free horse poop, any reason I can't use it for planting mixed with peat and vermiculite?
 
Horse crap is amazing.  I'm about to get three truckloads of the stuff that's been composting for two years.  It's really fibrous from their diet and attracts a ton of worms...probably one of my favorite types of compost to use since it really helps loosen up the red clay here.  I've never used it hot, I would probably only try that with cow manure---they have such an advanced digestive system that it's really broken down a lot already when it comes out.  The manure spreaders have been running the fields around here for the last several weeks.
 
Will46r said:
She doesn't have any old piles, dannnggggg. I guess I'm going to call nursery suppliers in the area.
I have a suggestion since you live in the Old South...if you have any historical plantations in your area some of them may be horse farms now.  For example I live near Montpelier, the home of James Madison...they board horses for people and have piles of manure set aside that are the size of houses.  This is where I get mine from and they don't charge anything for it.  I just have to spend gas to drive about 15-20 miles to go and get it.
 
To compost horse manure, is it just a matter of piling it up...maybe covering it with a tarp, and letting it sit for several months?
 
Compost well, or you will be starting a weed plot.
Old and dried doesn't do it, has to be covered so the naturally generated heat and ammonia kills off the seeds.
Unless you want to grow grass, alfalfa and oats.
 
The land I have to farm has had sheep pastured on it for years, the problem is it is compacted and the 2 tractors I have to use need repairs. One "should" be an easy repair, the other probably needs more work. I'm gonna get this done one way or another.
 
It's a little more complicated than that. You can tarp and forget but if you turn once every couple weeks and keep the moisture right you can have that heap done by midsummer instead of next summer. Compost needs moisture and aeration to do its thing.
 
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