If you have horses, you have manure. Dealing with the waste can be burdensome and sometimes costly for farm owners, not to mention some waste management methods are harmful to the environment. If you’re looking for a way to improve your current method or start a new one, composting could be the answer.

On average, a horse produces about 50 pounds of manure per day; add bedding to the mix, and that amount nearly doubles. As urban sprawl continues to encroach on pastures, horse owners are forced to use less space to house and care for their horses, which can cause economic and health problems for horses and owners. With little or no room to spread manure as was done in previous generations, waste can begin to pile up.

This creates several problems. With neighbors building in close proximity to farms, owners have to worry about managing smells, unsightly manure piles, water runoff resulting in water quality problems somewhere down the line, flies, and other health issues. Often, owners resort to costly methods of having their manure hauled to a dump where the manure is entombed under anaerobic conditions. The carbon will eventually surface as methane gas, a potent green-house gas. Also, this uses valuable land fill space with a material that can easily be turned into a valuable soil amendment. Even worse, owners often dump manure in a hole on the back of the farm, allowing muck and chemicals to leach into waterways.

Composting is an economical way to dispose of muck, protect water sources, and end up with a product that has value