Burning horse manure

[sushakka]

Hey guys

It seems that they have started to burn horse manure in Finland! http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-33134670

What do you think about it, would you give it a try?

 

[PorkChop]

We are looking into it at the minute.

We are hoping to buy a Biomass boiler and use the dried manure in it, as well as woodchips etc.

 

[Dry Rot]

Too valuable to me. It goes back on the land.

 

[JillA]

I made briquettes one year to use on a woodburner and a Rayburn. They burn fine so long as they are bone dry and mixed with dry wood but they do make a lot of ash. Maybe that would be even better for your land Dry Rot?

 

[JanetGeorge]

Too valuable to me. It goes back on the land.

Couldn't agree more! I am on heavy clay - and without annual spreading of well rotted muck heaps (now back on straw) - I wouldn't have much by way of earthworms! And it's aken 20 years to get the moles in!

 

[Goldenstar]

Couldn't agree more! I am on heavy clay - and without annual spreading of well rotted muck heaps (now back on straw) - I wouldn't have much by way of earthworms! And it's aken 20 years to get the moles in!

Us too almost thirty years of adding all our well rotted muck to the worse of our clay fields and it's defiantly made a difference .
And we do get moles now but just at the edges .

 

[Dry Rot]

I made briquettes one year to use on a woodburner and a Rayburn. They burn fine so long as they are bone dry and mixed with dry wood but they do make a lot of ash. Maybe that would be even better for your land Dry Rot?

You might be right but taking something out of the dung to produce heat surely leaves fewer benefits for my grass, though I suppose it does concentrate the minerals?? Can anyone remember the Carbon Cycle from school? Organic matter does seem to have a beneficial affect on soil flora and fauna though. My fields are definitely more healthy looking since I started vigorous harrowing (at least twice, the second time at 90 degrees).

 

[Clodagh]

I cannot bear the smell of ever smouldering muck heaps, would it smell like that do you think or is it more poo and less ammonia?

 

[ycbm]

I couldn't make my muck heap burn but I did manage to set fire to my arena fifty metres away!

 

[Clodagh]

I couldn't make my muck heap burn but I did manage to set fire to my arena fifty metres away!

Good going!

 

[JillA]

Burning muck heaps is illegal - at least it is round here, not sure if it's national legislation. I think the smell is from it being wet - if you totally dry it it doesn't smell at all. Mine gets spread on the land, which is why I don't like wood products, they are acid and I struggle with Ph anyway

 

[Clodagh]

Burning muck heaps is illegal - at least it is round here, not sure if it's national legislation. I think the smell is from it being wet - if you totally dry it it doesn't smell at all. Mine gets spread on the land, which is why I don't like wood products, they are acid and I struggle with Ph anyway

I am glad that it is, it just smoulders for weeks, you have to feel sorry for any neighbours!

 

[stencilface]

You might be right but taking something out of the dung to produce heat surely leaves fewer benefits for my grass, though I suppose it does concentrate the minerals?? Can anyone remember the Carbon Cycle from school? Organic matter does seem to have a beneficial affect on soil flora and fauna though. My fields are definitely more healthy looking since I started vigorous harrowing (at least twice, the second time at 90 degrees).

It depends on what you need in the soil, rotted manure will have a good amount of nutrients in it, primarily ammonium nitrogen and a lot of organic matter.

Uptake of nutrients from the soil can depend on the Carbon:Nitrogen ratio in it so adding additional carbon in the form of ash where all the nitrogen has been burnt off could be beneficial depending on your requirements.

Biochar (charcoal essentially) added to soil has been known to improve the C:N ratio in soil, as well as being able to potentially reduce nutrient leaching meaning less fertiliser is required.

 

[Tnavas]

Couldn't agree more! I am on heavy clay - and without annual spreading of well rotted muck heaps (now back on straw) - I wouldn't have much by way of earthworms! And it's aken 20 years to get the moles in!

Which is why harrowing is far better for your land than poo picking!

Beware that muck heaps can burn for weeks and be a serious potential fire hazard.

 

[Dry Rot]

Couldn't agree more! I am on heavy clay - and without annual spreading of well rotted muck heaps (now back on straw) - I wouldn't have much by way of earthworms! And it's aken 20 years to get the moles in!

It's taken me 20 years to get on top of the moles! But I'm on sand. My neighbours have them, so as soon as I notice a new mole hill (usually on my lawn opposite the back door. Are they trying to tell me something?) it's out with the traps!