Manure management - Update: tell me about composting

[Weezer]

I currently muck my four stalls and the barnyard into a manure pile that gets hauled away once per year. During the summer I harrow the pasture once or twice a week instead of picking it. I recently learned about Newer Spreaders and I’m wondering if I could just spread every load and not have a pile at all. I have 5 acres of pasture that is divided up and rotated for grazing. I have 4 horses. Could I spread the manure in a pasture that is resting and then stop spreading for a week or two before I rotate them over to that field? I like the idea of not having a manure pile that attracts and breeds flies. I’d still have a pile accumulate over the winter but I could spread that once everything thaws out.

Does anyone do this? Is it a hassle to hook up the little spreader every couple of days?

[Foxglove]

I think your acreage is too small to support manure spread from 4 horses. Depending on where you live, I think (not an expert) you would “burn” your grass --kill it or turn it yellow with excessive manure/bedding application.

My biggest concern would be the spreader —unless you want to fork the manure into a pile, then weekly or twice a week do a second fork into the spreader you are planning to directly put the manure into the spreader daily, then every so often (when it is full) spread the full load. This leads to the chain mechanism that runs from the PTO to the spreader blades to corrode very quickly. You would be frequently replacing chains, I think.

[S1969]

I would be less concerned with “burning” your pastures as I would be making the pasture less desirable for grazing by putting manure on it. Most horses avoid manure while grazing, which is why they have “bathroom areas/roughs” and greens. I don’t know how they would treat manure that was spread everywhere - my horses still avoid the roughs from last fall when they get turned back onto pasture in the late spring.

But also, from my experience, the manure pile is not where flies are being bred. If you really look for where flies are attracted - it’s stalls and turnout areas where there is fresh manure. My manure pile really never has flies in it. Maybe it’s too hot, or possibly the combination of manure and bedding is just not that attractive from a fly egg-laying perspective.

[stb]

I have a Newer Spreader and it is very quick and easy to hook up and use. I pull mine with a golf cart. There is no chain with a NS, it is ground driven. I will say that I do not store manure in my spreader, I spread it directly after filling the spreader.

Having said that, 5 acres and 4 horses doesn’t leave you much room to rest your pastures, so I wouldn’t recommend putting manure out on your pastures. I also wouldn’t recommend putting shavings or other bedding material out on your pastures. Personally, I have found that putting wood products out on my pastures made my grass worse, not better.

If I have a pasture that I know I won’t use for several weeks then I will sometimes spread manure out on the pasture - but it is manure only and no bedding material. I have 2 horses and a pony on 4.5 acres (divided into 4 pastures) and I find that it is really difficult to find a time that I can devote to putting manure out on a pasture and giving it time to get dried out and rained in. Also, my horses are only out on pasture about 8 hours daily.

[Weezer]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I do appreciate it. I suspected I might not have enough land to spread the manure so thanks for confirming that!

[PaddockWood]

Do you have a tractor and front end loader? If so, what about the idea of composting?

[Weezer]

I don’t have a tractor. The system I have now works but the farmer who hauls away my manure is starting to talk about retiring so I’m trying to think of ways to become more self-sufficient rather than having to build new relationships. I put a lot of effort into building relationships with the people who provide services for my farm and the thought of having to start all over is a bit exhausting. Buying a tractor isn’t an option because I don’t have anywhere to store it and it’s way too windy here to set up one of those tarp shelters to park under.

[SugarCubes]

@stb

I also wouldn’t recommend putting shavings or other bedding material out on your pastures. Personally, I have found that putting wood products out on my pastures made my grass worse, not better.

Interesting about the shavings, what kind do you use? I recently ordered a Newer spreader and am anxiously awaiting it’s delivery. I have plenty of room to spread that is NOT pasture, but was hoping it would improve my pastures by spreading on them, I’m a little bummed to hear that may not be the case!

OP, I hear you on trying to find a more self-sufficient solution. I’m in the same boat, which is why I ordered the spreader. The guy who used to haul it away retired, and the other quotes I’ve gotten have been unreasonably high. Nearly would have paid for the price of the spreader just to get it hauled off one time

What about renting a dumpster? I did that for a couple of years when we were on smaller acreage. It was super reasonable and tremendously reduced the number of flies on our property.

[Weezer]

Renting a dumpster is an interesting idea. Was this an annual rental of a dumpster that was regularly emptied? Was it a fully enclosed dumpster with a lid at the top? I’m having trouble picturing this.

I could possibly spread the manure on trails that I maintain on my neighbour’s property but then I’d need to but an ATV or something to haul the spreader because my truck is too wide for the trails. Now that’s getting expensive too!

