The microorganisms and invertebrates that live in soil break down minerals and organic matter into forms that are accessible to plants. So if you have a healthy soil biomass, you can grow healthy crops without the use of chemicals. Cattle in the US alone produce an estimated two billion tons of manure each year. In some traditional farming systems, livestock are kept primarily because they produce manure. Depending on where you live, you may be able to find farms or horse stables that are anxious to give the stuff away because their animals produce so much of it.
But as we shall see, not all manures are created equally. Fresh vs. Depending on the kind, it may be very high in ammonia, or contain so much nitrogen that it will burn the roots and stems of any plant it comes in contact with. It might also be full of weed seeds. Storing manure allows it to mature in the same way that compost does—bacterial action causes a buildup of heat that will, ideally, kill weed seeds and other pathogens.
If you order a delivery of manure and it stinks upon arrival, it is unfinished, and needs to be stored composted before use. Rotted manure is a fantastic soil amendment. Ideally it will retain some of its natural nitrogen, but not to the extent that it causes burning or excessive foliar growth in your crops.
In some farming systems manure is stored for a year in a pile with steep, compacted sides. This helps to retain some of its inherent nitrogen as does covering the pile with tarps , because rain is prevented from leaching out the nitrogen. Fresh manure can be spread over a growing area in the fall, and incorporated into the soil in the late winter prior to planting.
By the time you are planting, it should have no unpleasant odour. Certified organic farmers are prohibited from spreading fresh manure for at least 90 days before harvesting crops intended for human consumption. For crops that come in direct contact with the soil, the minimum time period is days.
These regulations are useful to the home gardener, to indicate how seriously this is taken. How to use it Rotted manure can be spread on the surface of the soil or tilled into the soil. This encourages sub-soil microbes and creatures like earthworms to feed on the material at the surface, and drag it down into the sub-soil.
Tilling works, too, but may be disruptive to sub-soil life. Because the texture of rotted manure is relatively fluffy, compared to soil minerals, most of it is going to remain near the surface, even when tilled. The amount that you choose to incorporate should be relative to the area in question, and the existing fertility and structure of your soil. A farmer with depleted, dusty soil, for instance, might want to apply manure at a rate of 40 tons per acre.
She might apply half that amount if the existing soil is thought to moderately fertile. In subsequent years, tons applied every other year would maintain adequate fertility. Remember that it is possible to over-apply organic matter of any kind. Horse manure is best used as a source of organic matter rather than nutrients. Manure nutrient values can vary widely from farm to farm.
For any field larger than a garden, a manure spreader is a great timesaver. Manure spreaders vary in size, depend- ing on the amount of land you need to spread and the size of your tractor. By calibrating your manure spreader, you can get a good idea of how much manure you are applying.
The principle of calibrating a manure spreader is the same as calibrating a fertilizer spreader, a planter, or a sprayer. The simplest method is to spread tarps on the ground and weigh the amount of manure that falls on each tarp as the spreader passes over it. If you have access to truck scales, you can weigh a full spreader, apply a load to your field, weigh the spreader again, and measure how much land you covered Figure 3. You can also estimate volume spread by calculating the volume of your spreader.
Figure 3. Calibrate your manure spreader so that you have a good idea of how much manure you are applying. To get the most value from manure, apply it close to planting time. Applying manure at this time makes it less likely that you will lose nutrients through leaching, or washing away of nutrients, and runoff.
This issue is especially a problem for nutrient-rich manures such as poultry litter. If you have manure that has few available nutrients, you can apply it in the fall before planting, as long as the manure is not likely to wash into nearby streams and ponds. To keep the manure in place and reduce runoff during the winter, plant cover crops like rye and oats whenever you apply manure in the fall Figure 4.
Figure 4. A rye cover crop protects a field fertilized with manure. Fresh manure sometimes contains pathogens such as bacteria and viruses that can cause diseases in humans. Salmonella and certain strains of E. Pathogens can be a risk when fresh manure is applied to crops 1 that grow in or close to the soil and 2 that are eaten raw. This includes crops such as carrots, lettuce and other greens, and straw- berries.
With the passage of time, pathogens will naturally die. If we use manure on plants such as carrots, we need to put. We can put time on our side by. If you have more manure than you can use without risk- ing runoff or leaching, you will need to develop ways to sell the manure or give it away. Nutrient-rich manure such as poultry manure is in demand by farmers. Other manures are too bulky for farmers to buy, but gardeners often seek them to enrich their soil Figure 5. Many gardeners are eager to buy or take manure from local farms.
Figure 5. Many home gardeners like to use cow manure to enrich their soil. Photo courtesy of USDA. Appearance sells. A relatively dry, easy-handling product Figure 6 will bring more repeat calls than material from a wet, smelly, or weedy pile. When you advertise manure to gardeners, let them know what it is good for.
