While I won't begrudge anyone who wants to be more careful about food safety and manure, I really don't think it should be a problem for @hu-randomnumber. Food safety guidelines are generally about using 'fresh' (not well composted) manure, and IIRC are generally minimum recommended in the range of 4 to 6 months before harvesting. Horse manure that's been outside for two years or more should be perfectly fine. (General 'wash carefully' guidelines apply anyway - even compost from kitchen scraps or just soil have bacteria). Also, if you look around, manure application guidelines are mostly about cow manure - because it's most often from large dairy operations (where the average size in USA is something like 4000 head). That's where the commercial scale manure is. Horse manure is (in my opinion) less of an issue - digestive systems are completely different - more 'roughage' and more air in horse manure, mixed with drier bedding, and much more likely to compost well. And horse operations are smaller and manure much less likely to be held in a slurry pond or wet pile with no air. At any rate, again, to each his own, but personally I'd have zero specific concerns about well-aged horse manure as described in a vegetable garden, for me or my children.

Right now the back yard is 150x180 feet of flat land. Once upon a time, probably last year, it was prairie land/cattle pasture. Then it was fenced off, brush hogged and churned/graded such that very little of consequence is growing on it - a few incredibly tough weeds and some struggling bits of prairie grass. It's unshaded and has no trees. It's a blank canvas. The building plan is that in about a month, they'll come through and grade for better drainage. I'm not sure if I should incorporate my "general" amendments before or after the grading. I put "general" in quotes because I have two classes of soil amendments. One are the cheap ones that cost only my time to get them and my time to operate machinery to get them incorporated. Those are the general amendments. The specific ones are things that cost money, like a 50/50 soil and compost mix for the raised beds in the garden. Most of the yard will be lawn. Around the edges I intend to put flower beds, or at least some shrubs. Somewhere we will plant a few rows of small fruit trees (peaches, dwarf apples, etc.) Somewhere else we will plant several rows of fruiting vines/shrubs/brambles/canes (blackberries, blueberries, etc.) Closer in towards the house I will be putting in a 45x75 vegetable garden. And we'll plant one or two future shade trees (most likely one in front yard, one in back). This will be my only opportunity to do a general amendment of the entire body of soil. If I don't get stuff in the ground in the next two months, then there will be sod laid directly around the house. That will limit general applications. I probably won't be planting anything with the intention of harvesting (other than in containers) until next spring. It is my intention to build raised beds of railroad ties within the 45x75 garden area and then fill those beds with a good top soil/compost mix I've found at a local supplier. I'll do that this summer, or fall. Or maybe just do some of the beds instead of all of them, since the compost and railroad ties cost money. So before I started asking my aunt about her friend who has horses, or the neighbor who has horses, or the various locals who have cattle... about the availability of their manure, I wanted to find out whether I could put it in the soil immediately or if I'd have to leave it piled up for a while. I'm sure the neighbors would be thrilled to have to deal with a humungous pile of my crap before I even managed to move in! So I'm pleased to hear that immediate tilling into the soil wouldn't hurt anything. Any other suggestions you have for my situation, I'd be happy to hear/read.

Sara, I'm not far from Philly (in DELCO). If you don't mind, would you mind sending along the information regarding where you found that lovely stuff?! I'd love to get my hands on some Horse (or any other herbivore) manure, but the wife doesn't think that livestock would go over well here in suburbia! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Sara. BTW, thanks to all who posted above. It would seem that some on here still don't understand the basics of how the decomposition and compost process actually works. While FRESH manure can be a problem in the garden, aged manure is a great BENEFIT! That manure is aged and now is the perfect time to add that (incorporated - tilled) into the top layer of the soil (especially before the ground has a chance to freeze - there was a hard frost in my area this morning). Manure is an excellent addition to any soil, because not only does it act as OM to help with water retention and drainage, it also acts as a slow release BALANCED fertilizer. Aged manure and composted manure from herbivores are some of the best amendments available to put into the garden. The only all-purpose material that I think would be better is vermicompost (worm poo). But don't worry, adding OM to your garden will attract more worms. ;^) Lloyd, you nailed the proper way to incorporate that material into the soil. (Stick around long enough, and you will end up a gardener!) Nice touch on the layer of leaves over the top of the tilled soil! (Note to Sara, be sure to moisten the leaves as you lay them on top - about 2 inches deep should be sufficient otherwise they will just blow away.)

An English grower by the name of Phil Damp used 6 inches of cow manure on his dahlia garden every year. He grew the best dahlias but they did not store well due to the high organic matter and nitrogen. Cow manure is very good and one year old is old enough to avoid most problems.