Horse or Cow manure, one better than the other?

[gypsyman]

Any animal that is a herbavore will have better waste,(manure) for enriching the soil. A carnivore, because of what they eat, and how their system works, isn't as good.(ever notice the brown spots in your lawn around doggie doo). There is a way of treating it, but would be cost prohibited.
And, as far as seeds in the manure, wouldn't a pre-emergence weed killer take care of that. Somebody posted about that awhile back, and I'm thinking of trying that next spring. I'ld do it now, but don't know if it would work thru 2''-4'' of snow. gypsyman

[Drilling Man]

  You don't need any light to germinate seeds, you do need the soil heated up, the light is needed AFTER the seeds have germinated.

  Around here, CP (cow poop) is prefered to HP (horse poop) and is considered the better choise of the two.

  A LOT of turkeys are grown here, and i prefer TP to all others.  There are NO weed seeds in their feed, because they are fed ground feed, and the bedding is kiln dried sawdust.

  After having said that, i'd take all i could get of ANY kind of poop!  AND i do!  Here's a pictorial i made up when i was building up a new garden spot.

  I got started by moving some manure and some composted hay/manure mix to my garden spot from my neighbors feed lot....  Now, this is the REAL DEAL here!!
 

 

 
  I did put a couple bucket loads of that "real deal" on top of the sand in the tator patch, and then i started hauling the "composted" manure/hay mix to the rest of the garden spot!!
 

 

 
  I knew this guy was trouble right off, and there's NO WAY i'd get off my tractor when he was around!!
 

 
  He would charge my tractor and bang his head on the bucket, trying to push the tractor backwards!!!  He did it over and over!!!  When i'd steer off to the side, he run in front of the tractor, and charge it again and again!!
 

 
  Finally, after i pushed him backwards at least a hundred feet!!  He turned and ran, kicking his heels high in the air, like he won or something...  LOL LOL....   SO, i then got back to hauling compost!!
 

 
  Untill i had my garden spot FULL of "black gold!!"
 

 
  Next, i will be rotavateing it in!
 
  I hope you enjoyed the picts!!
 
  DM

[Siskiyou]

Drilling Man:

Outstanding post.  Clearly the neighborhood bully was protect his turf! 

[bearmgc]

Great pics, and lottsa helpful responses!

[Drilling Man]

  Thanks guys...

  Here's the next step in getting that garden going.  I bought this tractor new in 1986 and the Howard Rotavator shortly after.  It's been one of my "best buys!"



  After a couple passes, it was starting to look pretty good!!



  Until i had it all mixed and leveled out,



  Then i let the soil set until i was ready to plant it...

  DM

[boondocker]

That is a great looking start there DM and a nice machine. I have a 9n with a single bottom that I only use on occasion as the Troy built gets the bulk of the load now. I am going to grow a much bigger garden this year now as my job went away. I can get my hands on horse manure to prep with. Years ago my ex bil built their house and power raked in tons of horse  manure for the yard, by the middle of summer he had a thick green yard of grass, oats, corn and clover without planting a seed. He mowed it down and has been nice ever since. When I get this by product I will till it in for more nutrients. He left it grow wild the first year and the deer loved it. Boon

[Cornbelt]

We always had lots of sticker weeds with horse manure, and lots of jimson weeds with hog manure. The old man used a lot more cow manure than anything else, and he mostly raised cane!
   Tried an experiment one year. Fed a few gallons of sweet clover seed to cattle in one pasture and a few more gallons to a jackass in another. None of it sprouted. It must just be that some plants prefer certain nutrients that different crap offers, 'cause I know the hogs didn't eat jimson weeds.  Last year we got several pickup loads of rat and mouse turds and everything grew well. Also used composted horse apples and had plenty sticker weeds. This fall I got more composted horse crap, but got it out of the barn, so whatever seeds it contains will have come from the hay they fed the horse.
  For those of you who are interested, cybule onions and buckwheat like silver bearing soils, shallots like gold, ginger likes copper and tin, and opium poppies need a lot of nitrate.

[Dee]

Drilling Man is now showing us piles of crap and we're thanking him for it. This proves how easily entertained we really are.
Oh, and by the way Drilling Man. That is a great pile of crap.

