Neighbor’s Manure Management

[led18]

I have a personal farm that borders on a boarding barn. I have my manure taken away weekly to bi-weekly + use fly predators. I only have 3 horses.

The boarding barn has many more horses (9+) and piles up their manure right on the border with my property. There are currently 3 large piles, each probably 10 ft tall. I not only see them from my property, but it makes the flies terrible. They do not appear to have their manure carried off ever.

Is there anything I can do? I hate it because they clearly put the piles as far from their barn/horses/paddocks, and as close to my property as possible. Just seems disrespectful to do to a neighbor. They clearly don’t want the problem, but are creating one for me.

[trubandloki]

@led18

I have a personal farm that borders on a boarding barn. I have my manure taken away weekly to bi-weekly + use fly predators. I only have 3 horses.

The boarding barn has many more horses (9+) and piles up their manure right on the border with my property. There are currently 3 large piles, each probably 10 ft tall. I not only see them from my property, but it makes the flies terrible. They do not appear to have their manure carried off ever.

Is there anything I can do? I hate it because they clearly put the piles as far from their barn/horses/paddocks, and as close to my property as possible. Just seems disrespectful to do to a neighbor. They clearly don’t want the problem, but are creating one for me.

Likely there is nothing you can do about how they use their property.
If you have the time you can probably read thru the codes/ordinances and such for your area and see if there are regulations on where manure can be stored. Some, even agricultural areas do have rules about these things.

One easy solution is to just up your predator order to be for far more horses than you have and put them closer to that manure pile.

[ZuzusPetals]

Some municipalities have rules about placement of manure piles, including the distance to neighboring properties. Also, some local and state governments regulate manure in watershed areas, to safeguard groundwater quality. Finally, nuisance ordinances typically cover such hazards. Start with your local health and zoning offices.

[2DogsFarm]

@led18

They clearly don’t want the problem, but are creating one for me.

Have you talked to them & given them this POV?
If they can’t/won’t relocate the piles, IIWM, I’d then check with the county re: laws & make them aware of such < in the rare event they’re unaware.
You might even ask if they would share the cost of increased Predators.

[Alterration]

It might not be malice, just unthinking.

Manure management is a struggle with a lot of horses. We accumulated very large piles before I was able to find a dumpster company who was willing to haul manure away, and it’s another expense (and as you can see from the many threads here, many boarding barns are going under because costs are increasing way more than board bills). We’re chipping away at our problem, but it’s not always easily or immediately solvable.

A friendly conversation might work wonders here - depending on how long they’ve been there, they may need contacts or you might be able to work together on it.

[ASB_Stars]

Contact DEP. Generally, you do need to nave a Manure Mangement Program. They get very fussy about manure getting into the water table. If you have any streams in your area, they do not want anything leaching into those, either.

[clanter]

During draughts which seem to now be very often there have been several local large boarding barns compost piles catch fire by spontaneous ignition, the fire departments had to bring in bulldozers to spread the piles to put the fires out taking several days

[NancyM]

If a neighouring farm is damaging your property with it’s practices, they are liable for the damage. What constitutes “damage” will include damage to your water well, if you have one. If run off from this pile is leaching into your property, the owners of the pile may be in for a bit of a surprise. If you are on city water, they are safer I think, but still, it’s something you could look into. Manure management is becoming a hot topic for farms… which is why so many have had to move to the use of bins and a trucking company to remove, dump and return the bins every week or so. And NO leaching allowed. The flies that are irritating you are probably not actionable, but pollution is.

A fellow I knew years ago put hogfuel (cedar bark mulch kinda) down in his paddocks and ring on a small farm. The leachate contaminated his neighbour’s well. It cost him $200,000 to clean it all up, and remove the hogfuel from his own property. And that was 30 years ago. Dunno what it would cost now.

[trubandloki]

It is so weird to me that people are OK with using landfill space for manure disposal.

I would suggest the OP not start by going full nuclear on the neighbor. Look into what the rules are and figure out a polite way to start a conversation.

This neighbor might not even realize that they are causing a problem.

[endlessclimb]

Agreed, and manure piles are going to be as far as possible away from the working facilities (naturally). You balance being as far as possible without being a massive PITA to get to, but they aren’t ever going to be in the front yard or dead center on a property or something.

[Alterration]

On some properties it’s the only option.

I don’t have a ton of space and I’m in a neighborhood. I’ve composted it, tried to give it away, paid $350 a load for people to take it away and finally just got a dumpster.

It feels criminal to pitch it, but I only have so much garden I can use it on and I’ve given it to all my friends and neighbors

[trubandloki]

@Alterration

On some properties it’s the only option.

I do not disagree with this. I totally understand why some people have to do it that way.

[2DogsFarm]

I have a pile that’s nearing 20yo
It started one Winter when wheelbarrowing a full load was treacherous. So I started pitching forkfuls from the stalls over the nearest fenceline. That area is on my property and in a 90° angle formed by the fencing & wall of my indoor arena. Pile is over 5’ tall & around 20’ long.
I’ve never noticed an increase in flies & when I turn it in Spring, there’s ash & it will steam.
The deeper you dig into the pile, the more gorgeous composted soil you find.
Over the years I’ve hauled dumpcartsful to my gardens. Then wheelbarrowsful when I got rid of the lawn tractor that hauled the dumpcart.
For the last 10 or so years, my neighbor across the road has hauled away loads for his gardens.
He was here yesterday - with the tall teen I remember as a toddler - & it looks like half the pile is gone
I’ll haul away more to build up my small raised bed veggie garden. Doing this has created the raised beds & I plant in this compost as my sole planting medium.
Last year I was overrun with cantaloupes & may plant tomatoes directly in this ground instead of the hugelkultur containers I used last 2yrs.

[Bonnie2]

Just an fyi. Around here the dumpster companies dump the manure on farms that compost it, not the landfill.

[trubandloki]

@Bonnie2

Just an fyi. Around here the dumpster companies dump the manure on farms that compost it, not the landfill.

That is great.
I wish more places had that.

I guess that adds the requirement of making sure everything that goes in the dumpster is able to be composted.

[lenapesadie]

@trubandloki

It is so weird to me that people are OK with using landfill space for manure disposal

Ofc localities vary, but here if a person has a dumpster specific for compostable materials (like manure) or takes a dump trailer of compostable material to the landfill, that material is put into the landfills compost pile(s). Individuals can (and do) buy compost from the landfill; it’s very inexpensive and decent compost. It seems to work well here.

[endlessclimb]

At the boarding barn my horses are at, the dumpster has a HUGE sticker on it that says “manure only”. I bet you’d get in pretty big trouble with the hauling company if they flipped it into their truck and saw actual trash in there.

Similar to how landscaping stuff needs a special haul off.

[lenapesadie]

Yes here the dumpsters are specific for use. Construction debris cannot go in regular trash dumpsters etc. The company will levy hefty fines for misuse and will cancel service if it’s a repeat problem

[Equibrit]

You can probably find codes for your area here;

https://library.municode.com/

The more urban the area, the more stringent the animal waste regulations.

Encourage barn swallows, they are very efficient fly control.

Barn Swallow, Natural Pest Control | BirdNote

[trubandloki]

@Equibrit

Encourage barn swallows, they are very efficient fly control.

And so fun to watch. They are like an air show of fighter pilots, with no noise or crowd.