Difference between horse and stable manure?

[MarkHackwell]

What is the difference between horse and stable manure please?

And which would you recommend to bulk out compost for growing potatoes in?

Thanks

[veggiechicken]

Is this a trick question, Mark?

[Penellype]

I think people use the terms horse manure and stable manure interchangeably.

Some horse owners remove the droppings from their fields (this helps to keep parasites such as worms in check) and I suppose this could be called horse manure. This would be almost 100% dung. Stable manure would be the result of mucking out the stable and would contain a mixture of dung and wet bedding. This forms the best combination for rotting down as the dung provides a good source of bacteria, the urine provides nitrogen (equivalent to "greens" in composting) and the bedding provides the "browns". I would therefore be reluctant to use horse manure that does not have the urine soaked bedding component unless I was mixing it into a compost heap.

[MarkHackwell]

Is this a trick question, Mark?

Nope no trick question :P I ask because you can buy stable manure in big bags but the horse manure is in smaller bags

[veggiechicken]

I thought you were going to say that there was something living in the stable that wasn't a horse - like an elephant or summat.

[nickdub]

What is the difference between horse and stable manure please?

And which would you recommend to bulk out compost for growing potatoes in?

Thanks

Not much - what you want is rotted for at least 1 year and with plenty of straw in it - best to get a trailer-load delivered, unless you live near enough to wheelbarrow it.

[chris_m]

Nope no trick question :P I ask because you can buy stable manure in big bags but the horse manure is in smaller bags

Probably because there is a greater quantity of the former than the latter, due to all the added bedding.

[Thelma Sanders]

When I was little the pub on the corner still had deliveries by horse and dray - any droppings it left in the road or yard, were swept up and put straight onto the veg garden - but the stuff mucked out of their stables was always left to rot before use. So is it the straw and urine mixed with it, rather than the droppings alone, that mean you can't use it straight away, and why the differentiation between the two products?

[MarkHackwell]

I thought you were going to say that there was something living in the stable that wasn't a horse - like an elephant or summat.

No other animals as far as I’m aware :P although who knows it might have come from a zoo lol

[MarkHackwell]

Not much - what you want is rotted for at least 1 year and with plenty of straw in it - best to get a trailer-load delivered, unless you live near enough to wheelbarrow it.

I would probably end up buying it by bags because there aren’t any places with horse manure near me

[Bill Door]

Yes there is that distinct difference that horse poo is better than stable clearance. Last year I picked horse poo from my nieces' paddock and composted it for about 8 months and it is absolutely marvellous. I have also composted stable clearance and that is taking a lot longer. I have recently turned the stable stuff again as one compost bin (horse poo) was no longer required. As an aside a previous plotholder would spread the poo picking direct on the ground once he had dried it off. He used to pile it up and turn it every day for a week and then just spread it. He didn't have much trouble from weed seeds as I think he hoed the ground fairly regularly.

So I would be very happy (going to start in April) to collect more horse poo direct from the paddock and even lay it direct on the ground for the appropriate plants. The trouble with the stable stuff is that the wood shavings/straw takes a bit longer to break down

You could buy the small bags but you could also get friendly with a horse owner and offer to take their "poo pickings" off their hands, so to speak.

Bill

[Penellype]

When I was little the pub on the corner still had deliveries by horse and dray - any droppings it left in the road or yard, were swept up and put straight onto the veg garden - but the stuff mucked out of their stables was always left to rot before use. So is it the straw and urine mixed with it, rather than the droppings alone, that mean you can't use it straight away, and why the differentiation between the two products?

The urine is very high in nitrogen and may "burn" soft green vegetation if applied fresh (think of what happens if a dog pees on the lawn).

[veggiechicken]

I would probably end up buying it by bags because there aren’t any places with horse manure near me

If there are any stables nearby, go and ask for some. They're usually very willing to get rid of it.
or try the freebie sites - like this https://www.gumtree.com/freebies/uk/manure

[bazzaboy]

I use both from local horse owners who are usually only too pleased to get rid of it... even to the point of arranging free trailer-loads to allotments etc. I compost both and wouldn't use directly on potatoes (I do use directly on rhubarb, usual jokes please...."I prefer custard on mine" ). I was told in the case of rhubarb the immediate benefit is the hot-bed principle, no idea if that's true but part of the allotment is overrun with rhubarb so doesn't seem to do any harm.

As explained by others above, the difference is in the horse owners who "poo pick" their fields (we occasional get local ads for "poo pickers") and the standard litter/deep-litter stable. (One wishes a small proportion of dog-owners would employ "poo pickers" too, it's a nightmare problem in villages round these parts....).

One word about stable manure - watch a horse in its stable and it's inclined to take hay from the rack and shake it a bit before eating it.... Observe all the seeds that can result from that shake falling into the litter... If you spread that without composting you're more than likely to end up with a very nice grassy field! If you're buying it commercially it's probably been processed to reduce that tendency. So the free stuff has its disadvantages. But I love it!

[muck lover]

All that lovely muck.