Hay "scraps": compost pile or separate?

[Calvincrowe]

I have a very small farmette (5 acres total, but horses/pasture/barn are on 2.5 of that with no option to expand due to topography/house). I try to purchase hay that my horses (two retired geldings at this point) will eat all up, leaving little hay waste. Currently, I am feeding a lovely first cut orchard which they eat very well, but there are some thicker stems that don’t get eaten which I think is fairly normal. It usually amounts to a few pitchforks full. I’ve avoided putting hay in my compost system as it really doesn’t break down well-- I use pelleted bedding, but it consists mostly of poop.

Do you toss hay in with your stall cleanings? Separate the hay bits and put somewhere else? I do turn my piles (3 bin system) with my tractor but it isn’t covered and I can’t water (not enough!) during the dry months. I currently have a separate pile of hay bits, chicken coop cleanings, etc.

[Simkie]

I toss that in my compost and find it breaks down well, especially if it’s kind of shaken out into a thin layer, instead of added in clumps. Probably heats up better?

[B_and_B]

Thin layer in the compost pile will work well, it will actually help by adding ‘green’ to the ‘brown’. But you want to shake it out, a clump will just sit there and rot, even if you can turn it. Compost is sort of like building a really complicated layer cake…

[Calvincrowe]

Thanks for the responses! I used to toss it all over the fence line to our neighbor’s starving cattle but they now rotate them around the weed filled nightmare farm next door, so that’s not an option very often. (and yeah, that’s a long story!). I will start holding onto some and “layer” it into my bins.

Do you guys see much waste or scraps with your horses? I always wonder if mine are just picky or ? I weigh my hay, and try hard not to overfeed, but also want them to access hay as needed…such a balancing act!

[Scribbler]

Manure despite what it looks like is “green” compost, that is high in nitrogen. Hay, despite what it looks like, is “brown” compost, that is high in carbon (like dry leaves).

You need a ratio of the two to make good compost. Therefore pure manure isn’t your best bet for composting.

Hay in compost can transmit seeds, but if you compost properly and the pile gets hot inside, it will kill off the seeds.

https://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-c…browns-greens/

[Toblersmom]

@B and B

Thin layer in the compost pile will work well, it will actually help by adding ‘green’ to the ‘brown’. But you want to shake it out, a clump will just sit there and rot, even if you can turn it. Compost is sort of like building a really complicated layer cake…

In compost-lingo, hay (and straw,fallen autumn leaves, and similar dry materials) are considered “brown”. Manure, fresh grass clippings, recently pruned twigs/leaves, and most kitchen waste (peelings, cores, carrot tops, icky outer cabbage leaves) are classed as “greens.” It has more to do with moisture content and relative nitrogen/carbon concentration than color. Bit of an academic point as you need both for optimal compost breakdown, and if you are only dealing with hay/bedding and manure as your ingredients it doesn’t matter so much which you think is which. It can become important if somebody is thinking they need to add more green to a manure-only pile for balance, when it’s actually already predominantly “green.”

[Toblersmom]

@Scribbler

Manure despite what it looks like is “green” compost, that is high in nitrogen. Hay, despite what it looks like, is “brown” compost, that is high in carbon (like dry leaves).

You need a ration of the two to make good compost. Therefore pure manure isn’t your best bet for composting.

Hay in compost can transmit seeds, but if you compost properly and the pile gets hot inside, it will kill off the seeds.

https://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-compost-browns-greens/

You type faster!

[Simkie]

@Calvincrowe

Do you guys see much waste or scraps with your horses? I always wonder if mine are just picky or ? I weigh my hay, and try hard not to overfeed, but also want them to access hay as needed…such a balancing act!

I feed in nets, so I don’t have a TON of waste, but I do have some because one mare is just queen of pulling hay out of the net and spreading it everywhere :rolleyes: Plus, I also use the loose hay from the loft in my chicken nesting boxes, so that gets added to the compost a couple times a month.

If you’re finding that your horses are picking through their hay for their “choice” bits, nets can be a great way to limit that! I use the 50" or 45" nets from Shire’s–they’re cheap, big enough for a bale, and (unless you’re looking at the greedy feeder style) don’t really slow them down. It’s more about containment. Hay is just toooooo expensive to waste!

