Composting Litter and Reusing

[LynneP]

I have about 20 tons of horse manure composting behind our barn and I wouldn't use it. Even with Stable Boy as a deodorant I kjnow that many organisms inhabit the manure as it composts.

Redworms are one of the major digestors of horse manure (great for fishing bait) and their guts contain eggs of intestinal parasites common to birds and mammals. I'm also against it because of the vast amounts of molds that digest horse manure. I think you would need one of those rotating drum composters ( mucho $$$) to achieve adequate and even heat to kill such things.

We use peat moss for our horse (he's allergic to cellulose-based beddings) and the coop is segregated from the horse part of the barn. There we use fresh pine shavings and DE.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yes, but the question was not about using fully composted manure.

Also, it is only fully composted if it was in the part of the pile that got hot enough for long enough. Unless you are a fanatic about turning your pile, the outside parts will not have gotten hot enough (how much of the outside? depends how hot your pile got and what shape it is).

So it is a legitimate issue.

Pat