Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466
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Post by Terry on Apr 23, 2014 23:27:13 GMT
I know this is something only us horse people can truly relate to... my manure pile is finally getting hauled away! I'm so excited! cool
Manure disposal is such a pain. We used to have some people that would come out regularly every summer and take truck loads of our horse manure for their gardens and their yard, and they would eventually get rid of the whole thing for me by the time the summer was over, but they slowed down and then eventually stopped coming. I still have a few people who come and take some of it, but the majority of it has just been building up for the past 3 years! It's been awful! Fortunately we finally found someone who was willing to come out and haul it all away for us (for a fee of course, but that's a fee I'm more than willing to pay at this point!) I wish we'd thought to call him sooner - it's the BO from the stable where we used to board! He's only 1 or 2 miles down the road from us, so it works out really well. So far he's hauled away 1 truckload, and he's working on the 2nd one now.
Not only am I thrilled to finally get rid of that huge eye sore, but it should definitely help cut down on the flies this summer. Yay!
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Post by horselady on Apr 24, 2014 0:48:44 GMT
I call two landscapers for my manure piles and i exchange the manure for dirt to use in my stalls, or for gravel, both a win win for everyone , i saw in craigslist that someone was selling a 5 gallon bucket for 5 dollars. sound promising. but the amount i have i get ride of truck loads every year, especially when hubby cleans out the winter holding paddocks.
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Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466
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Post by Terry on Apr 24, 2014 12:43:57 GMT
Here is what we started with. Like I said, this manure pile had been building up for approximately 3 years! It was so out of hand it was ridiculous!
The first truck load has been loaded up!
The first truck load being hauled away
Unfortunately after he loaded the truck the second time and was getting ready to haul it out, his truck sunk and got stuck in our driveway. Fortunately my husband is a truck driver, so they hooked a chain between the truck and the tractor, my husband got in the truck and the BO got in the tractor, and together they were able to get the truck out.
Finally, a fresh start! (Of course it was raining, so the horses were in their stalls last night, so it looks like we'll be starting a new pile already.)
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mingiz
Junior Member
Los Lunas, NM
Posts: 3,320
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Post by mingiz on Apr 25, 2014 2:40:52 GMT
You should invest in an estate size spreader and put it back on your fields. That's what I use to do. But I know what ya mean about getting a pile built up..
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Lipizzan
Junior Member
Europe, Croatia
Posts: 2,572
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Post by Lipizzan on Apr 26, 2014 12:45:10 GMT
You can imagine then how much of that I have , sicne I have 9 horses. hehe, but we use that manure to fertilize our oats, wheat and corn.
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redzip
Junior Member
Posts: 1,701
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Post by redzip on May 12, 2014 9:21:36 GMT
I'm with Mingiz,., I LOVE my MillCreek spreader. I bought the smallest model they sold, 12 years ago, and am still very happy with it. It was $1100, assembled and delivered at that time. Its been fairly 'maintenance free' (knock wood), a few maintenance issues along the way, but easily solved. There are more brands available on the market today, so research other choices, as well MillCreek, for whatever suits your needs. I keep mine in the barn (under cover), rinsed out after use, and keep the moving conveyor sprayed with WD40. If I were to do it over again, I'd buy the spreader with the 'Rhino liner',.., and the 'gate' on the back would be a nice addition.
For 2 horses, a larger model would be better, only in that you would run it less often. When I had 2 horses, stalled daily, I ran it 2x a week. Now with 1 horse, stalled daily, I run it 1x a week.
Definitely money well spent, and so easy for stalled horses IMO.
Congrats on getting rid of the 'pile' !!!
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redzip
Junior Member
Posts: 1,701
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Post by redzip on May 12, 2014 9:33:57 GMT
PS. I bet the kitties are disappointed,.., it looks like the 'pile' was where 'all the action' was going on
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Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466
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Post by Terry on May 13, 2014 0:02:13 GMT
I have considered getting a manure spreader, but the only thing that has stopped me so far is how small our property is. I don't really have much of anywhere to spread it that the horses wouldn't be trying to graze. If I had more land, and especially if I had a set up where I could rotate pastures, I would definitely invest in a spreader, but my property is just so small, and the only time I could really spread it would be in the fall after I've put the horses into the dry lot for the winter.
As far as the kitty counting contest goes, you were pretty darn close, Mistersmom! I actually count 11 kitties in that first picture, although I will admit that one of them is a little difficult to see.
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hugs
Junior Member
Posts: 2,647
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Post by hugs on Jul 29, 2014 12:27:45 GMT
We never have enough manure for our garden. I bet you could craigslist it and folks would haul it away for you for nothing! I know we would!
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Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466
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Post by Terry on Jul 29, 2014 18:49:18 GMT
I used to do that, but it got to the point that people didn't come often enough, or take enough to ever actually get rid of the pile.
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hugs
Junior Member
Posts: 2,647
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Post by hugs on Jul 29, 2014 23:10:14 GMT
I'll take all of it every time, simply gotta figure a way to ftp the stuff over here...
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