There is a wide range of weights among horses depending on the type, a typical adult riding horse weighs approximately 900– 1,100 pounds. A horse that size produces around 8 to 9 tons; or between 16,000 and 18,000 pounds of manure every year. That’s a lot of horse manure.
Exactly what is done with that manure? One choice for disposal is to haul it to a garbage dump site, but that is not an environment-friendly choice and some land fills will decline horse manure. The best choice is to spread the horse manure on land so it decomposes rapidly, or to compost it and after that utilize it to improve soil quality.
One issue with using horse manure to fertilize ground is that lots of people utilize sawdust or wood chips as bedding in horse stalls. To combat this problem, a nitrogen fertilizer can be included to the soil after horse manure is spread on it; or a nitrogen fertilizer can be included to the horse manure and sawdust or wood shavings mixture prior to being added to the soil.
An excellent way to utilize horse manure is to add it to a compost stack. When adding the manure to a compost heap, any sawdust and wood chips present in the manure are okay. They are a great “brown” part to compost. It takes about six months for the sawdust, manure or wood chips, and any other materials contributed to the compost stack to completely break down and become exactly what many individuals call “black gold.”.
To make a garden compost stack with horse manure as one of the parts, layer it with green compost products. Brown products such as horse manure, wood chips, and sawdust are terrific sources of carbon.
It requires water and air to flourish because the garden compost pile is a living thing. Your compost heap must be turned every week, including water as needed to keep the garden compost pile damp. When the garden compost material is dark and crumbly and fresh smelling, you’ll understand the procedure of breaking down has actually completed.
Once the horse manure and other materials have actually turned into the “black gold” I mentioned a little earlier in this short article, it’s finally time to put the black gold to good use. While compost isn’t really thought about as a fertilizer, it includes nutrients that are excellent for plants and soil. Some excellent ways to use your horse manure compost are: as mulch for garden plants and around landscaping; as a soil improvement component for sandy soil; as a soil enhancement for clay soil; and as a material to help manage erosion.
Now you know that horse manure, that foul-smelling waste product from a beloved animal, is an useful by product that is environmentally friendly.