Horse Manure - Compost bin or Garden

We have some horses in a field nearby for the summer season.
If their manure was collected as I did for my grandad back in the 50s.
Would it be best to mix into my compost bin or spread across the flower beds etc ?

 

Do you have space to stack it separately to rot down for 6 months or so? I don't think it's a good idea to put fresh manure straight onto a border/bed that's got plants in it, certainly don't let it touch the plants. Otherwise I would mix it in to the compost bin, particularly if it's a relatively small amount. You can spread/dig in fresh manure on an area that's not going to be planted for several months, like on veg beds in the autumn for planting the following spring.

 

Hi

lucky you ..

Needs to be stacked or add to your compost bin . Dont use now straight on the borders it will do more harm than good as the manure is too rich .. use next spring , also turning it in the autumn will help and the birds will enjoy the worms

 

Ask the owner of the horses whether the fields are sprayed for docks and ragwort, also enquire whether they know if the hay they buy/cut is from land so treated.
There is a chemical spray called aminopyralid which may be used to kill these weeds. Unfortunately it is persistent, will pass through the horse, and takes up to 3*years to dissipate. It can kill your plants.
Google aminopyralid for more info.
If you are wishing to grow vegetables, it is worth testing the rotted down manure by mixing with some compost and then sowing beans in it . If they show any signs of deformity, then it is still active.
* minimum you should allow

 

Someone has offered me a few bags of manure, not got them yet, but bought some cress seeds yesterday, so will be trying some of them in it first.

 

Will be very happy to learn of the results, especially if adverse. May need to allow for plants to grow on to see on cress ?

 

Thanks,

The horses are in an open grass field, they feed on the grasses etc within the field. The land is council owned and is rented to a local farmer who sometimes keep cattle too. There's no straw/hay in the field.

I think I will collect some manure and put into my compost bin and turned every now and then.

 

He put a couple of bags over the fence yesterday, it's totally black and crumbly,looks very old.
Any idea how long the herbicide can linger if it was present at first.

 

@pete my horse manure gets like that in a couple of years, so you can't count on it being old. If it's being used for grazing continuously, it's unlikely they'd weedkill the ragwort as it becomes sweeter as it dries, and horses are then likely to eat it with fatal results. Worth checking though, the cress is a good call.

 

I don't have any idea where it came from or the situation, he just said its a mixture of horse and chicken.
There is no sign of shavings or straw, it looks like a bag of compost.

 

Yes my "pure pony poo" turns into what looks like compost full of fat big worms. The badgers sometimes come and rake through it for them. Chicken poo is normally pretty intense stuff. I'd take a deep sniff and if you don't collapse, it's probably been sat for a while.

 

It doesn't smell at all.

 

Well, Ciba -Geigy as the first producer,(now Corteva,) reckoned that it would be within 3 years of application to the soil. It needs soil organisms to break it down.
Currently, it is sold conditionally that treated crop must not leave the farm(ie be sold). There is no statutory duty regarding manures produced which may therefore leave the farm ' informally.'
It is said not to be harmful to mammals via vegetation but kills broadleaf plants successively.
Greater details may be found here :
Aminopyralid – the herbicide that hasn’t gone away - Organic Growers Alliance
Aminopyralid Residues in Compost
Issues associated with the use of farm yard manure containing aminopyralid residues - HSE

 

There Pete, I don’t know if you are in the Penshurst area. But last year one of the houses were selling manure 3 bags for £10, all done by a honesty box, I was down there on Sunday and I couldn’t find the house again, mind you I wasn’t looking that hard.

I hear all these people on Gardeners’ Question Time saying they get free manure, wood chip and old beer sediments, it doesn’t fall my way though

Saying that a couple of years ago, I had a tree surgeon in the close, who gave me some wood chip, I was happy, I gave him some freshly picked tomatoes, he was very happy, especially as he bit into one straight away!

 

Really for me to get any real use from manure I'd really need a trailer load,a few bags don't go far but it was nice of the person to offer, every little helps, as they say.
There is a place not far from me that has a sign up for free manure, they pile all the horse dung and straw on the roadside over their fence.
I took a few bags some years ago and it was old and well rotted underneath.

It was only a few weeks later I noticed a couple of blokes had a trailer they was filling up, they dug it out to a depth of about 18ins.
So that was the end of that.