Horse manure stands out as by the far the best manure around for soil improvement. It is usually very cheap or free and it is readily available around horse stables. Horse manure is not as strong a fertiliser as chook, cow or pig poo – but it is the best organic additive for soils.
Horse manure is a good source of nutrients and a popular additive to many home gardens. Horse dung manure is highly valued by farmers because composting of horse manure makes the compost pile become super charged and also increases soil fertility, regeneration, and high quality yields.
Horse manure can also be used in throughout the year and needs no special treatment. Just scatter it over your garden area and work it into the soil. It's as simple as that! Horse manure can be a great way to give your garden a boost.
Pig, dog, cat, and human waste should never be used in a vegetable garden. Cow, horse, chicken/poultry, sheep, goat, and llama manure are acceptable types of manure appropriate for use in vegetable gardens.
Manure that is piled and left alone will decompose slowly. This can take three to four months if conditions are ideal. It can take a year or more if the starting material contains a wide carbon:nitrogen ratio (as is the case when manure contains wood chips).
You can dig the composted manure into the soil, use it as a mulch, or spread it on your lawn to enrich the soil. Horse manure is rich is nitrogen so it's especially beneficial for nitrogen loving plants including leafy green vegetables, garlic, brussels sprouts and rhubarb.
Blending manure into the top layer of topsoil will help encourage root growth and health because the manure is packed full of nutrients. The main nutrient released is nitrogen which is needed for plants and vegetables to grow in a sustainable manner.
Horse manure has a higher nitrogen and nutrient content than cow dung. Moreover, horse waste contains significantly less water than cow manure; therefore, it can include up to twice as much nitrogen when dried. Horse manure requires composting or aging to kill weed seeds, larvae, and pathogens.
Horse manure has less nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus than chicken but is a great soil improver for ornamental or vegie beds. Other hot manures include those from birds, like geese, ducks, and pigeons.
Goat manure is drier than cow manure. It has less odor and is easier to work with and also spread. Also, it composts more quickly. It is higher in nitrogen than horse and cow manures on average; it has 22 pounds of nitrogen in 1 ton.
Manure can contain the eggs of strongyles, roundworms and other internal parasites. If it's not properly handled, the eggs (or larvae that hatch from them) can contaminate pastures, feed or water and infect other horses.
You can use manure onsite by spreading it as a fertilizer on an open area, pasture or field. You can also haul manure offsite for fertilizing or composting. Use caution when spreading manure on pastures grazed by horses. Don't spread manure on pastures if there are more than 1 horse per 2 acres.
Manure is typically between pH 8-12, but don't expect manure to affect pH levels in soil. The pH scales ranges from 0 to 14, where 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic, and above 7 is alkaline or basic. Each whole unit (1.0) is a ten-fold difference in the level of acidity.
Horse manure is much the best general fertiliser because it's rich in organic matter and much more mellow. Spent mushroom compost is a good structure improver, but not that useful for adding nutrients to the soil.
Generally, poultry manure is highest in nitrogen content, followed by hog, steer, sheep, dairy, and horse manure. Feedlot, steer manure requires fairly high rates to meet first-year nitrogen requirements because of its lower nitrogen percent and gradual nitrogen release characteristics.
Horse manure typically has an NPK value of 0.7-0.3-0.6.
Ideally, the best manure for gardens is probably chicken, since it has a very high content of nitrogen, a need all plants have, but it must be composted well and aged to prevent burning plants. Chicken manure is a rich source of nutrients and is best applied in fall or spring after it has had a chance to compost.
Pig manure can be an excellent source of plant nutrients including Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). It can be used to replace much of the chemical fertiliser required to fertilise grassland and crops and produce very substantial reductions in fertiliser costs.
Many vegetable gardeners swear by the benefits of manure as a fertilizer. Adding manure to soil improves the soil's texture and water-holding capacity while providing nutrients needed by growing plants.
Apply nutrients in the spring just before growth starts. Avoid using manures and fertilisers in late summer or autumn where they may be lost over winter and pollute water bodies.
The ideal C:N ratio is 25-30:1. Below are some examples of materials that might be added to your compost and their corresponding C:N ratios. As you can see, you'll need to add things such as leaves, weeds, or bedding to your manure to produce the ideal C:N ratio.
Simply ageing a manure pile for three months can kill about 60% of the weed seeds present, and bacterial counts start to drop within days after the manure leaves the animal. Then, when the aged manure is mixed into the soil, soil microorganisms clear out residual bacteria in about a month.