by Cynthia McFarland
Life has few guarantees, but one thing is certain when you own horses—you will have to deal with manure.
Every industry creates some form of waste. In the horse industry, the "factory floor" is basically the barn and the pasture, and the waste generated is a nontoxic, natural product. The main problem is that there is usually a lot of it.
At this time, horse owners and farm managers basically have four options for disposing of equine waste:
— Spread it back on the land;
— Have it hauled off;
— Stockpile it; or
— Compost it.
The pros and cons of each option were examined, and several experts were interviewed to determine the current state of the art in waste disposal and the outlook for the future.
Spread it
Although the Environmental Protection Agency may have something different to say about this in the future, at this time it is legal to spread raw muck on your fields. The waste eventually will break down and be absorbed by the soil, but this takes time, and some shavings take much longer to break down than straw or bedding hay.
Farm owners often choose this option because the only cost is that of labor and fuel. Be aware, however, that spreading muck on pastures introduces pathogens and weed seeds, and also increases the parasite load.
If you are putting waste products on fields where horses are turned out to graze, you are giving them direct access to potentially harmful bacteria and parasites.
A large farm with plenty of land may be able to spread muck on fields where no horses will be pastured for some time, but this approach presents a problem on small operations where every inch of ground is in use.
"You don't want to spread raw waste on frozen ground because this increases runoff since the soil can't absorb it and waste products can get into the water easier," said Carolyn Oldfield, coordinator for the Thoroughbred Resource Conservation and Development Council, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on projects related to agriculture and conservation in seven Kentucky counties, including the prime Thoroughbred-producing areas.
"Be careful not to put it on areas of erosion where runoff might lead to a water source," said Oldfield, who is employed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). "You also don't want to spread muck where horses are turned out if you can avoid it."
Haul it
Many farms pay to have their muck hauled away. Companies that pick up the muck typically require that the waste material be placed in a concrete pit to make it easier for their employees to load the waste onto trucks. The cost per load can vary by hundreds of dollars depending on the area of the country, and rising fuel costs most likely will apply upward pressure on prices.
One drawback to having muck hauled away is that you will have to build a concrete pit to contain the muck until it can be removed. Some areas of the country, such as Kentucky, have a state cost-share program that will help pay for part of the expense of a muck pit.
Having muck hauled off is a continual expense. Depending on the hauling company, you may be required to use only straw bedding, or to separate straw and shavings. On the plus side, when you are on a hauling route, you know your muck will be picked up regularly, and all you have to do is have it contained in the pit.
"The majority of the straw muck generated in this country ultimately ends up in a mushroom farm," said Tom Creech, owner of Creech Services in Lexington. Creech Services runs a regular route in the Bluegrass region and hauls muck from farms that have a minimum of about 100 horses. The farm must have a concrete containment area with a floor and three sides capable of holding up to three weeks of waste product at peak times of the year. Creech employees use a front end loader to load a truck with muck, which is then hauled to the company's plant. Depending on the time of year, the muck may be composted or baled and shipped to mushroom farms.
"The mushroom farms need the same amount year-round," said Creech. "Obviously, farms use a lot more bedding materials from January through May because of foaling season, so we compost the excess."
Creech operates his own compost center in Lexington and sells the compost in bulk, mainly to high-end landscaping companies.
Muck destined for mushroom farms is taken to Creech's plant located at The Thoroughbred Center, a training facility in Lexington. For a nominal fee, Creech also allows neighboring farms to dump their straw muck at the plant.
"We've had our base operation there for over 20 years," Creech said. "We have a large recycling baler and make bales from the muck that weigh approximately one ton each. These are loaded onto flatbed trucks and shipped out to mushroom farms. We don't try to make money hauling the material from the farm; we make money selling it to the mushroom farms."
Straw is the bedding of choice when it comes to what mushroom farms will buy, Creech said. "Straw bedding also makes better compost nutrient-wise and breaks down quicker than shavings."
Stockpile it
Some farms choose to simply stockpile muck in one area, typically a location that is removed from barns and farm buildings. This option may seem viable if you have plenty of acreage so the muck pile will not become an eyesore, or if you have just a few horses so that little waste is generated.
If you take this option, be careful where you locate the muck pile. If neighbors or passing motorists can see stockpiled manure from the road, they may call state government offices and complain.
Stockpiling has additional drawbacks beyond unsightliness. The muck becomes a breeding ground for flies, and runoff can contaminate ponds, creeks, wetlands, and groundwater.
"When muck sits for a long time, the inside core heats up and once it gets too hot, this will kill the beneficial microbes, not just the parasites and weed seeds," Oldfield said.
"At the same time, the outside of the pile will become a haven for E. coli and salmonella bacteria, as well as parasites and weed seeds."
Compost it
In the last several years, composting has become a more viable option. More and more farms are finding that composting their muck makes sense economically and ecologically.
"Most landowners want to do the right thing. Most horse farmers are very conservation-minded and are good stewards of the land," Oldfield said. "The horse industry helps preserve land, and the USDA sees farm preservation as a matter of national security.
"We're seeing more people get on the farmland-conservation bandwagon now because of questions being raised about food safety. People like the thought of being more self-sufficient, and Ôlocally grown' is becoming more popular. It's more mainstream to be conservation-minded and Ôgreen.'
"When we started down this road, we were trying to come up with a way to help the equine industry get rid of waste and be aware of water quality, not just surface water but also groundwater," she noted.
"Initially, composting was looked upon as too labor-intensive, but this has changed tremendously because of the volume reduction [of muck], and because water and soil quality and pasture health have improved," Oldfield said. "With the increased cost of fuel, fertilizer, and herbicides, I think the popularity of composting will just increase."
Advantages of composting are numerous and include a 75% reduction in volume and improved soil quality. Expenditures for fertilizer often are reduced, with the amount of savings depending on several factors. Weed growth also is suppressed, which can reduce or eliminate the need for treating fields with herbicides.
Composting does require that a small area be set aside for the process where muck can be made into windrows and turned periodically. A tractor and compost turner are required, and the expense for this equipment is considered the only real drawback, but rental options, cost-sharing programs, and incentive payments are often available through USDA conservation programs.
Opportunities vary across the country. To find out what is available in your region, contact your local conservation district, usually located at a USDA service center.
"Composting is the most economical solution to dispose of large quantities of bedding materials," said Brad Caron, director of facilities at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky.
The horse population at Three Chimneys varies between 400 and 500, and that many horses produce a significant amount of waste. Every bit of it is composted. The farm beds about 95% of its stalls with straw and 5% with shavings. Because of the expanse of the farm, three different areas were established as composting sites, covering a total of about four acres.
"We've been composting for five years now," Caron said. "We feel so strongly about it that we've made a strong investment to our composting future by purchasing new equipment this year. It's environmentally correct to do, and we feel good about that. In terms of volume reduction and returning nutrients to the soil, it's a wonderful thing to do. In our world today, with everything going green, this is a marvelous form of recycling. It kind of completes that whole cycle."
Caron said that spreading the finished compost on pastures reduces fertilizer costs, but that is not the only reason to create a compost program. He has seen obvious improvement when compost is used over time because it restores nutrients and also improves soil texture and friability (the ease with which it crumbles). "The finished product when done properly is absolutely odor-free, germ-free, disease-free, and just crumbles through your hands like beautiful, rich soil," Caron said.
"If you amend marginal or less than optimal soil with compost over a period of three to four years, you can actually see a visible improvement in the soil. Areas that were once quick to turn yellow in dry conditions hold their moisture content much longer when organic compost materials have been added."
Cynthia McFarland is a freelance writer based in Fairfield, Florida