Horse manure

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Bob Marcellus was asking about the content of the manure produced by his pony.  From Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening a ton of horse manure contains about 14.9 lbs of N, 4.5 lb of Phosphate and 13.2 lbs of Potash.  That makes a ton of manure equivalent to a 100 lb bag of 14-5-13 chemical fertilizer when it comes to NPK.  A ton of manure also contains about 650 lbs of organic matter as well as trace elements and minerals.  My understanding is that the Nitrogen in fresh manure is consumed by the bacteria that breaks the manure down into compost, however it is released back into the soil when those bacteria die.  Therefore while nitrogen consumption is required for the composting process it is not lost.  I use quite a bit of manure on my garden every year that I get from the horse ranch up the road and a downside is weed seeds.  Unless you can compost it hot it can contain lots of weed seeds that aren't digested in the horse's gut.  Our soil is quite heavy clay and the biggest benefit is the organic matter that improves the soil composition and lightens it up.

 

Shane