Composting Horse Manure

Yes, draw it and it can be made. My brother is a plastic fabricator, many such structures are made by welding plastic using a dedicated hot air gun and suitable filler material, usually a coiled rod of the same material. external glassfibre application gains additional physical strength, sometimes with the addition of steel. This technology is used for corrosive applications.

What transfer mechanism do you envisage between compartments? Archimedes screw? You could just have three seperate chambers and rotate inputs, but some agitation / tumbling to increase air exposure of the manure.

Depending on the volumes involved, would a plastic concrete mixer do? (I think I remember seeing cheap Chinese made mixers in a hardware catalogue) It would allow you to turn it over and turn it out with little effort.

Why all the transferring from container to container sounds like extra work. Why not fill one and let it set until the manure done composting. I would all so make it out of Stainless Steel. This so that a heater can be added in the container. The addition of heat to stabilize temperature to aid decomposition and to finally heat the compost for sterilization Safer to handle that way.

Hi ozzb

George was asking for reasonable cost. He could make the 'apparatus' from old used barrels and they would out last him. Stainless? Wow. Ky.

If cost is the big issue than as my uncle does on his dairy farm dig a hole and bury it.

after a year or two dig it back up and spread it around.

The wood shavings may complicate the composting process, slowing it down. If you live in the US, contact your state land grant college or county agriculture dept for info.

Manure

Manure plus bulking compostible materials would far exceed 300cum/yr; wood chips are difficult but grass, straw, rice hulls, stabilized sewage sludge or even soils.

Anaerobic or hi-rate mechanic/thermal aerobic composting may be capable of the materials in three weeks

Volume reduction (say 50%) can not be a significant amount in 21 days as given "rapidly" especially as you need to add bulking materials to reduce water content and allow aeration and mixing.

Cheapest oldest is windrows (3-6 rows - 2m wide and 1m high, 3m separation) and a tractor with a "plow" or front bucket loader to move the piles

TOM

Hi George

You might have to spend a few more $$, but liquefying and leeching is what you want. Concentrate the stuff. You could briquette the solids as another byproduct. Transport and storage would be made safer and faster. This is, if you are after the fertilizing qualities of your byproduct, or better, your horses waste. You would need a bit of madame deloras. Some simple calculations and one person operated. Not much schnick schnack really. If I had this problem (opportunity) I would be drawing and scheming to make it work. There is money in manure and there is lots of it (manure that is). Hope this is not a shitty suggestion.

A question on the side: Are any of your horses slaughtered for their meat? I mean for human consumption? A bit odd? I know. What I don't know is, were are you? I hope not in a country were horses are sacred. Ky.

Most fire stations located at an airport have foam concentrate delivered in plastic (polyethylene) 55 gal drums. They might be willing to donate empty drums for your project. A chain saw will easily cut them in half top to bottom making two open top storage tanks out of each drum. These drums have two threaded ports on the top. This would allow for draining each of the open tanks if needed. Why not try it on a small scale as inexpensively as possible. If it still seems like a good plan, then buy more elaborate equipment. Good luck.

yes, it is possible, but i wouldln't do it.

answer number 1 has the right answer. check the link he provided. my opinion is that trying to make a composting machine is silly. a wheeled loadeer is all you need. that takes the hard labor out of turning the compost. nature plus a little water does the rest.

Don't forget the worms!!!!

I didn't have time to read all the ideas that everybody has told you but what you can do is put the manure in a long windrow and add composting worms to the mix then you can sell the worms for around $20 per pound and the worm castings at $1.00 a pound. The worms will double every 2 to 3 months. Any way if you are interested I can help you set it up.

You are wasting one of your most useful resources for cutting your energy cost by at least one half when you compost your horse shit, and if you happen to raise a cow or two, then composting becomes a waste of bull shit, too. Pig shit and chicken shit makes a great source of energy as well. Simply dump it into a large volume sealed septic tank and collect the gases that come from it. At least once a year, clean the tank of the sludge on the bottom, let it dry, break it up into pellet sized chunks and spread it on your fields and watch your range grow. the saved gas can then be use for heating and cooking, or fed into a SOFC, produced by either Acumentrics or Siemens to produce most of all the electricity and heat you will need to run your ranch, and this at 60% efficiency for your electric power and 30% for heat, making the co-generation at 90% efficiency - compared to the, at best, 30% efficiency of a diesel or gasoline powered generator (including that produced by power companies). I suggest you look these links:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~chtank/apix.html

http://www.eere.energy.gov/

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~chtank/homepower.html

http://www.epa.gov/

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/

I put Extension last because I am sure you already know your county extension agent, they are great people and can help you a lot. Of course, I am assuming you are in the USA. If not, then you are still welcome to use all of the links given above anyway.

HELLO

I have seen the composting barrel you are speaking of, it is approxamately 8 feet long and 2 1//2 feet in diameter. On one end it has a door, inside it looks like a giant screw that as you turn it once a week the manure mix travels the length of barrel and eventually drops out the other end as compost. You may find one in the back of your local farmers almanac, or you can look in many of the farm and tractor magazines.

blackscorpion908@yahoo.com

For exactly what you want to do, pipewelder gave you the specifics.

Chtank gave you an answer just as good, though his is more complete.

I myself have shoveled quite a fair amount of dirt, or shit, and wish I had had a good place to put it all.

Is not Compost another name for Fertilizer?

How much money do you spend on Fertilizer?

How far do you need to send Fertilizer?

Is Fertilizer the same as compost?

If I hit spell check I ought to be able to check the meaning of the word at the same time. Is that possible? I haven't tried it yet.

55 gallon drums are ubiquitous and come in plastic or steel. Cooper Tools makes a lid cutter that works the same as a can opener, but is big enough for a 55 gallon steel drum.

You asked for non metallic parts and therefore I suggest you get a collection of Plastic 55 Gallon Drums and Put them together in the flow system that only you understand and envision for your specific understanding and purpose, perfect that, and sell it as a system to your neighbors.

As the start of your system label your places where things are supposed to go so you don't have to actually tell everyone everything all the time.

You will never lose if you are never surprised at how many people need a sign.

I congratulate you on the patience dealing with stupid horses requires.

They are more likable than cows.

The gas from all the shit is really valuable and I don't think it needs to be stirred.

Chtank is the expert, for energy stuff from biomass etc.

but Pipewelder gave you the specific answer for compost and could never be acused of being off topic, as might I sometimes, be.

Manure and wood shavings may compost well but that doesn't mean it produces good compost. The problem is wood shavings

If you're putting in old stable bedding material, you've scored a bonus. Contained in this will be urine, which is rich in potassium, nitrogen and sulphur, so you may not need to correct for any deficiencies. However, if the stable material is sawdust or wood shavings, these use large amounts of nitrogen in breaking down and will nearly always create a deficiency. This being the case, add a rich nitrogen-based fertilizer as you go.

quoted from Horsetalk NZ a good online horse reference site

Composting has two virtues, it reduces volume, by 80 or 90 % (personal guess) and it produces fertiliser, but with wood chip the fertiliser is Nitrogen free which makes it nearly worthless in farming terms. Oddly this could be beneficial on small pony paddocks where you feed animals to keep them thin, becuase fat ponies get laminitis which kills them. However if they do some work, you have an all round bonus. As engineers you should see the waste in the UK where 1,000,000 horsepower is being wasted every second by 1,000,000 horses sand ponies standing around doing nothing. See renewable horsepower for a laugh.

do the tanks have to rotate