Composting involves encouraging microbes to break down organic material into a soil amendment that acts as a long-term, slow-release fertilizer. On horse farms this typically includes animal manure, stall waste, and dead plant material.
Jordan Moody is the landscaping manager at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Spanning over 5,900 acres, Best Friends is the largest animal sanctuary in U.S. When Moody first arrived at the sanctuary, he recognized the sandy, bare soil needed carbon, which compost from horse manure can provide.
“I started with the idea of looking at ways to close loops in our local ecosystem here,” says Moody. “We pay for hay, horses munch it up, add good stuff to it, and then it goes to landfill. That’s an open loop, and I wanted to close that loop. Now all the carbon brought in gets to stay and build the soil (as compost), and healthy soil is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem.”
Using Compost to Improve Soil Quality
Compost enriches soil, enhancing plant and soil health while helping retain moisture. This is especially critical for a drought-prone area that only receives an average of 13.5 inches of precipitation per year.
Moody launched the composting effort by coordinating with the different animal care areas at Best Friends. He recruited volunteers and set up designated drop-off areas to make it easy and chore-efficient for people to dispose of organic waste.
In their composting process Moody and his volunteers take only herbivore manure. Carnivores can share pathogens—disease-causing organisms—with humans so it’s safest to stick with manure from herbivores, says Moody.
Moody occasionally turns the manure piles to add air and evenly mix materials, and he waters the piles with sprinklers when they dry out. This improves microbial activity and helps the organic materials break down properly. The entire process from raw horse manure and bedding to compost takes about eight months.
The Benefits of Composting on Horse Farms
Composting reduces the possibility of parasite infection in animals because the heat generated during the composting process kills parasites. It also kills pathogens and weed seeds. It reduces flies by eliminating their breeding ground and minimizes odors; a properly managed compost pile does not smell like fresh manure. The process of composting reduces the size of a pile by about 50%, leaving less material to manage.
Composting reduces the chances of manure-contaminated runoff from pens or manure piles polluting streams or ground water. Moody uses the finished compost in landscaping projects around the property to improve garden beds and in wildland restoration projects. He and his colleagues also use it in their greenhouses where they grow native plants from seeds.
Take-Home Message
Composting on horse farms often involves turning manure and stall waste into a soil enhancer that can be used to improve soil quality on the farm. Composting can also help reduce the size of manure piles, fly populations, and odor associated with waste on horse farms.