[saddleup]

I rent a 3 yard dumpster, with a lid, that’s emptied weekly. It’s $125/month. I have 3 horses, who are bedded on pine shavings. The dumpster is usually about 3/4 full. In order to get a dumpster I had to sign an annual contract, and had to do it in my business name since they didn’t offer the service to residential accounts. Where I used to live it wasn’t a problem to do a residential pick up, but this is a different company in a different county. I tried to haul my own manure to the dump in a 14 foot dump trailer, which worked well until winter hit, and I couldn’t get the frozen manure to slide out of the trailer at the dump. That’s when I found that weekly pick up was an option.

[Simkie]

Do you have any desire for a tractor? We use ours ALL the time and can’t see having a farm without it. Having a tractor gives you more options for manure management.

We have a three bin compost system for manure, which works great. Finished compost is used nearly entirely as fill around the property, but could be spread to improve the pastures. Or given away/sold.

But really don’t think it would be feasible without the tractor!

[SugarCubes]

Our normal trash company offers dumpster rentals, it was $40/month for weekly pickup. I don’t remember what size (it was a normal square dumpster with a lid you’d see at like an apartment complex or business) and it would usually be about 2/3 full from daily mucking of three stalls, dry lots, and pasture.

I would definitely recommend calling any waste management companies in your area and seeing what they offer. You can even have a pad for it dug into a hillside so you could just dump your wheelbarrow right into the dumpster from above!

[Weezer]

So now I’m thinking more about composting. I only collect about two wheelbarrows of manure per week as the rest gets harrowed into the pasture. So I am not dealing with huge amounts in my manure pile. I don’t have a tractor and do not want to spend hours turning compost piles. Could I buy three large compost bins and just monitor the heat and water content of each. When the third is full, empty the first into the garden or the lawn, etc.? Or does it require more work than that?

[S1969]

Well, the short answer is - yes, you can do that.

But the longer answer is that it can introduce weeds in your garden if the piles don’t heat up enough and/or evenly, which could happen if your piles aren’t large enough and/or don’t get flipped.

If it’s going onto the lawn and you can spread it…it’s probably all good. Some people put straight manure in the gardens with no ill effects on plants. It really depends on a lot of things - especially what you are growing and your climate. Trial and error might be necessary to see how it works out exactly, but it’s just manure (not nuclear waste).

[wsmoak]

My compost system involves making circles of 25’ lengths of non-climb wire (it rusts and gets ruined, but works for containing poop. I line it with some roof underlayment, which is a plastic or vinyl covered mesh which helps protect the wire somewhat.) This makes an 8’ diameter circle and it heats up nicely. I do not turn it, I just leave it. I have four of them (it was a 100’ roll of wire originally.) Eventually I peel off the wire to start a new circle to fill. I keep track of which one is the oldest and use that in the garden or to fill holes in the yard etc.

[Weezer]

This sounds nice and easy. Do you water the manure pile at all? I have been reading that lots of moisture is required for fast composting but my manure pile is not close to a water source.

[Simkie]

You don’t want to compost without a tractor. Dealing with moving it by hand is way too much of a workout.

Are you picturing those “suburban” garden compost bins? You’ll fill one in a week. It’ll take months to break down, especially since you’re using shavings. Shavings take a LONG time to break down. Those bins are also probably too small to really generate enough heat.

For reference, my bins are 8’ x 16’. I have three of them. I also have four horses. It takes me about three months to fill a bin, and I add about a wheel barrow of manure & pelleted bedding daily. When one bin is full, I use the tractor to move it all to another bin. The act of moving it introduces air, which feeds the microbes that break it down. In another 3 months, the pile has reduced by about 1/2 and is beautiful finished compost. I can fit about a year’s worth of waste in the three bins, although I generally try to only have two going.

[wsmoak]

I don’t water it (but I’m in the southeast and it rains enough that I don’t need to.) I just ignore it and it bakes down to half the height it was, at which point it’s ready to go.

[S1969]

@Simkie

You don’t want to compost without a tractor. Dealing with moving it by hand is way too much of a workout.

This is true. You can do it by hand, but composted manure is very heavy, especially when wet. The kid I hire for barn chores flipped my piles the other week with my tractor. He was amazed at how heavy it was, and how it was necessary to manage the FEL differently than he thought so he didn’t get it stuck in the pile.

[Libby2563]

Just to echo the concerns about spreading manure directly on the pasture, I tried that last year and it was not a great success. It did burn my grass, and although it recovered in a few weeks, that was during strong spring growth so I decided to go back to composting. I have some photos on my blog if you’re interested: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2020/08/spreading-vs-composting-manure.html. I also have quite a few posts about my aerated composting system (most recent here: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-end-of-aerated-compost-3-year.html).

I think all the time about going back to a dumpster because it was so easy. I only switched because like you, my service provider retired and handed the business off to his incompetent son. I like the self-sufficiency of composting, but it’s a lot of work (even with a tractor!) and my aerated system hasn’t produced the results I was hoping for.