It's aged manure that's been inside the barn for years. With new manure being added. The hay they eat has no herbicides or pesticides used. What would be the difference between composting it and not composting it? I want to compost it, but what would be a suitable material to add to it. It's aged so it's very dry. I read online to use wood chips. Which I also have. I also have a massive pile of leaves I gather from around the neighborhoods this fall. But does the aged manure count as a green or a brown?

When I have barn scrapings like that... they go out on the garden... and I plant immediately.

If I have more than I care to spread... I may pile out in the garden and allow to be rained on.

Once I tried harnessing the heat of a pile of stable muck... buried a water tank in the middle... had hot water... for a couple days... didn't work nearly as well as I'd hoped.

In my experience... composting horse poop is unnecessary.

you can add some to your regular compost pile if you want... but I never noticed that was worth the trouble.

stone said: When I have barn scrapings like that... they go out on the garden... and I plant immediately.

If I have more than I care to spread... I may pile out in the garden and allow to be rained on.

Once I tried harnessing the heat of a pile of stable muck... buried a water tank in the middle... had hot water... for a couple days... didn't work nearly as well as I'd hoped.

In my experience... composting horse poop is unnecessary.

you can add some to your regular compost pile if you want... but I never noticed that was worth the trouble.

That's exactly what I was wondering, thank you

@GrowdoBaggins has it right. To my mind, manure is already composted. The animal has eaten green and brown material, ground it up, soaked it, and turned it. Then they packaged it in nice lumps.

As a little background you should know that the recommendation to "compost" horse manure is meant to accomplish two things. One, to allow the chemical "heat" (primarily ammonia from urine) to dissipate. The second is to allow most of the seeds that made it intact through the horse's system to become inactive. Usually both of those effects will occur within a year and in some cases within a few months.
And when they say compost they mean age, actual composting (laying, watering, turning,...) isn't necessary. You can just let it sit.
So, you can scrape the newer, top layers off your manure and use it as GrowdoBaggins suggests.

Henderman said:
@GrowdoBaggins has it right. To my mind, manure is already composted. The animal has eaten green and brown material, ground it up, soaked it, and turned it. Then they packaged it in nice lumps.

As a little background you should know that the recommendation to "compost" horse manure is meant to accomplish two things. One, to allow the chemical "heat" (primarily ammonia from urine) to dissipate. The second is to allow most of the seeds that made it intact through the horse's system to become inactive. Usually both of those effects will occur within a year and in some cases within a few months.
And when they say compost they mean age, actual composting (laying, watering, turning,...) isn't necessary. You can just let it sit.
So, you can scrape the newer, top layers off your manure and use it as GrowdoBaggins suggests.

Very helpful, thank you