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Manure question

13 years ago

Hey everybody,
Question/advice:
About 2 months ago I picked up several loads or manure with sawdust from a local horse farm. I have previously used manure from them with great results. However, I have never noticed the sawdust in the manure when I got it. The owner stated that the manure had been piled for 9-12 months. The manure apples are not distinguishable at all, but I can still see remnants of the sawdust. The stuff has almost no smell whatsoever, definitely not a manure smell. I was thinking of amending my soil this year with this, but not sure. There is absolutely no heat coming off of the pile, but it seems really dry except for the center. (We are also in a major drought). I have no other options, as it seems EVERYONE with horses uses wood shaving/sawdust. At least this stuff isn't hot. Should I amend and then add some 10-10-10 to ensure there is available N?

Thanks

Comments (9)

  • 13 years ago

    I was going to suggest just that, but no need to use triple 10 unless you also need P and K. If you have it sitting around it won't hurt anything, but manure (and compost) usually have plenty of P and K even if the C:N ratio isn't just right. High N lawn fert would work.

    If the sawdust looks fresh, like it was dumped last week, and there's a lot of that, you're almost certainly in for N depletion. If it looks halfway decomposed but you can sorta tell it's sawdust, you may not notice a problem. In that case you might want to wait to fertilize till you know you need it.

  • 13 years ago

    Manure that is really dry and has disinguishable sawdust tells you that it has not composted very well because the bacteria that digest that material cannot work in an environment that is too dry. Depending on where in the United States you could work this manure into your soil and the combination of the moist soil and bacteria in your soil might finish digesting that before you start planting. That depends on your soil temperature (mine is in the upper 30s now and still too cold to plant in).
    You may also want to add a Nitrogen source, even though the manure probably has enough that when adequate moisture is available the bacteria will get to work without using available soil moisture. However, if it will be another 30 or so days before you start planting that N problem may not exist.

  • 13 years ago

    Thanks so much everyone. I would hate to be unable to use this, it is a good bit. I will just add some extra N in the form of fertilizer or dried blood. Maybe the sawdust will help hold moisture even though I may have to supplement available N. I miss the days when stables actually used straw as bedding.

  • 13 years ago

    I have horses and have used exactly the same thing and it is great stuff with nothing additional.

    The "new" thing in horse bedding is pelleted pine. It starts out as "rabbit food but bigger" looking pellets and it is super absorbent. As it gets wet with urine (some people add water to a fresh bag when putting it in a stall) it expands to look like saw dust--only the particles are a bit bigger than dust.

    One of the good thing about it is that when you muck out a stall you pull out less of it than shavings so you have a greater manure to bedding ratio than the typical shavings bedding. The manure piles (compost piles) break down (get smaller) much faster than shavings. The bad news is that this bedding has a C:N ratio around 400:1. I found that the manure didn't provide quite enough nitrogen to fully compost it with my minimal compost pile management. Even once the "apples" were gone it still had a crumbly wood product look to it not that rich dirt brown look to it.

    I used this stuff by generously digging it in to brand new beds (I have an unlimited supply!) and immediately planting in it. I saw nothing that indicated a nitrogen tie up problem and instead saw some very happy, very healthy plants. I think the best use for it is as a mulch several inches thick. I did this on my perennial beds, vegetables, foundation shrubs and trees. In places I wanted a more finished look I put and inch of pine bark fines over the top of it.

    For myself I have switched my horse stalls to a similar pelleted product but made from straw not pine and has a C:N of 70:1. It IS creating dark rich looking compost.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pelleted Pine Horse Bedding

  • 13 years ago

    it seems to me i have long heard people use sawdust to blend with manures...sawdust ties up nitrogen, manure has plenty to spare.

    oh @*it...you didn't make this yourself? then it's horrid stuff, foisted off by callous, unscrupulous denizens of capitalism who would have to rise in the world to be considered politicians. so says the collected wisdom of the internet, where everything you read has to be true.

    speaking of which, here comes my date, a french model.

  • 13 years ago

    Too much coffee there, strob?

  • 13 years ago

    Wondered why the old Iowa farmyard manure from pasture fed cattle smelled 'good' (!)... but the stuff from the stockyards where cattle are not grazed on fresh grass smells sour, 'awful'!! Has to be the difference in diet? Our New Mexico range cattle would think they had 'died & gone to cow heaven' if they were put in one of those lush, green acres of pasture with the grass up to their udders!!

  • 13 years ago

    At our 16 horse boarding stable the sawdust we remove from the stalls is all urine soaked and along with plenty of spoiled hay and the manure I have never had a problem with it composting (or vermicomposting)........I make windrows of this material and it never fails to turn into chocolate fudge cake within 6 months........our vet says many horses react to the allergins in straw but not sawdust........it works here in wet Atlantic Canada and it probably helps to have a good volume of material...16 horses equals 10 4 ft. x 8Ft x 3 ft trailer loads per week of heaven sent compostables

  • 13 years ago

    BTW, it's always good to remind people considering other people's manure, that they should ask a couple of questions.

    1) do they use lime for odor control in the barn/stable? If so, the manure may have a VERY high pH that can mess up your garden at least temporarily.

    2) Are they using hay from fields treated with persistent herbicides like picloram? These can pass right through the animal and the manure can damage plant growth or outright kill plants if the levels are high enough.