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Successful Manure & Waste Management
Horse Manure Odors, Flies and Neighbors’ Complaints
November 15th, 2007 by peter
The City of Milton, GA, just outside of Atlanta, is a rapidly growing rural community with numerous horse farms scattered about the countryside, representing a wonderfully scenic, pastoral way of life. However, Milton’s growing population of non-horse residents are also experiencing a rural fact of life - where there are horses, there are often manure odors and flies - and they are complaining loudly about it to the local officials. For details on this story, visit: http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/11/03/horsefarms_1104.html
This phenomenon is not at all unusual. In fact, it is now more the rule rather than the exception. Ours is a complaint driven society and neighbor complaints about odors, dust and flies will bring the local health district and air board right to your doorstep. It simply doesn’t matter that you’ve lived there for 30 years and have been managing the manure the same for that same length of time. Getting angry won’t help - the problem is here to stay unless you take action to solve it.
So, the question is this… “What can we as horse owners do to continue our equestrian way of life and still get along with our neighbors?”
The answer to this dilemma is to properly manage the manure by composting it using the aerated static pile method. Most of the offensive odors result from anaerobic conditions in the manure pile. By maintaining aerobic (oxygen rich) conditions throughout the compost pile, 85% of the offensive odors simply go away - it’s all about the biology. The rest of the odors are absorbed in the 6″ thick cover of finished compost that we place on top of the pile. This layer also serves to control flies by “cooking” the fly larvae in the raw manure.
Getting back on good terms with your neighbors can be a difficult challenge. Here is a strategy that seems to work in most cases:
- Acknowledge that your horses are creating an odor / fly problem and commit to reducing or eliminating that problem by composting.
- Install an O2Compost system. For details, refer to “Training” on our website.
- Provide your neighbors with compost for their garden free of charge and keep them first on your list of people to call when you’ve finished your next batch.
Your greatest defender will be your previously irate neighbor when you get the manure odors and flies under control.
5 Responses to “Horse Manure Odors, Flies and Neighbors’ Complaints”
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Thanks for the heads up. I have farms in GA & FL and know that my days are numbered before these sort of articles will be directed my way. Planning and changing now is my only hope to keep doing what I love.
Keep me posted!!
I have another question.Will the heat of the system actually kill Bermuda grass stolens and seeds? I like to compost my horse manure but i have never found anything that actually kills Bermuda Grass.
I believe that composting Bermuda Grass and achieving a minimum temperature of 131 degrees F throughout the pile for at least 3 days will effectively destroy the stolens and seeds. While I have not tested Bermuda Grass specifically, I have tested Japanese Knot Weed, Horse Tail, Scots Broom, and a variety of other tenacious plants and invasive weed seeds, all with 100% success.
As I “preach” in my workshops, we learn by doing, so let’s give it a try.
Can composting also do the same with crabgrass? If so, what are its nitrogen/carbon characteristics? I also know that corn gluten can be used as an effective organic pre-emergent control but it sure is expensive!
Ron - I suspect that composting will destroy the efficacy of crab grass, however, I haven’t tested it specifically. There is an easy way to test any specific type of seed or plant part to confirm that composting does, in fact, destroy its reproductive viability.
First, place a sample of the material being tested in a nylon mesh bag and place the bag in your compost pile (the O2Compost Micro-Bin is ideal for this). If you are testing seeds, these should first be placed in a short tube of nylon stocking (i.e. 6″ length of panty-hose), knotted at both ends making it easy to retrieve them after the trial.
Second, compost the entire batch for ~30 days, ensuring that pile temperatures exceed 131 degrees F for at least 3 days.
Last, remove the nylon bag. Place the composted seeds or plant material in a garden pot with good quality potting soil and/or garden soil and perform your own growth trial.
Let me know what you learn from your trials.