How big are your compost piles? That might be another factor–if they’re on the smaller size (volume-wise) getting them a little bigger might help to get the temp up and really get that microbial activity cooking. My three bin system is 24’x16’ (total) and holds about a year worth of stuff all in. By the time I fill up a bin and move it over, they only hay left intact is the newest stuff at the front.

[2DogsFarm]

Advice from the World’s Laziest Composter:
Everything from my stalls goes into the same pile.
If my chicken coop was closer, that stuff - poop & shavings - would go in too.

I never turn or water my compost mountain & every Spring it heats up so that any recognizable hay is ash when I fork it into my dumpcart to spread on my veggie garden.

I feed hay year-round as my pastures are far from lush. But they do provide enough forage when grass is in so hay consumption drops steeply.
I adjust what I feed accordingly.
It’s a juggling act & there is some waste at first when Spring & grass arrive.
By now waste is minimal, & unless it has been peed upon, leavings are raked into a pile with the fresh stuff beneath in the stalls.
I feed hay off the ground.

[4horses]

My hay waste gets spread lightly on the grass and ran over with the mower. I tried composting and the pile kept getting bigger without breaking down well. Gnats like to breed in hay waste so it’s better to get rid of it. My manure is also spread on the pasture.

[clanter]

neighbors have a herd of goats, all scrap hay is pitched over the fence to waiting (demanding) goats

But we have very little wasted hay since we installed racks in the stalls and put the outside hay in what has become known as the chuckwagon which is a wheeled cart with a 100 gallon water trough in it where we put the hay in to keep it out of reach of the miniatures

[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“large”,“data-attachmentid”:10436031}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“large”,“data-attachmentid”:10436032}[/ATTACH]

[B_and_B]

Green vs brown… I tend to think of anything coming out of a stall as a brown, because I grew up with horses bedded on shavings, and inevitably ended up with an imbalance of the brown/green. But yes, the following posters are more accurate.

[2DogsFarm]

@clanter
I believe I see Death Rays emanating from that (starvingNOT!) mini’s eyes.

Hard to believe he/she has not figured out how to get into the chuckwagon… Yet?

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹My own MiniIsA4-LetterWord, if given access to the aisle & enough time, can remove the lid to the galvanized can holding 50# of oats, that I routinely have to wrestle off.
Prehensile lips :rolleyes:

[Xanthoria]

Should you put hay in your compost piles? Well, that depends.

Whats the intended use of the final product?

If it’s for a veg garden, do you compost hot enough (ie are your bins each at least 3’x3’x3’ and do you turn/water as needed) to kill grass seeds?

Do you care about grass seeds?

If spreading the results, can your spreader handle grassy bits if you DON’T compost hot / long enough to break down hay?

Do you believe that anything that can be composted SHOULD be composted? I do!

Do you have a suitable mix of green/brown waste as discussed above? I’ve bought straw bales to add “brown” to my very “green” compost bins - hay is a great alternative.

[Palm_Beach]

Most horse hay isn’t mature enough to contain actual seeds that might sprout somewhere down the line.

[clanter]

@2DogsFarm

@clanter
I believe I see Death Rays emanating from that (starvingNOT!) mini’s eyes.

Hard to believe he/she has not figured out how to get into the chuckwagon… Yet?
:

no need for the little ones (also they are only little in stature as their brains believe they are at least 15h) as the big horses will feed the little ones, a mouthful for me then here is one for you …so we have to roll the cart into a secure place when the minis are out with the big ones

But the overall waste has been reduced to near zero much to the dismay of the goats next door

[2DogsFarm]

@clanter :lol:
Until I had his stall built, my mini shared with the TWH - Benevolent Despot Leader of the Herd.
At first he bunked with the 52" Hackney, but that got old (to the pony) pretty fast.
Horse not only shares his pile of hay - to this day the little devil prefers to dine with The Boss - but lately, after finishing his own meager portion of oats, in his own stall, has started to return to horse’s stall & attempt to put his nose into the feedpan while horse is still eating.
Why he is not dead I do not know.
Horse merely lays an ear back & the little snot backs off.

On trail drives mini is generally happiest when following someone driving a Draft - gets his nose practically on the back of the big cart & keeps up, at a trot, the whole 5-6mi.
Drivers are always looking back and saying “He’s still there?!?”
Nobody has told him 34" is not the same as 18H :rolleyes: