I have four of my own, so no need for yours.
What do you even mean by “low on the compostable list” ?
And yet another thread reminding me how much I loved Deltawave’s posts and how much I miss them.
Horse poop is a good source of carbon for composting (Brown), but way light on Nitrogen (Green). Or maybe the other way around, I don’t recall. But the material I have read on the subject (from the CSU “Extension” service) years ago suggests that you have to add a significant amount of vegetative waste to the manure mix for efficient composting. And then the material needs to be managed to maintain appropriate internal temperatures (needs to be a large volume), and it needs to maintain a certain moisture content (far higher than ambient around here). IIRC, the recommendation was for three composting bins, requiring significant tractor time maintaining said arrangement. I’m a retired EE/Research Scientist, not a farmer. The Missus is also an EE, and (seriously) a Rocket Scientist. She raises Orchids, African Violets, and assorted other house plants. That being the sum total of our agricultural pursuits, tons of compost aren’t really of much interest. If the poop-pile would mostly compost on it’s own, I would spread the resulting material in the pastures, where it might do some good, but as it stands, it’s easier and neater to just haul it off periodically.
One.More.Time.
I take no issue whatsoever with your lack of interest in constructing and maintaining a compost pile.
I merely take exception to the incorrect information you put out.
I’m aware that one needs both “green” and “brown” material. Easily enough done.
And no, it does not need to be particularly high volume if constructed properly.
I have some passing familiarity with what goes into an optimally constructed compost pile, having covered it in several of the classes I took to get my BS in sustainable food and farming from one of the top programs in the country, as well as personal experience.
Honestly, it ain’t rocket science.
Fair enuf; I have edited the post.
Sorry for continuing the hijack but I had to chime in on the composing discussion.
Horse manure itself is pretty much the ideal thing to compost. Straight out of the horse it has the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio and moisture level for easy composting. Where things get a little more complicated is when you throw a bunch of bedding in so your carbon goes way up, or if as noted your climate leads to too dry or wet conditions.
Last fall we built a 2 bay concrete manure bunker with a roof (3 would have been ideal but we didn’t have the room) thanks to help from a county watershed grant. When not on pasture my horses live in a paddock with a run-in so no bedding (they are stalled on occasion), so it’s pretty much just poop and a tiny bit of waste hay.
Even with the minimal amount of turning/aerating I’ve done so far and not paying too much attention to the moisture levels (we’re not an arid climate though) in about 6 months it’s beautiful compost. Next summer I will hopefully have a little more time to play around with things to shorten the time to just a couple of months.
Fantastic video on composting horse manure, including on a smaller scale without access to equipment: Horse Manure Compositing - Ecology Action
On the original topic, I have second-hand embarrassment for the people who lack enough self-awareness to think that leaving horse poop in/near somebody’s driveway is totally fine. Even if they would be totally fine with horse poop in their driveway (and the subsequent mess with driving/walking through it), the general population is not.
We compost a mixture of straight horse manure, chicken manure mixed with mulch (we bed the chicken runs with bark mulch) and leaves and grass clippings.
It’s in a pile, not a pit, and gets thoroughly turned with a front end loader once a month. It turns into solid black crumbly can grow anything soil in about 9 months.
They key for us is to have enough volume in the pile to generate enough heat to effectively break things down,
Other than spending the 30 minutes once a month to turn it, it’s no work. I mean, we’re already mucking, picking manure, cleaning the chicken pens, mowing and blowing leaves, it’s not any more work to put it all in the same pile.
I think composting is tough for a small 2 horse household because it’s tough to get the volume to generate the heat that will break it down.
Horse manure does contain tetanus.
Clostridium tetani spores are ubiquitous in the environment.
Interesting discussion- a group of my friends have had a tradition of decking out ourselves and our horses with Christmas lights and riding through a local subdivision on Christmas Eve, singing carols. People really seemed to love it. We have so many running out with carrots to feed the horses, people taking pictures, kids with absolute joy in their faces, etc. We loved doing it but I never had one thought about manure. Obviously the horses must have dropped some piles but I don’t recall seeing any or thinking about it! Well, a few years ago a Karen was up in arms on NextDoor about a manure pile left in in the road front of her house obviously from us and it was quite the controversial thread. I was personally flabbergasted because I truly never thought about a simple pile of horse manure causing such an uproar and IMO, putting a dark cloud over a lovely event. We didn’t do the ride last year because of the bad feeling associated with it now. If we ever do it again, we will certainly drive back on the way home and look for piles and pick them up- this would not be at all a difficult thing to do but just something that hadn’t occurred to me before. I’m a person who tends to be non confrontational and relaxed about things that people around me do, (I would much rather take a few seconds to take care of something myself than bitch about it to the person who caused it) but I’m definitely seeing the manure thing in a different light now!
Manure is my life. I have horses, sheep and a couple of elderly Highland cattle that free-range around our house during the winter months (starting Thanksgiving DAY ). And chickens and guinea fowl about everywhere all the time. City/suburban people who visit, and the random contractor, are so funny to watch giving wide berth to poop piles on the driveway from their vehicle to our house. I don’t even see it. I don’t even smell it. It’s just… well part of my lifestyle.
I can see how squeamish a person with no exposure to the poopiness of livestock would be. And i sympathize with OP. I don’t know if i would come back and pickup, maybe if i knew my horse pooped on someone’s actual driveway!.. But i ride on my own farm or at a training barn, so i just don’t know how i’d react. When i used to ride in Golden Gate Park, horse poop was OK whereever you went on bridle trails. The bikers hated it, and us! But, back then, they weren’t supposed to be on bridle trails anyway. It was a war. They had their trails, we had ours. As far as i know, we stuck to our trails, though there were many more of them, and they were mostly entitled, often aggressive, younger males who seemed to get some kind of a thrill to come buzzing past without any heads-up warning.
He he, I desensitized my horse to bikes (not recommended - by riding my bike with him loose in the ring), and he forever after got amped when he saw bikers and wanted to gallop off with them. If I were a bike rider, unfamiliar with horses, that would be intimidating to have a horse gallop up to me.
Animals will eat it? (The comment in the screen shot above.)
What have I been doing wrong all this time? My manure pile only grows. No one is eating it.
Don’t you have dogs?? Frozen or unfrozen ( new) horse poop is a delicacy for some dogs!
I do have dogs.
I assume most neighborhoods do not have bands of dogs running around eating manure piles and I highly doubt anyone walking their dog on a leash is going to let them stand there and snack on a manure pile.
Awww… I’ve missed the SEU presence on FB
I had joined, even competed (& placed!) in some of their Shitshows.
Alas, not a single canine here at 2 Dogs Farm.
My pile lives Au Naturel, behind the fenceline, where my lazyass began dumping it nearly 20yrs ago. AFAIK, nothing eats any of it.
If I ever reached the very bottom, I’m willing to bet it could rival any expensive garden center bagged product.
I cart around the top 25% away each Spring to add to my Raised Bed veg plot.
Where it tops the stall cleanings dumped there each Fall, that have done their own composting beneath the snow.
A neighbor takes around 1/3 of the pile for his garden.
Manure from my chickens is scooped using one of those kitty litter shovels & gets flung just outside the coop.
Where the grass flourishes, getting near kneehigh
The entire original comment is, “it’s biodegradable animals will eat it”. The same could be said for a dead coyote; not many homeowners would like that, either.
My pile lives Au Naturel, behind the fenceline, where my lazyass began dumping it nearly 20yrs ago. AFAIK, nothing eats any of it.
To be more precise-- My dogs only go for fresh manure ( frozen or unfrozen) as the need arises . My In-Laws dog also has a passion for rolling in it ( thankfully mine do not)…
My manure pile goes untouched.
Hello again, it’s been awhile since I’ve been here but thought I’d update on the topic. The horse farm went up for sale and was sold to a new owner the beginning of March. The new folks have been really good so far, they moved in with a few of their horses and quickly had the place full of new horses and riders. I met one of the ladies that owns the place a few weeks ago as her and another rider were passing by. I stood and chatted with them for 15 or so minutes about the neighborhood and their farm and the issues I was having with the previous owners about the poops left behind. She assured me that it would be cleaned up and would make sure that it happened in a timely fashion. So far they have been really good about it, and the new riders seem much nicer. It still amazes me how much a horse can poop in one pile and that for some reason they love to go when they pass by my place. But there doing great at picking it up and I enjoy seeing them pass thru and chatting with them as neighbors not enemies! So happy to deal with reasonable real people.