Davej wrote:
I have always heard that cow manure is vastly better for gardening
than horse manure, but I do have a neighbor with a horse. What if I
composted the horse manure and allowed it to age for a year or two
before use?


There is not a huge difference between the two in nutrient content once you
allow for the difference in water content. Fresh from the beast, cow has
more water than horse, once dried out not so much. There are small
differences depending on the diet of the beast and other variations. Horse
and cow are NOT like chicken manure or synthetic fertilisers in that even
when fresh you would have to put a lot on to sensitive plants to burn them.
Used thoughtfully it isn't a problem. Once it has aged a bit you can plant
straight into it, I got 100kg of pumpkins off a volunteer vine that grew
where the heap was one year.

I use horse all the time and it is excellent. There is no need to compost
it for ages, I have used it hot to trot so to speak on well established
trees and shrubs. Normally I collect it in winter when it is easiest and
leave it in a pile til spring without any attention, this will break up the
pucks and reduce the smell to almost nothing. If you age it for years you
will lose nutrients - but the grass downhill from the compost heap will grow
very well.

You need to consider the provenance of the manure, whatever seeds the horses
are eating many will survive their gut and germinate once the manure is
spread. A short period of hot composting will kill the seeds or just try it
on a small area and see what happens, it may or may not be a problem.

In my view whatever organic matter you can get locally and cheaply (or free)
is always superior to what you may buy or truck in.

To all those who say that it is essential to compost manure before use, I
ask why?

David