Manure Mismanagement

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Composting Horse Manure

Manure Mismanagement

Potential Negative Impacts Of Manure Mismanagment

The mismanagement of horse manure can have detrimental impacts on your environment and human health. Piles that are mismanaged can cause pollution and lead to the following negative impacts:

Unsafe drinking water from ground water pollution
Surface water pollution that can spread disease among livestock
Death of fish and other aquatic organisms in local waterways
Increased populations of unwanted insects
Increased odour
Losing the right to have horse farms in the midst of urban development

Common Mismanagement Practices
It is the responsibility of land-owners to be good stewards of the land. This means handling our manure in a way that does not cause pollution. Below are some common mismanagement practices that can cause pollution:

Common mismanagement that occurs with manure storage and handling include:

Leaving piles uncovered where rain can hit them and cause serious leaching problems.
Leaving large piles sitting on the property for longer than the allowed period of 9 months (some piles are 10 years old!)
Manure piles are located within close proximity to watercourses and wells.
Piles are not actively managed and just left to rot so they do not compost properly and cause insect and odour issues.
The spreading of raw manure when composted manure is actually better for fields. Spreading raw manure between the months of October to April.

It is important to do diligence and ensure your manure pile does not pollute. Regulations demand this. If your pile is found to pollute you can be charged and we want to make sure that that does not happen. If you do any of the above practices you could be polluting. LEPS can help you change your current practices so that you are in compliance with waste management regulations.