What do you do with your horse poo?

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Sandstone1

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What do you do with poo? We have separate piles for poo with bedding and just poo from field. Is there a market for the rotted just poo for gardeners etc?
 
I scatter poo on my resting paddock to mulch it. However, I do have quite a bit of spoiled haylage going onto the muck heap. What is the best way of using that? If it rots readily then I will dig it out and use it.
 
Barrow it to the muck heap at end of stables, dont even need to fork it up. Every day farmer scoops it up and then empties into the cow shed. When these are mucked out i presume gets spread.
 
We advertise it free on Facebook and local allotment people come and collect it, as well as us using it on our garden. Last winter's heap is nearly gone now but muck bin is already full again so will move that down for people to collect again in the Spring while we refill the muck bin over Winter.
 
I have a six foot plus drop on a 30m bank at the end of my unfenced arena and two hundred metres of field behind it. I skip out (no bedding, they live in a barn and the wee soaks away) into Aldi 45p carrier bags that are really strong, chuck them over the boards, and tip the muck down the bank at the end of the arena. It takes two years to extend the bank by about one foot of fresh muck, so I figure I'll be long gone before I'm out of space. I'm about half way along the first run at the moment and by the time I reach the end the beginning will have rotted down and I might not even have to move the electric fence that stops the guys eating at the bottom of it.

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Currently collected by a local farmer. This winters will be spread on the trashed field and left to rot down or go under the hedge over the summer
 
oldie48 said:
It goes on the garden...eventually! We have a huge garden and it is heavy clay so the poo mixed with the straw pelleted bedding I use is really great at improving the soil.
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Same here!

I've just dug out a new bed and I'm going to dig a load in to the soil. Then every bed will get a good 3 or 4 inches as a mulch. Plus the roses get a load too! 🙂

Did this last year and the plants loved it!
 
Leo Walker said:
My YO burns it! I've never known anyone do that before and it stinks! but it burns down to a tiny pile of grey ash from a huge mountain of poo!
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I used to be on a Yard years ago (small, 3 horses) where they did this. It smouldered away 24/7, we were in trouble if we let it go out 😱. Not sure it’s a very environmentally sensitive method!
 
Leo Walker said:
My YO burns it! I've never known anyone do that before and it stinks! but it burns down to a tiny pile of grey ash from a huge mountain of poo!
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Our council send letters to those that do burn their horse poo due to the smell. I know this as my neighbour used to do the same and when i questioned it with the council as she ignored requests to do it when the wind was in a different direction, they got very upset about it! They said it was against environmental regulations but i dont know if that is genuine or they were just saying that. I never bothered looking it up as it stopped after the letter was sent.
 
I'm leaving my yard shortly because it's going to be a housing development. I've never seen the muck heap empty, but I've been told the bit at the back is a lorry's height deep. So that's 2 x lorries worth in what apparently is a concrete bunker. Then at least another lorry on top of that bit plus a substantial heap spilling out in front.

Shame they can't save it for the gardens of the new houses. The stuff at the bottom must be really good now. Guy who runs a local small holding has taken a few loads and not even made a dent.
 
Hack4fun said:
I scatter poo on my resting paddock to mulch it. However, I do have quite a bit of spoiled haylage going onto the muck heap. What is the best way of using that? If it rots readily then I will dig it out and use it.
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I find hay and haylage take a lot longer to rot down that straw and other bedding. And beware of spreading if you use shavings or other soft wood products - it is acid so will need lime to get the PH to where the grass grows well. That's the reason I use straw, rape straw or miscanthus

I have a good colony of dendro worms in mine, they eat it over time and very occasionally have flying lessons when the muck spreader comes. They seem to make it home though
 
I found a preloved advert worked really well for local gardeners and allotment holders to come and collect, one guy even rented a van for the day and did several trips. Mine is wood pellet and so rots quickly (unlike straw).
Where we used to like near arable crops the farmer lent us a tipping trailer just so he could have the muck.
I have paid to have it taken away here (v expensive)
Now I am spreading it back on fields just before they are rested for 6+ months. It seemed mad to pay to have muck taken away and then pay to have very gentle horse friendly fertiliser put back on the fields!!
 
I bag itup and put it outside on the grass verge and people take it away - its much sort after. Sometimes they will come with a trailer and take a trailer load.
 
Many yards in our area take their muck trailers to a particular field owned by a local farmer & it's all dumped there. At the moment all the rotted down muck is being spread on his fields to fertilise the crops he'll be planting later. He's happy with free fertiliser & the yards are pleased as they can get rid of a sometime troublesome commodity.
 
Leo Walker said:
My YO burns it! I've never known anyone do that before and it stinks! but it burns down to a tiny pile of grey ash from a huge mountain of poo!
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Your YO is breaking the law. While a private horse owner may do it for a couple of their own horses, if it is a commercial yard, then it is classified as 'trade waste' - burning it is illegal. (And what a waste.)
 
Farmers around my area all have huge bonfires and burn their waste - in fact there is one almost permanent pile right in view of the road. Nobody seems to care about that.
 
Polos Mum said:
Now I am spreading it back on fields just before they are rested for 6+ months. It seemed mad to pay to have muck taken away and then pay to have very gentle horse friendly fertiliser put back on the fields!!
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Exactly! My big regret in reducing the number of horses I have stabled is the lack of muck. In fact, as long as you heap the much and - ideally - turn it at least once, it doesn't need field rest for as long as 6 months. Let's face it, horses avoid 'contaminated' ground. you know your fields are bare when the only green you can see is in patches where there is muck - or even when it has been picked up some tiny bits/urine/odour remains. The risk with a GOOD muck heap is if it's hot and windy - they actually can catch fire without any help - particularly whe you start moving them in those weather conditions. last summer, when shifting a well compacted muck heap (straw bedding) I had to jump off the tractor and run for the hose. I learned my lesson ad that muckheap - a bit close to stables for comfort - is emptied weekly to another pile further from the yard to continue breaking down safely. By the time I spread it - usually 3 months later - two good rainfalls is enough - and worm eggs do NOT survive in the heat. In the old days, stable ads were often 'initiated' by being buried to their shoulders in the muckheap - allegedly a couple died - so it was generally discontinued. (A muck heap can build to between 120-150F.)
 
teacups said:
Farmers around my area all have huge bonfires and burn their waste - in fact there is one almost permanent pile right in view of the road. Nobody seems to care about that.
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Burning plant tissue waste - and untreated wood - in the open IS legal - animal waste is not. I burn conifer waste after pruning - even when green. Of course you could sneak 'illegal' waste onto the pile, if you don't have nosey neighbors who don't like you.
 
Sorry, I should have said: these piles are mainly general farm waste, including some green but usually includes plastics, furniture, and quite a few nasties which cannot be disposed of (cheaply).

Is it really legal to burn green plant waste? I thought it wasn't - creates so much smoke and pollution.
We do have a large council green waste composting facility on our doorstep, but now that you have to pay for taking it there people (including householders) have started to burn green garden waste again.
 
Green garden waste is ok - except for the neighbours. The closest of mine is 400 yards away and the wind rarely goes directly from me to her - in fact the most common wind takes smoke towards 1000 acres of forest - and THEY can't complain about smoke. But plastic and nasties aren't allowed.
 
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