Cycling UK Forum

661-Pete wrote:Q: to whom does horse manure lying on a public path, actually belong? The owner of the horse? ... Or finders keepers?

In the case of dung deposited by a horse being ridden along the bridleway, initially to the owner of the horse. However if they deliberately ride away and leave it, the dung becomes abandoned property, which (unlike lost or misplaced property) becomes the property of the first person to collect it up.

In the case of dung deposited in a bridleway by a horse being kept loose in a field through which the bridleway passes, it would belong to the owner of the horse without their having to take any action to collect it to establish ownership.

Cyril Haearn wrote:Get it while it's hot

One should not decline something free, nor complain about it, or 'one shouldnae look a gift horse in the mouth'

Or the backside, I guess.

jgurney wrote:

Cugel wrote: Does everything have to have an owner

English law presumes so, historically in order to keep the peace. Property with no owner was seen as a menace to the peace as it led to fights between those trying to gain de facto possession of it.

Then who owns wild creatures?

661-Pete wrote:

Cyril Haearn wrote:In German this excellent compost is called 'Pfedeaepfeln', horse apples

Shouldn't that be Pferdeaepfeln (Pferdeäpfeln)? And my German is a lot worse than yours .

Doubtless my French is much worse than yours
Just read a bit about apples, they grew in central Asia
Goods were transported by horses. The horses ate apples and dropped Pferdeaepfeln a few kilometres on, horse apple trees grew, later horses ate the apples, dropped a bit further on, so eventually apples reached 'Europe'
'every little helps', as a food store [not 'super' market please] used to say

pete75 wrote:Crew yard muck from cattle was the major source of fertiliser for the land before nitrates started being used a lot. A lot more of it came from bullocks than cows though.

Horse muck really needs composting to get the best results.

The colleague who gave me some of her horse manure just piles it up behind the barn. It has been composting in that manner for some years, but it did require a bit of digging to get to the best.

My other alternatives are composted cow manure, which I buy from a farm / garden centre, and compost from the council food waste collection.

I have my own compost pile, but it is too small to provide all of my needs for gardening. We also keep aquariums (tropical fish), and I water the garden with water from the aquariums, which is high in nitrates.

That said, it's been a poor year for my garden. My lettuces and cabbage family plants never came up, and several other things didn't come up at first planting, but did at second planting. They are, however, now quite late for the season. I'm blaming the weather. We had a cool period just after my first attempt at planting, and another after my second attempt.

My potatoes are the only things that are doing really well, though the sweet corn (maize) seems to be growing well.

Good stable manure is a superior fertilizer than just dropped roadside dung.

This is because the urine is contained within it.
Urine in the form of urea is the big soluble nitrogen contributor (some potassion and bits too) - the most valuable bit.
Dung is the soil and humus builder with some other benefits.

Add some nice bedding to both, protect from excess rain, rot for twelve months.
Excellent stuff.

Straw can be a problem for organic gardeners in that it probably contains quite high pestcide residues. Nothing's simple!!
Though the price of straw has led some farmers here to turn to reeds or wood chip.
Both are excellent too and absorb urine well, but take somewhat longer to break down.

PDQ Mobile wrote:Good stable manure is a superior fertilizer than just dropped roadside dung.

This is because the urine is contained within it.
Urine in the form of urea is the big soluble nitrogen contributor (some potassion and bits too) - the most valuable bit.
Dung is the soil and humus builder with some other benefits.

Add some nice bedding to both, protect from excess rain, rot for twelve months.
Excellent stuff.

Straw can be a problem for organic gardeners in that it probably contains quite high pestcide residues. Nothing's simple!!
Though the price of straw has led some farmers here to turn to reeds or wood chip.
Both are excellent too and absorb urine well, but take somewhat longer to break down.

Straw doesn't cost farmers anything - it's a by product of their wheat and barley crops.

PDQ Mobile wrote:
Add some nice bedding to both, protect from excess rain, rot for twelve months.
Excellent stuff.

Straw can be a problem for organic gardeners in that it probably contains quite high pestcide residues. Nothing's simple!!
Though the price of straw has led some farmers here to turn to reeds or wood chip.
Both are excellent too and absorb urine well, but take somewhat longer to break down.

We have rabbits, so I put the hay from their cage in with our compost. I used to use cut grass from the lawn, but I quit mowing, so I don't have that anymore.

pete75 wrote:

PDQ Mobile wrote:Good stable manure is a superior fertilizer than just dropped roadside dung.

This is because the urine is contained within it.
Urine in the form of urea is the big soluble nitrogen contributor (some potassion and bits too) - the most valuable bit.
Dung is the soil and humus builder with some other benefits.

Add some nice bedding to both, protect from excess rain, rot for twelve months.
Excellent stuff.

Straw can be a problem for organic gardeners in that it probably contains quite high pestcide residues. Nothing's simple!!
Though the price of straw has led some farmers here to turn to reeds or wood chip.
Both are excellent too and absorb urine well, but take somewhat longer to break down.

Straw doesn't cost farmers anything - it's a by product of their wheat and barley crops.

Straw has actually become so expensive that a fair few farmers here in the far West have gone over to other bedding materials.
It's the transport cost mostly.

PDQ Mobile wrote:

pete75 wrote:

PDQ Mobile wrote:
Straw doesn't cost farmers anything - it's a by product of their wheat and barley crops.

Straw has actually become so expensive that a fair few farmers here in the far West have gone over to other bedding materials.
It's the transport cost mostly.

Whilst transport costs rise annually last year it was the price of buying standing straw sold / acre It almost doubled. couple that with light crops and before you’ve the cost of baling it and moving it.
Early auctions this year suggest the price is down.

Paulatic wrote:

PDQ Mobile wrote:

pete75 wrote:
Straw has actually become so expensive that a fair few farmers here in the far West have gone over to other bedding materials.
It's the transport cost mostly.

Whilst transport costs rise annually last year it was the price of buying standing straw sold / acre It almost doubled. couple that with light crops and before you’ve the cost of baling it and moving it.
Early auctions this year suggest the price is down.

I am reliably informed that is has almost halved in price this year.
As indeed has hay/silage.
The vagueries of agriculture!
Transport costs are pretty much the same though, i.e. high.