Manure management

Composting is the process of allowing organic materials to decompose in a more or less controlled setting, so that the resulting material can be used as a beneficial soil additive. For gardeners and farmers, composting is an essential...

I currently muck my four stalls and the barnyard into a manure pile that gets hauled away once per year. During the summer I harrow the pasture once or twice a week instead of picking it. I recently learned about Newer S…

Some farms are more susceptible to muddy conditions than others. Mud is a result of prolonged wet soil conditions, which is often dependent on soil type and topography. After a rainstorm or spring snowmelt, clay soils drain more slowly than sandy soils and are therefore more prone to muddy conditions. In addition, muddy conditions are more likely to occur in areas of low elevation because runoff water tends to accumulate in these areas.

On farms with small acreage, everything in the horse farm management system needs to fit together neatly and efficiently — especially with respect to the farm’s neighbors and the ecosystem. Two Horse Ranch, a five-acre horse property has implemented several sustainable day-to-day barn management practices in an effort to be a more environmentally conscious horse farm.

The capability to store manure reduces, or eliminates, the need to spread manure on a daily basis. Manure storage facilities allow small farms to store the manure until it can be removed and utilized at a later time.

Tips for composting horse manure with an aerated static pile system. Here's our system and how it's working for our farm!

Why Compost? Many horse owners and small livestock operations do not have access to sufficient land to make good use of manure by spreading. Composting provides another option for managing manure on the farm.

If you own a horse or board other peoples horses you have had that problem. We lived in Virginia and I learned the hard way…

You have a manure factory in your backyard. What do you do with all that horse poo? Horse manure composting is a best-practices management tool.