Re: Manure for the garden

[Guest guest]

Amy,

Some manures you can put in the garden, around plants, right after they come out

of the animal. Cow is not one of them. The ones that you can do that with are

pelleted manures--llama, alpaca, rabbit, goat, sheep. You can raise rabbits

pretty easily in the metro too.

Cow and poultry needs to be composted, chicken I have been told is best at a

year old but we always spread it on the fields in the spring after the barns

were cleaned out. Alvin could probably set you up with some good chicken poop.

Horse is good but do not put it on corn--sweet or field--unless it is composted.

It will/can cause smut to develop on the plants. I know some people think it is

yummy, but most don't.

" Organic " standards say the manure has to be composted 90 days before being used

on a plant that will be eaten. Not sure if that would qualify by putting fresh

down and harvesting a plant 90 or more days later. lol

Look on craigslist in the farm and garden section. There are usually farms out

there with poop to get rid of in abundance. Horse, alpaca, goat/sheep, llama,

are all on there in the spring. You can also post a wanted ad there. Free

anyway so why not try?

Cow (grass fed) is going to be harder for you to get. If you like walking in a

field and picking up cow pies then you can get it, but the way most farmers get

it " together " is when cleaning the barns after milking or the containment units.

Even the grass fed dairy gals have to come into the barn to be milked.

Pig is just nasty. We raised hogs for nearly 30 years and once dry/composted it

isn't so bad. But I think you would find it a tad repulsive. And our hogs were

outside way back when, just brought in to have their babies.

There are many riding stables around the metro, they usually also have feed

sacks that you can use to put the compost into for ease in transport.

Wear gloves! Don't forget them--not because the compost is " dirty " but loading

it and shoveling can give you some nasty blisters.

>

> Hi All,

>

> Anybody have a lead for me to get grass fed cow manure?

> Any tips on manure??? This is for home use, however,  I also

>

> am working with a group at

> our school to start a community garden. Is there any risk in

> putting manure onto plants (liability....illness risk?) or is it

>

> right out of the cow and right back to the earth? I am thinking

> if its grass fed beef its not going to have the bacterial issues

> grain fed would have?

>

>

> Also, at the school location we're looking at doing a " Sheet

> Mulching Garden Bed " . I've got instructions on how to do it,

> anybody heard of this and have input?

>

> Thanks for any info you can share,

>

> Amy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Amy,

Good on ya' for doing that!

When people say you can't do this or that, you need to find out what they

exactly mean by that. Most conventional farmers will tell you (and ridicule you

for suggesting) that holesteins cannot be fed on 100% grass because they've been

bred for corn, this is of course, hogwash. So you really have to think for

yourself and see if something makes sense out of hand.

In this case do they think you can't put cow poop down because it will bring a

chance of disease/microbes moving on to your food? Or do they think you can't do

that because it will burn the plants with too much nitrogen? Or...?

When you observe fresh cow droppings out in the field, you will see that they

immediately start to feed the grass, because the grass immediately adjacent to

the pie starts to grow faster, deeper green and more robust. Grass is not your

garden veggies or flowers but they are plants too some will react similarly you

can be sure. So from that point of view you can put it down right away.

As for liability, absolutely, we live in this extremely sue-happy, litigious

society that sadly loves to pass the blame and the buck. Which is why someone

can become a millionaire for spilling coffee on themselves. So for the school,

prob best to go with thoroughly composted poo, unless you're going to have

everyone sign a waiver...lol sad, but this is the state of things.

But, it should be fairly easyyy to get ahold of poo in one form or another from

farmers cleaning barns, like said. But the poo doesn't have to be

composted per se, just pick stuff that looks a bit aged. A little goes a long

way in conditioning the soil so you shouldn't need truckloads anyway. Bring some

5 gallon buckets, preferably with lids to a farm or bring heavy duty lawn bags

or something to that effect when you go. Good luck!