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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

OT Stable Litter

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tg in VA

08-30-2007 17:44:52




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We pick our 35 stalls daily which equals a New Holland 518 spreader load (daily). This "stable litter" is a mixture of horse manure, urine and sawdust. I have a virtual mountain of the stuff in varying stages of decomposition. Does it have value?

I have a MF285 with a loader (7' bucket). Should I advertise it by the scoop, pickup load or...? and, what should I charge.

Do any of you guys have any experience in marketing "stable litter"? I have too much to spread on my pastures and my wife would really like to see this mountain disappear!!

Thanks for your help.

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tg in VA

08-31-2007 19:34:05




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
VATom, I'm in Chatham. I get some hay in Louisa from time to time from Henry Taylor. It's a hump up there but the drive on the back roads (thru Dillwyn, Fork Union, Dixie etc.)is kinda nice.



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VaTom

09-01-2007 05:14:54




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-31-2007 19:34:05  
That is a nice drive.

I live on a mountain in southern Albemarle. It was this side of Louisa county I went, or I wouldn't have. Lots of horses around. You're a little far for folks here to haul from.

Gotta be some in the Lynchburg area who'd be tickled with your surplus. Probably even give you a few bucks to load them. Or deliver, if you've got a dump. Try a farmers' market there?

I got my guy's number from his ad in a local ad-only paper. CraigsList is another good option if you have a local list.

If you come up 29 someday, give a yell. I grow groceries on my roof. I'd probably even share some horse litter if you need some...

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Dave Sherburne NY

08-31-2007 08:52:17




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
I was visiting a large dairy operation about a month ago and while I was there, a new tractor and
spreader from the local college pulled in an dumped
a load of used horse bedding, shavings and dung.
He used it in his dairy operation for bedding and
then it went thru his pit and on to the field. The stuff looked real dry with very little manure in it.



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Billy NY

08-31-2007 07:08:18




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
If you do some research and have some room you can create a fairly consistent product that is thoroughly broke down, and by all means can create a very useful compost that can sell.

I did this at our place when I was working there, as our neighbor was removing the material and selling it, paid his land taxes with it, just by selling it to vegetable gardeners. There is no doubt you can create an excellent compost product, do a search on the web, lots of information on the subject.


We use sawdust bedding and used to have the same amount of stalls to deal with. Feeding good hay helps as you don't get all that mashed into the manure, takes a lot of nitrogen to break down that carbon, which is the hay left over. keep the bedding consistent as possible. The excessive hay or straw in the bedding seems to take longer to break down, still not a problem, just takes longer. With straw or other bedding, probably need a shredder to make this work. Pine sawdust seems to be a good bedding to use, the finer the particles the better, but as long as you don't have bark and large chunks. I have some compost made in '05 that was from oak sawdust and the larger pieces have not broke down.


You need room to stockpile and turn it, get a compost thermometer and keep the internal temperature up there, aerobic composting say around 145 deg, do the research, there are some great articles on it. Keep the moisture up as well, it can't be dried out. I think you need a lot of dry weather for this to become a problem, my stockpile was in the shade and even when hot and dry it still stayed moist enough to break down without adding water, if in the open, you may need to water it down in hot dry weather.

If you can keep your bedding consistent, feed hay that gets eaten and not mashed into the bedding, keep your stock piles organized and turned for aeration, correct temperature and moisture, using even a compact loader tractor you can create quite a bit of good compost aerobically. Have it analyzed, make adjustments, if you have a market for it, it can sell. Even with some investment in equipment, it will pay itself off, if there is a market in your area, otherwise you may have to take it a step further, screen it, create it as specified by a greenhouse or similar grower who will buy it, 35 stalls is a lot of manure, with some time and work it could be profitable, it raw compost was selling for $25-$30 cu. yd around here. Must be thoroughly broke down or it will rob nitrogen from the plants growing in it, I used it with dried blood and bone meal in my vegetable garden and the results were excellent.

One pile I made a 2 years ago with a compact tractor, an old front end loader like the size of a Cat 920 or similar would be ideal for this operation, it's a bit much for the little tractor, kept the pins greased on that loader quite often.


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VaTom

08-31-2007 04:39:50




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
Unless you want to make and market finished compost, you have a problem. I made a guy in Louisa county very happy when I agreed to haul off his small mountain. A pickup load at a time doesn't make much of a dent. I take 4-5 tons, 8 cu yds at a time. He's more than happy to load.

Another consideration is how you deal with worming. Your litter will probably kill worms until it's several months old. Serious gardeners will also be asking what else you're feeding the horses. And only those interested in composting, mostly low temp composting, will be interested.

Where are you? I know some growers.

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Greg_Ky

08-30-2007 23:04:43




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
Most larger horse farms here in Kentucky pay big money to have it hauled away.



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paul

08-30-2007 20:18:19




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
Takes some good marketing or you need to be in the right location to market it. Need to do the composting (stir, add biomass) to kill the weeds if you go this route.

Most just goes for free. It's good fertilizer but not as good as chicken or hog manure. Costs some to go get it - kind of a wash for the end user.

--->Paul



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BigMarv1085

08-30-2007 18:07:09




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to tg in VA, 08-30-2007 17:44:52  
Most of the horse litter in Georgia is given away free or you can pay $10 and have your truck loaded.



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msb

08-30-2007 18:38:10




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 Re: OT Stable Litter in reply to BigMarv1085, 08-30-2007 18:07:09  
$10 a scoop for poop? Sounds like deal to me.
Take your loader and stir the pile every two weeks.Mix it well and keep adding to the pile. Won't be long you will have some expensive compost that will sell like hotcakes.Mix in some leaves ,grass clippings,old hay and yard waste to it too.



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