For example, advertise poultry manure as a fertilizer and horse manure as a mulch or soil amendment. Well-composted manure is dark and crumbly. Composting manure produces a more attractive product, reduces the volume of manure, and kills pathogens. Some composting methods do not need much equipment.
Composting requires lots of planning upfront and good management to produce a quality product. Before you start composting manure, learn as much as you can. Visit local composters, too, to look at their systems and learn about which methods could work best for you. For More Information. Fertilizing with Manure. After the heating cycles have subsided, compost usually is piled for storage while awaiting field applications. This month long or longer process is known as curing.
Applying immature compost can cause issues that include malodors, insect swarms, nitrogen immobilization and phytotoxicity Mathur et al. Compost maturity is strongly related to microbial activities during the composting process. Producers have many options to assess compost maturity. Options include sending samples to laboratories, checking pile temperatures to ensure that the pile is near the ambient temperature Figure 3 and kits that give colormetric readings of carbon dioxide and ammonia emissions.
Manure composts not only improve soil physical and chemical characteristics; they also are a good source of fertilizer for crop production. However, much of the nitrogen is tied up in complex organic compounds immobilized and is not immediately ready for plant uptake, whereas commercial fertilizers are predominantly plant-available. Cropland soils and compost should be tested for nutrients. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium tend to be the most limiting nutrients required by crops Coyne and Thompson, Applications of compost must be based on crop needs.
Manure applications usually are based on nitrogen needs for that crop North Dakota Department of Health, Because of this, nutrient management plans may need to be based upon phosphorus management. This change in management can prevent nutrient loading and high levels of phosphorus that can accumulate when not properly managed and monitored Spargo et al. Sampling and testing soil for nutrients can alleviate nutrient loading.
Crop and environmental benefits may not occur if the finished composted product is not tested and properly applied. Once cured, compost samples should be taken within the pile at various points and mixed thoroughly to account for variability. Samples should be tested as soon as possible or kept in cold storage until they can be sent to a laboratory for analysis. Keep in mind that many testing labs treat compost nutrient availability as if it were raw manure approximately 50 percent nitrogen, 80 percent phosphorus and 90 percent potassium of the total nutrients are plant-available the first growing season.
Compost nutrient availability is different and producers need to account for the differences. This difference is due to the increased stability of compost. Eghball and Power found in a four-year study that 15 percent of the total nitrogen in beef feedlot compost was plant-available the first year and 8 percent of the nitrogen was mineralized the second year. Wen et al. A greenhouse study conducted by Bar-Tall et al. Because of immobilization and the possibility of nutrient loading, compost fertilizer applications may need to be supplemented with conventional fertilizers.
Eghball and Power tested different management strategies compost applications based on nitrogen or phosphorus and conventional fertilizer. They found that managing composts based on phosphorus and supplementing the other nutrient requirements with conventional fertilizers yielded equal or greater corn yields.
Compost should be applied with a calibrated spreader. This ensures that the proper amount of nutrients is applied and also lessens the chance of polluting. Manure spreaders can be calibrated various ways. Manure needs to be managed properly to be composted properly.
This ensures that the pile will heat and convert to compost effectively. Surface and ground water proximity are important for compost site selection. The compost site needs to be in an area not prone to contamination of groundwater by leaching or where leachate can run off to surface water.
Instead of viewing manure as a waste, producers can begin to view it as a product that can be substituted for commercial fertilizer and as an economic resource. Composting is an effective manure management tool that reduces volume, kills pathogens and weed seeds, and also improves soil health and fertility. However, soil and compost should be tested for nutrients.
Applying compost with a calibrated spreader ensures that crop yield goals will be met and reduces the chance of pollution. The volume reduction of composting manure can save producers money. Bar-Tal, A. Yermiyahu, J. Beraud, M. Keinan, R. Rosenbery, D. Zohar, V. Rosen and P. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium uptake by wheat and their distribution in soil following successive, annual compost applications.
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Nitrogen mineralization from field-applied beef cattle feedlot manure or compost. Soil Sci. Phosphorus- and nitrogen-based manure and compost applications: corn production and soil phosphorus.
Flavel, T. Carbon and nitrogen mineralization rates after application of organic amendments to soil. Grewal, S. Rajeev, S. Sreevatsan and F. Micheal Jr. Persistance of Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis and other zoonotic pathogens during simulated composting, manure packing, and liquid storage of dairy manure.
Larney, F. Weed seed viability in composted beef cattle feedlot manure. Buckley, X. Hao and W. Fresh, stockpiled, and composted beef cattle feedlot manure: nutrient levels and mass balance estimates in Alberta and Manitoba. Michel, F. On farm-scale composting. Midwest manure summit, Green Bay, Wis. March , Miiler, R. Biological processes affecting contaminant fate and transport. In Pollution Science.
Pepper, C. Gerba, and M. Bruddeau eds. Academic Press, San Diego, Calif. North Dakota Department of Health. Rynk, R.
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