Horse Manure

[tullulahjay]

Hi Guys,

Can someone advise me.

I have two horses and we have two lots of manure heap. One is current and one is rotting down. We use chopped straw and pick the poos from the field. I am giving the fresh stuff away for free at our gate.

But the rotted manure is hard work to bag up so I am charging 25p as when we get a big request it takes a lot of time and effort. But because my dad doesnt like advertising in front of our gate, so I was wondering where you think I should try, to get people interested in taking both rotted and fresh stuff. We are based in essex. I have said to dad that we could alway load peoples trailers if they wanted to do it that way. Far easier for me then bagging it up.

All you responses will be much appreciated.

[tullulahjay]

[tomatoada]

Go round the nearby allotments and put notices on the gates perhaps.
Notice in pet shops thet supply straw.
I am sure others will come up with more ideas.

[chriscross1966]

you don't say where you are?.... you might well get takers on the board here if you put it in Bargains Galore with an idea of the area...

[Duke Ellington]

It might be a good idea to invite people to bag up their own.

[caroline7758]

I would say put an ad on your local freecycle or freegle website, but if you're charging you can't do that, although you could let people bag their own.

[Lady of the Land]

Where are you in Essex?

I have an allotment in Chelmsford- we have someone who delivers on a trailor reguar amounts of fresh manure from horses kept on straw to 2 central areas on allotments and people help themselves. In fact it rarely lasts very long as is so popular

I f you are near us we could always have more and if not I am sure an allotment site nearby would welcome some

[steve76]

So wish you were close to me i would love to take it off your hands and would be more that happy to load up in to trailer or bags...any form of manure is expensive round here, local farmers charge £90-100 for one trailer load aprox 3-4 tonne thats fresh stuff and by the time its rotted down it goes no where..

[RenishawPhil]

So wish you were close to me i would love to take it off your hands and would be more that happy to load up in to trailer or bags...any form of manure is expensive round here, local farmers charge £90-100 for one trailer load aprox 3-4 tonne thats fresh stuff and by the time its rotted down it goes no where..

your joking?

We get charged £50 for an 8 tonne load of unrotted fresh from the shed cow manure and about £55 for well rotted , again around 8 tonnes

[clackvalve]

advertise it on freecycle,you will get loads of responses

[tullulahjay]

Hi There,

I had a bit of luck with preloved but nothing major. I would love to invite people to bag there own stuff up but my problem is unless I get to know them I dont really want any old stranger coming down just to help themselves.

I will try free cycle again. Some horsey girl did  recommend that to me but i didnt get one reply :-(

I am based in waltham abbey, essex and it literally is near enough off J26 so its easy access too. My dad is now helping me build the 3rd heap so i can rotated  the manure plus it will give it even more time to rot. :-)

If any other ideas let me know PM me...

[Eristic]

Too greedy.

Remember: When people turn up and take it away free they are saving you money. Bear in mind also that unless you are prepared to certify the manure free from aminopyralid, it is toxic waste and has to be disposed of on your own grassland.

This is why all other stables I know of happily give it away free for the taking.

[tullulahjay]

Dear Eristic,

I think you are forgetting one point that I made on my original post.  I am not a "livery yard" it is my own yard, which is at the bottom of my garden and fields.

I have no access for someone to take it away. Hence why I have to bag it up and the fact is because I only have two horses, the manure is straight from the field or bed. There beds are pure chopped straw only.

So firstly bags dont come cheap and secondly it is the effort that goes in to bagging quality manure. All the yards I know that are liveries. have MIXED bedding and the people that put the manure in the heaps dont care. They will put hay and all sorts in there. So the manure I am giving away is far better than the "free"

The fact is I am not GREEDY its being pratical. I know many rounds our way that charge from 50p/£1 and there not even bigs bags. So 25p is more than generous!

[Melbourne12]

...
So firstly bags dont come cheap and secondly it is the effort that goes in to bagging quality manure. All the yards I know that are liveries. have MIXED bedding and the people that put the manure in the heaps dont care. They will put hay and all sorts in there. So the manure I am giving away is far better than the "free"

The fact is I am not GREEDY its being pratical. I know many rounds our way that charge from 50p/£1 and there not even bigs bags. So 25p is more than generous!

I think you're being generous, too.  It's a bit of a trip for us, but I wouldn't mind coming over to fill a builders bag or two on the trailer, and I'd be more than happy to pay.

[tomatoada]

I, too, think 25p is ridiculously cheap.  I wish you were mear me.

[Digeroo]

Do check that all manure is free from Aminopyralid.  Even people who are adamant they have never used the stuff can have problems.  Even if they do not buy in hay they buy in feed stuffs.  I am told the feed stuffs will not have problems but I am not convinced.  It had shown up in crops grown on contaminated crops.

If you cannot wait for beans to show there is a problem, I would suggest orache seeds.  Fat hen certainly show problems very quickly.

Until you are sure I would suggest not to bury manure, on top AP breaks down quicker and is easier to remove if you want to.   

But I think 25p is reasonable to cover the cost of the bags. 

[lottie lou]

I, too, think 25p is ridiculously cheap.  I wish you were mear me.

So do I.

[tullulahjay]

Hi Digeroo, Can you tell me how I can get the Aminopyralid tested. My fields are maintained by myself and the feed is all natural so I am hoping that this is going in the right lines of Aminopyralid free :-)

Well if you have any more suggestions please do keep me informed I have started to get some responses now so I am hoping that I will hopefully have spare manure plots that I can use again :-)

[Digeroo]

The easiest way to 'test' for aminopyralid is to grow broad beans.  Some in soil without manure and some in soil with. After few weeks if there is aminopyralid it will make the leaves of the beans curl upwards.    So the two batches become different. 

It affects potatoes and legumes worst, but can also affect courgettes, brassicas are less affected but do in the end start to curl.  It has a disasterous effect on raspberries and rhubarb. 

The quickest indicator is to look at the weeds around the pile and look for any curling leaves and be suspicious if there are no worms in the manure.

The worst possible thing seems to be to double digging manure.  If left on top of the soil any nasties breakdown more easily with air and light to help.  Farmers muck spread by putting it on the surface and they do not seem to have the same degree of problems with AP. 

[SandyLaner]

I, too, think 25p is ridiculously cheap.  I wish you were mear me.

I tried two yards near to me. The one is a dressage place and the stuff is from the stables. It is 20p per bag and you take your own bags and fill them yourself. It is excellent stuff. If you're supplying the bags AND filling them you really are selling far too cheaply. Get the message out and make a reasonable charge. The other yard houses other peoples horses and the pile is half manure and half sawdust / wood shavings. Take your own bags; fill them yourself - FREE! But poor quality.

Question for others now. After two years many of the "cobs" of horse manure are still round and firm and showing no signs of wanting to break down. Do I have to buy a shredder or is there something I've missed?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Put some in a pot with some compostand plant a broad bean in it. If it comes up and grows away (keep it indoors this time of year!) looking healthy, then the manure is OK.