I would have done the EXACT same thing!!! if i could have. so its turned out to be a big win win for you!!! thats never money wasted. my entire property is only 4.23 acres with the majority of THAT in the woods/ravine to a creek in a protected zone for the Chesapeake bay. so…Ihave about?? 1.75 acres in turnout. so no indoor for me! (or even a footed arena.) Your view is to envy!!!
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My manure goes directly on the pasture. I have 4 horses on 3 acres. I have a drag that I can use to spread it with, but I prefer to dump the manure on whatever gets mowed next and use the mower to spread it. I also try to time it so I mow before it rains. I tried composting and ended up creating a mud filled pile of compost. No problems with flies either.
I thought an issue with shavings is when first breaking down the wood pulls nitrogen from its surroundings? Hence why uncomposted shavings may be harder on the land? Trying to figure out what to do with my shavings pile as I in the past mostly used straw…does one add Nitrogen when composting?
@Simkie & @ayrabz Yes, I know I got the Deal of the Century.
To be clear, the hay stored in the indoor belongs to hayguys. My hay gets stacked on pallets inside my barn. Hayguys get a deal too, as most places charge per bale for storage.
Even with as many as 7 loaded wagons (Inc 2 huge cage wagons) still plenty room for my Dressage trainer to work with me and/or for me to piddle around on my own.
In really bad weather - or for my convenience - I will sometimes turn horses into the arena. Hayguys understand some pillage may occur 
Mini plundering a wagon:
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I use fine shavings and some bedding pellets, so no big chunks of wood products. Still didn’t do my pasture any favors. I have spread the stall cleanings in a wooded area as a sort of mulch. That worked out fine but it only lasted so long. Manure management on a small farm is painful.
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@Libby2563 your blog has been so helpful to me. I wish I had found it earlier. Not only did I your posts on pasture management inspire me to do better (my pastures are looking great right now, BTW) but your system for keeping up with hay and feed use on a calendar is genius. I have never had a good system - I would keep track of what I bought but not actually know how much I was USING day to day. I was always guessing. Now I count my hay strings every Sunday and keep track of feed, bedding, etc. on my calendar as I open bags. So simple and so effective. Thanks!
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It would be the mini to pull a whole bale off the wagon! Precious
Yeah… Because he is so obviously underfed
He has partners in crime.
Hay Jenga - with my hay, in the barn:
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Has anyone ever tried grinding manure before either composting or spreading? Would help with breakdown and incorporation into pasture but is an extra step, plus apparently dry manure grinds well but wet is problematic. Also, I wonder whether you need a high quality, $$$$$ commercial-grade grinder.
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Thank you so much!! I don’t post very often anymore but I love hearing that other people find it helpful. I am a data nerd who likes to track and document everything, so I might as well put it out there in case it’s useful to someone else, right??
Happy to hear that your pastures are doing well too!
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4horses, this approach sounds great - not too much work. After reading all the posts I was kind of wondering about dumping my wheelbarrows in the field and then harrowing it out - mowing works too. Do you live in an area that has a snowy or wet season? If so, what do you do then?
I only deal with manure in the winter with one horse, a shetland, and a welsh-size pony bedded in straw. I build a pile over the winter, and in the summer I spread a black plastic sheet over it until October. By then it is beautiful black dirt, with all the weed seeds cooked out of it.
Friends come from far and wide to pick it up for their gardens.
The Extension Office will tell you shavings are so hard to break down, the use of them as “compost” creates a net gain of zero.
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I do it! I had 3 horse, now at 1, but I bought a little ABI 25 bushel manure spreader and I LOVE it. I used to have a pile. I think you have plenty of space. I have shavings and can say for sure that spreading it over my jump course and bare areas in my pasture help. I use my John Deere lawn tractor to pull it and it works great. I
This is good to know! I think for this summer I’ll start with dumping wheelbarrows in the pasture or on the lawn and then harrowing over it. When I do that it the pastures, there is no sign of manure within a couple of days.
I just read your blog post, and want to say - AMS is a “fast release” nitrogen, while the wood chips create a “slow drag” on the nitrogen availability as it decomposes. I would lean towards a slower release type nitrogen as an additive long term, to match what the bedding does.
I use both AMS and slow release fertilizer on my lawn, depending on what I’m going for. The fall is almost exclusively AMS as I’m putting down small amounts once a week to get the baby grasslets started.
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When I was young & full of energy I tried compost many different ways, piles, bends, barrels, bags, boxes, it all takes up space, time & its a lot of work. 100 gallons of organic material makes about 10 gallons of compost.Now I have a worm composter! We have a large Squirm Firm Worm Factory that is full now with castings. Here is a review on the work factory we own https://www.backyardstyle.com/best-worm-composter/
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