A friend has a horse stables and offered my some manure, now is it ok
just to take or will i need to do something to it first?

Also my dad in law has a cow farm is this stuff any better?

Thanks

This will be going into a garden and really want to do it this week as
it's a bkank canvas at the mo.

Based in South Wales

htmark98 wrote:
A friend has a horse stables and offered my some manure, now is it ok
just to take or will i need to do something to it first?

Stick it in a corner somewhere and let it rot down for a while. It's
better used this way because fresh manure is very strong and can 'burn'
your plants. If you want to give your plants a feed, however, dilute
some manure in a bucket of water and pour it over the plants.

Also my dad in law has a cow farm is this stuff any better?

Treat as above and let it rot down.

Thanks

This will be going into a garden and really want to do it this week as
it's a bkank canvas at the mo.

If your father in law has some well-rotted manure on his farm, you
could use that immediately. Please do NOT take the advice to add lime
to your soil or the manure. The use of lime will stop you using many
plants which are lime intolerant and the person suggesting that has no
idea what your soil is like or even, where it is! He doesn't live in
UK.
Camellias for example, absolutely detest lime, as do Enkianthus,
Rhododendrons and Azaleas and Heathers. If the garden is new to you,
get a soil testing kit from a garden centre and check it out.
Alternatively, look at what your neighbours are growing which will give
you a good idea of what can easily be grown in your area.
On another topic, when starting your new garden, do think beforehand
about whether you need to put in any electric cables for e.g. pond
pumps and make sure you leave trenches or room for trenches, where
those will be needed.
If you want some info on plants later, it would be a good thing to tell
us the area in which you live because that will make a difference to
what you can grow.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

hi thanks electric cables will be going down this week. How long do you
normally leave it for to rot down?

hi thanks electric cables will be going down this week. How long do you
normally leave it for to rot down?


I just put ours in a corner of the paddock and forget about it for about
a year, if you poke it you will see when it is ready to use.

If you are an organic gardener check if any of the animals are or have
been on medication.

kate

htmark98 wrote:
hi thanks electric cables will be going down this week. How long do you
normally leave it for to rot down?

Leave it for about a year and then look at it. If it's ready to be
used, it will be dark and crumbly. Some people describe it as looking
like very good moist fruitcake!! You could buy or get another pile in
say, six months time from your riding stable and continue to have piles
progressing at different rates of 'maturity'. Most people would give
a lot to have a supply of good horse manure available so readily. Kate
is right about checking for any medication used on animals BUT I really
would question its potency if it's been left in manure, quietly rotting
away for some time but don't know that. I may be wrong here but I
*think* there may be some medicines that it's obligatory to give to
cows but I'm just not sure. If that is the case, however, they must
be acceptable to those living organically, because certainly one can
buy organic milk.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message .com
from "Sacha" contains these words:
Kate
is right about checking for any medication used on animals BUT I really
would question its potency if it's been left in manure, quietly rotting
away for some time but don't know that. I may be wrong here but I
*think* there may be some medicines that it's obligatory to give to
cows but I'm just not sure. If that is the case, however, they must
be acceptable to those living organically, because certainly one can
buy organic milk.

That's a different issue, because dairy farmers have to keep the milk
of recently-medicated cows out of the processing system. It doesn't, or
should not, enter the food chain.

That's interesting, thanks. But I was thinking of/wondering about any
kind of obligatory vaccination, perhaps. Does such a requirement
exist, do you know?

Glasgow vet school has a horse hospital which produces lots of pooh.
When horse medecine was simpler hey used to dump it at nearby allotments
for gardeners to use, but that ended some years ago due to the kind of
chemicals used in modern medications. For instance, gardeners might not
want powerful worm-killing chemicals to enter their garden system. There
are others (such as OP's) which have horrible effects on human
physiology and can be absorbed through skin contact. Trainee vets are
taught to be very careful about skin exposure to animal medication,
because of the high incidence of human liver damage it causes in that
profession.

Is there any indication of how long it takes such chemicals to become
harmless when stored in rotting manure?! Kate has certainly raised a
very important point there, it seems to me.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

Is there any indication of how long it takes such chemicals to become
harmless when stored in rotting manure?! Kate has certainly raised a
very important point there, it seems to me.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

I have to admit that I do not know how long it takes the chemicals to
break down, wormers are used 2/3 times a year and one little mare is on
hormones so it is probably quite a lethal mixture. I keep any of those
dropping`s separate and the straw is burnt, the resulting compost is
used on my own flower garden, if anyone wants any I make sure that they
have been told and it is up to them.

kate

Kate Morgan wrote:
Is there any indication of how long it takes such chemicals to become
harmless when stored in rotting manure?! Kate has certainly raised a
very important point there, it seems to me.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

I have to admit that I do not know how long it takes the chemicals to
break down, wormers are used 2/3 times a year and one little mare is on
hormones so it is probably quite a lethal mixture. I keep any of those
dropping`s separate and the straw is burnt, the resulting compost is
used on my own flower garden, if anyone wants any I make sure that they
have been told and it is up to them.

I think what you've raised is very important to those using manure on
veg. patches. People in general might not be so worried about flower
beds. If Janet can get more info, as she has said she will try to do,
I think it might be a good idea if it goes into the FAQs.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:

The message . com
from "Sacha" contains these words:


That's a different issue, because dairy farmers have to keep the milk
of recently-medicated cows out of the processing system. It doesn't, or
should not, enter the food chain.

That's interesting, thanks. But I was thinking of/wondering about any
kind of obligatory vaccination, perhaps. Does such a requirement
exist, do you know?

M says cattle are routinely vaccinated against respiratory diseases.


Is there any indication of how long it takes such chemicals to become
harmless when stored in rotting manure?! Kate has certainly raised a
very important point there, it seems to me.

Istr OP's are pretty persistent. I'll ask if he knows.

He doesn't know about persistence in manure.

Thanks, Janet. I think anyone wanting to use cow manure on veg patches
might want to find out exactly what the vaccine consists of and how
long it takes to 'disappear'. Perhaps DEFRA could help. Cough.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

Sacha wrote:
[...]
Thanks, Janet. I think anyone wanting to use cow manure on veg patches
might want to find out exactly what the vaccine consists of and how
long it takes to 'disappear'. Perhaps DEFRA could help. Cough.

Vaccination works by stimulating the production of antibodies in the
bloodstream, so I can't see what harm it could do even if some of these
antibodies had got into the dung. It's completely different from
chemicals, such as worm-killers, intended to operate through the gut.

--
Mike.