[JBlk]

Both cow and horse manure will have alot of weeds if you don't compost it first.Hog manure will grow weeds that you have never seen before, and if its fresh will really make a hit with your neighbors.Poultry manure has alot of nitrogen and must be used with caution but it really makes a garden jump quick.Sheep manure is by far the best becuse it won't burn your plants even when used in excess.Commerical fertilizer will kill the worms and really doesn't help the ground.Good compost is just about as good as you can get and will improve the soil each time it is applied.

[Drilling Man]

  Good one Dee!!  lol

  Anyway, i don't care how many weeds come come in with any poop i use.  Why? because i cover them up with mulch, and they ALSO become mulch!

  I put any and all poop i can get right between my rows, this is turkey poop/sawdust bedding,



  Then i go out and "rotary cut" a grassy field, or one of the food plots that i plant,



  And after using a hay rake to winrow it, i pitch fork it onto a snowmobile trailor that i have,



  And spread it over the entire garden, going around my plants...



  My gardens use less water,



  And all the veggies are clean when i harvest them...  Also, all that mulch is really nice to walk on as i work in the garden,



  I have nearly zero weeds, and the ones that do grow, are very easily pulled...  In the fall, the mulch is tilled in to feed next years veggies.

  DM

[jrfrmn]

Ney to the horthe crap. Ya to the cow crap.

2 ranchers near me, one says take a load of horse manure, the other, cow manure. Both are from last early summer. I want to spread it on the vegetable garden area now and let the snow soak it in before tilling and planting in late May. Is one better than the other? Would doing this enrich the soil better than just mixing it in come spring? Winter here is almost 5 months long.

[streak]

Drilling Man,
That corn patch and garden site look real tidy!
Ever have any problems with snakes in all of that mulch??

[Bob Riebe]

I use sheep manure, and put it on raw enough so the neighbors get a whiff even after I turn it in by hand.

I have not found weeds to be any more of a  problem other than some new types show up.

"Weeds" can be far more of a problem if "clean" straw is clean only till its sold, although I bought some barley straw that I knew was not clean, and it was really less of a problem than poor threshed oats or wheat.

[Drilling Man]

Drilling Man,
That corn patch and garden site look real tidy!
Ever have any problems with snakes in all of that mulch??

  No on the snakes...

  I want to add, "if" you mulch and still have weeds, then your not putting your mulch on thick enough...

  DM

[bilmac]

Most of my mulch comes from lawn clippings which doesn't get thick enough till later in the summer, so I have occasional weeds sneak through, but nothing like the weeds you have without and, those that do come up are easy to pull because the soil beneath is always soft and moist.

[Bigeasy]

Here in good ol' central PA (Amish country)  they load the "honey wagons" with a form of liquid pig crap, and spray it several times a year.  Boy, the smell brings tears to your eyes, nothing like horse or cow manure.  It's funny to watch the expressions of people who smell it for the first time, especially when they realize there is no getting away from it - The whole town stinks when the honey wagons are a rolling...

Larry

[bilmac]

Horse drawn?

[Bigeasy]

Horse drawn?

Most of them, but somewhere in the rules they can use a motorized tractor as long as it has steel wheels - inflated rubber tires not allowed.  Kind of crazy; if you get stopped for a tail light out, you get a ticket, but the Amish have 12 year old kids driving huge steel wheeled tractors down the back roads, tearing up the pavement with no knowledge of the rules of the road.  All they need is an orange triangle posted on the back of the tractor.  Families use black, horse drawn carriages to travel the local roads, often at night.  After several families were killed being struck by motor vehicles at night, PA finally forced them to put a battery operated red light on the back of the carriage at night.  When I ride the back roads on my Harley, I make a game out of avoiding the piles of horse crap in the road....

Larry

[steg]

As far as the plastcs go black would seem to be the better choice, but it isn't, it reflects the heat, but the clear plastic lets the heat in and traps it, like your car parked in the sun on a hot day, using the clear is called solarising the soil, but even that will only kill weeds close to the surface, weeds aren't hard to get rid of, their impossible IMO , we just have to cope with them, and grab that hoe till the plants are tall enough to put down a nice mat of straw, and your good to go till next year.................steg