Manure Storage on Horse Farms

pounds daily
Volume 0 8 cubic feet daily x 0 7 0 56 pounds daily
You could do this for each of your horses individually or you could estimate an average horse weight for the entire farm or a specific group of horses that are managed similarly. If you decide to just do an average remember to multiply the manure production by the total number of horses on the farm or in the group.
Turnout Time
Once you know the weightvolume of manure produced on your farm you will need to consider how much of that manure will end up in your manure pile. If your horses are outside 247 and you dont pick up their manure then you will have very little manure to store. On the other hand if they are only outside for 8 hours every day then you will have much more going into your manure pile from stall waste. You can fine tune your total manure estimate based on turnout time by multiplying by a percentage of a 24hour period. For example using the 1000pound horse
For a horse turned out 8 hours and stalled 16 hours daily
16 hours24 hours 67 of each day spent in stall
Weight 51 pounds manure daily 0 67 67 manure collected 34 2 pounds manure collected daily
Volume 0 8 cubic feet daily 0 67 67 manure collected 0 54 cubic feet collected daily
If your horses turnout time varies by season you can calculate each season separately and then add them together or you could just use an average for the year.
Stall waste
If your horses spend any time in stalls you will also need to consider the soiled bedding that gets added to the manure pile. This is more difficult to estimate as bedding preferences vary widely. Different publications estimate soiled stall waste from 1

horse to add between 0 6 and 1 6 cubic feet per day and 815 pounds per day to the manure pile. It has been suggested that the volume of soiled bedding removed is approximately twice the volume of manure removed which we just calculated. If you know you bed lightly you could use an estimate on the lower end of the scale and if you bed deeply you could use an estimate on the higher end. The amount of time the horse is stalled will also impact how much soiled bedding you remove in addition to its urine and feces.
For example using the 1000pound horse stalled for 16 hours per day
Moderate bedding use using values in the middle of the ranges presented above 1 cubic foot of soiled bedding daily 10 pounds of soiled bedding daily
Weight 34 2 pounds manure calculated from example above 10 pounds soiled bedding 44 2 pounds stall waste collected daily
Volume 0 54 cubic feet manure 1 cubic foot soiled bedding 1 54 cubic feet stall waste collected daily
Other Additions
Do you routinely pick manure from your dry lots? That could add some volume to the pile. If you feed hay outside do you pick up the wasted hay and toss it on the pile? Think about any other things that you throw on the manure pile and give a rough estimate for weightvolume per day.
Time Between Manure Removals
Lastly you should determine how often you would like to have the manure storage emptied. A manure storage that needs to last 6 months will be much larger than one that needs to last 1 month. Since manure piles may be difficult to access and remove in the winter it is recommended to size them for 56 months of waste accumulation.
Once you know how long the stack will