Speaking of Poo

NY 986 · Aug 3, 2013

I was wondering if anybody here had an arrangement to have manure from a neighboring livestock farm on their own farm? What are the terms? I have some tough ground I would not mind spreading up to the state's environmental law limits on an annual basis. Does the livestock operator provide all what is required or does anybody use their own tractors or trucks as part of doing the work?

VaTom · Aug 3, 2013

Not the scale you"re interested in but I use a lot of horse manure for composting. Horses here are routinely dewormed, takes awhile before the drugs won"t kill soil worms.

The stable nearest me (this is horse country) is thrilled when I show up. They"re more than happy to load me up with 7 tons or so even though their tractor is on the small side. Disposal is a common problem here.

The other risk is they never know what broad leaf herbicide might have been sprayed on the hay they bought. "Long-lived" is no exaggeration when an herbicide is still active after the trip through the horse"s gut. Your use might not matter, I"m growing veggies.

They load, I haul. No money exchanged. Everybody"s happy. Their only question is when am I coming back?

Mike (WA) · Aug 3, 2013

Some years back, a big dairy operator put in a manure separator- gave the solids away free, even parked a loader tractor out by the pile for guys to use. Manure spreaders from neighboring small farms were lined up, hauling it away. Until they found out that the solids have virtually no nutrient value, and they didn't get any results at all. Turns out all the nutrients are in the liquid.

Horse manure, IMHO, isn't worth much as a fertilizer. I've been putting in on pasture(fresh) for years, and don't see much results. Cow is much better, chicken is best of all. And last year I put some goat manure on my garden, and I couldn't believe the results- I figured I put on too much because of the growth, so didn't put on any this year, and it's still crazy- tomatoes are 6 feet tall, zuchinni almost as high, its a jungle out there!

VaTom · Aug 3, 2013

Only horse manure here, almost no cows in the county and no commercial chickens. My tomato cages are only 5 feet tall so when the vines hit 7 feet they fall over and make a jungle on top of the cages. That was last month.

Nothing wrong with horse manure, if it's free, easy to use more. I started with subsoil, no topsoil on this mountaintop. Took a few years of composted horse manure, and now I've got plants healthier than anybody I know, including the guys who use chemical growing. Tilth is excellent after I went no-till several years ago.

NY 986 · Aug 3, 2013

The biggest attraction for me is just increasing my organic matter percent per acre. You're right in that if nutrients are removed that needs to be factored in the price.

Case Nutty 1660 · Aug 3, 2013

I have gotten horse poo for years they haul it to me I pile it then use my spreader to put it on this year my hay customer that also pastures cows on me brought me 20 BIG loads of cow poo 25 yards at a time really good stuff same deal I supplied a tractor to pile it and pull out the semi when he would spin out in the slick poo
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Matt H NY · Aug 3, 2013

We will give manure away free. If we have to use our truck we charge for trucking and application only. This is on a slurry system.

Speaking of Poo

NY 986

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Mike (WA)

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VaTom

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Matt H NY

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