Horse manure

[barryla61]

I will put some cow manure in the bottom of a hole before planting a tomato plant, plus a handfull of lime.

[barkeater]

I've used both horse and cow manure extensively in my garden. Horse manure brings a whole lot of grassy weeds into your garden; cow manure supposedly does not bring weeds into the garden, but I've gotten new broadleaf annual weeds I never had before from cow manure. However, I don't care about the weeds - I have a hoe, and I know how to use it!

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by barryla61

Gonna have to disagree here. As a lifelong farmer I say cow manure has way more weed seeds than horse. I have access to tons of cow manure but will not put it on my garden for that reason.
Like I said horses are picky eaters and most horse farmers only feed the best hay - alfalfa and/or orchard grass - both of which when broken down are great for soil. Just my 2 cents worth

Maybe our Cow manure had less because we hayed our pasture grass (so no seed heads) and then we ran them on the third cutting alfalfa fields all winter. We rotated them continuously. I have never had to buy hay as we grew more than enough to feed both our cows and horses . You would sure think seeds of anything would break down through the ruminant process whereas in a horse, it's pretty much a straight "in-and-out" kind of deal. having had goats, sheep and rabbits over the years, their poo had virtually no weeds at all. I loved the rabbit and goat for the garden. All I know is all I have ever used as my "primary poo" is equine and I have never had to fertilize with a commercial fertilizer in my life (on the gardens...alfalfa fields and pastures, whole 'nother story...)