How does horse manure compare to chicken litter?

By Grant Woods,

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← Grant's Answers — Food Plots
Question
We have used chicken litter on our food plots for years with good results. We now have an opportunity to purchase horse manure from a farm down the road at a much cheaper price. Would horse manure be a good alternative to chicken litter?

Thank you for answering our questions.

Ryan,

One big difference is that weed seeds tend to pass through a horse and still be viable.  This is not the case with poultry litter. Spreading horse manure often means fighting weeds.  

Horse manure doesn’t have as high of nutrient value as chicken litter. It will require much more horse manure to contain the same amount of nutrients as chicken litter.  I suggest you collect a sample of each and then compare the pounds of N, P, and K per ton of each and see which one is the better value – or use standard values found on line and compare price per nutrient quantity.  I don’t know what you are paying for either, but I suspect the chicken litter will be a better value.

For more information, check out:  http://modernfarmer.com/2015/05/get-a-load-of-our-manure-guide/

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 8, 2015