The Green Horse

[jaybird]

here is a link to "The Green Horse", a monthly newsletter from Horses For Clean Water. A good resource for small farms that deals with mud management, pasture management, etc.

www.horsesforcleanwater.com/thegreenhorse/09_2006.html

[Buena]

All available newsletters:
www.horsesforcleanwater.com/thegreenhorse/

[trillium]

Hey Liz, you and Allane would be proud of all the work Kurt and I have done to manage our pastures and manure.
We installed new gutters, replacing and extending the old ones.
We made it so we can direct the downspouts into the horse troughs. And are going to put rain collection barrels there too.
We have two sacrifice areas done. Two others are fenced and ready to have the dirt removed, the fabic layed down and the gravel.
We have divided most of our pastures for rotation to maintain the health of the grass.
We made feed bins for hay, so when we feed outside. "Fine organic matter" is not contributed by the hay.
We have inproved our compost bins and now keep them covered, with pipes sticking out to allow oxygen to get to the center of the piles.
Things take time and money, something we never seem to have enough of. LOL But we are working on it.

I wish that counties would have a place to recycle horse manure. I would gladly pay a small fee if there were somewhere to take it to recycle.

[leahlady]

Usually you can take manure to a topsoil company. We collect manure in garbage cans and then dump it once a month at Pacific Topsoils out in Snohomish. It is free to dump there, at the Bellevue collection place you have to pay $12/ton or something like that.

Lady lives in a residential area where manure piles are not allowed....so we have to get rid of it.

[trillium]

Hummm, I wonder if there is something like that available around here where I live.
I will have to check it out and see.

[cardicorgi]

Trillium - you might contact Lois at Grandview Stables in OC - she knows a ton of stuff about manure etc., I think she even has a side business where she sells her horses' manure to a middleman. She might have some ideas for you!

[Buena]

FYI, I am working on the latest issue of The Green Horse as we speak. Due to come out on the 10th. If anyone has innovative ideas, please feel free to e-mail them to the HCW staff at [e-mail]. And if you are stumped by a horse management question, feel free to send that in as well! We're always looking for new topics to cover and if you have a tip to share with folks about what has worked well for you it can be featured in Tip Of The Month.

[crum]

I sent a suggestion for a topicI don't think I had seen covered yet.

[Buena]

This might be of interest:
www.horsesforcleanwater.com/thegreenhorse/05_2007.html#article4
It may be time for us to look into a follow-up article.

[crum]

buena said:

This might be of interest:
www.horsesforcleanwater.com/thegreenhorse/05_2007.html#article4
It may be time for us to look into a follow-up article.

I know after I read that back in May it left me with questions.

Something that does not seem to have mentioned on that website was chemicals in the carcass. For instance, when a horse is euthanized by a veterinarion is it safe to compost them or are the chemicals a problem?

I'm also wondering about open burning of carcasses and what environmental concerns are involved with that. Is this even legal in this part of the country?

[trillium]

I did not even know you could compost large animals until recently. I was reading an article from OSU extension service about small farm management and came upon the article. It details how to do the composting. Evidentally, dairy farmers have done it for quite awhile.
If anyone is interested, I will look up the article.

My neighbor burned his horse after it was put to sleep. Unfortunatly, two of his dogs ate quite a bit of the carcass before he burnt it, and they also died. I don't know if it is legal or not. That is a good question though.

[crum]

I think I may have read the same article

I moved here from the midwest and I had seen both of those methods used there since I was a kid. I didn't start wondering about environmental impact and the like though until I moved here to Oregon.

[Buena]

www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=10827

Michigan OKs Composting Horse Carcasses
by: The Associated Press
November 16 2007, Article # 10827
Dairy farmer Ken Nobis reaches into a tall mound of what looks like topsoil and grabs a clump, which he looks over and quickly sniffs before crumbling it.

The 10-foot-high, 50-foot-long heap that he's examining is a compost pile. Its humus is dark, rich and virtually odor-free--which is surprising, given that much of it consists of cow manure and the decayed remains of dead cattle.

Michigan recently enacted new rules that make it easier for farmers to compost animal carcasses. A growing number of states allow farmers to compost the carcasses of horses, poultry, and livestock. The agriculture industry says it's a safe and economical way to dispose of dead animals, though some environmentalists question whether it could lead to groundwater and surface water contamination.

U.S. farms started using composting as a disposal method for dead poultry in the 1980s. Hog farmers later adopted the method, which more recently has been used to dispose of cattle and sheep carcasses. (For more on composting horse carcasses see www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=7825.)

Michigan's new rules allow farmers to build open-air compost piles in their fields without a floor or a structure, as long as they do not exceed more than 20,000 pounds of carcasses during a year. Otherwise, producers are required to construct bases of concrete or other impermeable surfaces for their piles and drain any runoff into containment areas.

There are setback requirements intended to protect streams and wells from runoff. Farmers also are required to maintain records about what goes into their piles and must monitor moisture and temperature.

Historically, farmers haven't had many options when it came to getting rid of bodies or parts of bodies of their domestic animals. In Michigan, only a handful of landfills accept animal carcasses and parts.

The problem became more serious in recent years as Michigan's rendering industry--whose companies make glues, hair dyes, and other products from animal remains--has nearly vanished. Rendering also is expensive, costing farmers up to $150 per animal for large livestock, said Kevin Kirk, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

Many farmers see composting as an economical and practical solution.

"Everyone sat around the table to develop these rules," says Ernie Birchmeier, a livestock specialist with the Michigan Farm Bureau, a lobbying group representing farmers. "We did the research, we did the homework and we came up with a strategy, a new management option for farmers to use that works for them and helps to protect the environment and utilize the nutrients in a more positive way."