Put on your boots...it's going to get deep. What am I talking about...horse manure.
Virginia Franco wrote .."In December, the Weddington Town Council voted unanimously to retain an agricultural land-use rule restricting any landowner with less than 5 acres to two horses."
This new rule really upset a landowner who has three miniature horses and a full size horse and they have 2.48 acres.
At a special meeting this past Monday the council members re-visited this issue and are going to re-define horse breeds and come up with a new ordinance.
The Mayor Nancy Anderson got involved after the first vote in December and stated.."My feeling was that the past discussion had less to do with the size of the animal than the size of the compost management."
They enlisted the expertise of N.C. Extension Service agent Jeff Rieves and he related that a 1000 pound horse creates 15 pounds of manure daily, while a miniature horse would produce a fourth of that amount. He met with the landowner with the four horses and noted that they "are following best management practices for manure management". He suggested that they pile the horses' manure as high as 3 feet to speed up breakdown. They had been spreading it out which slows down the composting process.
Rieves went on to say "anything made from carbon can be composted and used as excellent food for our soil and this includes leaves and manure."
With spring not far off and with the many gardeners in the Weddington area the homeowners were encouraged to get the word out that they have lots of manure. Get your boots on and spread the word!
Judith Parker, CRS, GRI
Keller Williams
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