Stall Bedding & Manure Calculator (Bags per Week, Manure Yards per Year, Compost Pile & Removal Cost)

How it works

bedding per stall per week = base use (shavings ≈ 6 bags, pellets 5, straw 6 bales, bulk 0.6 yd³ for a 12 × 12 stall at 24 h) × hours/24 × stall-size factor × 0.7 with mats · muck ≈ 0.8 ft³ of manure/urine per horse-day in the stall + soiled bedding (≈ 45% of the loose bedding volume once packed and wet) → yd³ = ft³ ÷ 27 · compost shrinks ≈ 50%; spread at ≈ 20 yd³/acre/yr

A stalled horse produces about fifty pounds of manure and urine a day and takes a surprising volume of bedding with it — the two together fill a pickup bed every week or two per horse. How much depends on hours in the stall, stall size, whether mats let you bed thin, and the bedding type: pellets absorb far more per bag than shavings, straw is bulky. From the weekly bags the calculator gives the yearly bill and the muck volume, then sizes the compost bins, dumpster or acreage needed to deal with it — the part of horse-keeping nobody budgets for until the pile is taller than the barn.

Worked example

Three horses in 12 × 12 matted stalls for 14 hours a day use about 2.5 bags of shavings each per week — 382 bags a year, about $2,675 at $7. They produce roughly 6.4 yd³ of manure and soiled bedding a month, 77 yd³ a year (about 39 pickup loads), which composts down to about 39 yd³ of finished compost; two or three bins of about 7 yd³ each (an 8 ft cube per three months of input) handle it.

Frequently asked questions