I was contacted by a friend of the family who knew I was just starting out new at composting. He recently purchased some farm land that at one time had several horses, he had pushed all of the horse manure with his Bobcat into a huge pile and wanted to know if I was interested in it. The manure is about 2-3 yrs. old. Is it still good? Should I get a truck load or two and place it in my compost bins? Looks good and has no smell, lots of dung.

No, you don't want that, just give me his address and I will be happy to come remove that useless old composted manure from his property in an act of selfless kindness.


Ok, Ok, Ok - get all you can

CHF3,
Thanks for your response. I'll start getting loads of it this coming weekend, he told me "Take it all".........Yes I will.

If your property is not real 'wormy' this will do the trick. When you get it, turn over some dirt around the edges and underneath, may be loaded with worms and their egg capsules.

This past spring after a good dose of manure compost and a soft rain I had a confluence of worms trying to eat it and birds digging out worms, I swear it looked like i'd had the yard aerated when I got home that day, pencil sized holes every inch or so....

What you can't use right away just keep adding to, throw your 'fresh' composting material into the pile and it will decompose very quickly.

I'm jealous, after it has sat for a while, well, your sh-t don't stink.

No worm problem here in Ohio, our yard and garden is full of them. Being new at composting, can I dump a few scoops of the older horse manure into my compost bin that I made about 2 month ago or keep it separate? This coming spring we will add some of the finished compost to our garden, my main use of the compost will be for a potting mix or potting soil blended with what we get delivered as humus "topsoil" from a landscaper. I have approx. 400 Red Japanese Maples (Acer Palmatum "Atro Purpureum") seedlings that I have picked up from under my sisters tree for the past 6-7 yrs. all have been grown in 2- 42ft. X 4ft. raised beds and I want to dig and pot a lot of them this spring before coming out of dormancy.

I'd mix it all together and turn it from time to time over the winter. I just set out a load of finished compost in my beds and put all of last years' flowers and veggies into the bin to start decomposing for March.

I generally quit adding stuff to the bin a month before I plan to use it and start adding new material to a stack at that point.

You want everything nice and decomposed for your seedlings.

That manure will add other microbes into your mix that you may not have already - all good. I'm jealous of those trees!

crappie...are you in Tx & the Houston area....I am looking for some horse manure...& ..like to find some locally..just a couple of 5gallon buckets..Thanks to anyone who can assist

Slimm - most horse barns will give some up happily. Worst case volunteer to much the nastiest stall they have and toss the manure and pee-soaked bedding into some contractor bags then let it rot until spring in some inconspicuous location on your property.

Slimm I'm in Ohio, if you were a little closer a couple 5gal. buckets would be no problem. Managed to get 5 big loads before the freezing temps came along with the 6" of snow we received today, my pile still cooking 101.7 yesterday evening and the compost pile is 3 months old. I haven't added anything new to the pile in about 3 weeks except coffee grounds I get from work. Have a good one.

It is said that some horses are given de-worming pills, and other medications too. Composting for a year with active turning, aerating, adding some dry molasses and watering would be my approach to tending that pile properly. When the pieces can not be recognized as the original horse stuff then it is likely good-to-go and the breakdown of any such medications is complete. That 3-yr. old stuff seems ideal. Go for it.

On Thursday Jan.7th the compost temp was 101.7 a couple of days later I turned it by hand which is my only way to do it. While checking it a week later it was COLD. We have had outside temps for the past 13 days in the teens. I placed a metal rod in the middle of the pile and it always felt warm when I pulled it out, that's how I could tell the pile went cold along with no steam coming from the turned pile. After turning the pile there are leaves and manure that are still present that have not composted. Yesterday and today it going to be in the high 30's -40's, all the snow melted the past couple of days from the pile which should help with moisture. The compost pile consist of Leaves, grass clipping, coffee grounds and well aged horse manure. Pile was started in mid October. Any suggestions on getting the pile heated up again.

Get some dry molasses at the feedstore or any 'sweet feed' and mix it in real well. Otherwise, mix the liquid stuff 50-50 with water, spray it around as you turn the pile and mix it up real good. You'll see steam and major reduction in volume within 72 hours, promise!

CHF3,
I'll try that this afternoon, thanks for the quick response.

It's been over a week and my compost pile is still COLD, added some dry molasses, watered and turned the pile. Could it be that the pile went dormant because of our extreme cold weather or is it finished composting. Entire pile was frozen on the top 3-4 inches for about 2 weeks, will warmer weather give it another kick start to heat up?

It may be pretty well composted already if it isn't heating up. I'd turn it a few times and really get some oxygen to it - even if it is pretty well composted the molasses ought to get some heat going.