Why farmers are flocking to manure

[castanea]

Of course this really shouldn't be an alternative agricultural practice and isn't for many of us, but it is for many mainstream farmers:

www.cornucopia.org/2010/12/why-farmers-are-flocking-to-manure/

[ottawagardener]

Damnit! That means that manure will be harder for me to come by!! Unless of course I produce it on site...

Actually, the corn/soy fields near our house smelt strongly of manure this fall.

[Alan]

Interesting article. I know theres going to be a ton of "greenies" promoting this as a step in the right directions, but I can guarantee you that it isn't.

It will work marginally for commercially produced hybrids at best in terms of fertility. I also doubt that many of these manures will be composted fully which will lead to runnoff as well as insect pests and more weeds, even if is a mild improvement it won't last long because of the accumalation of salt in the soil from the uncomposted manures.

Of course too we have the problems inherent with feed lots.

One day, not long from now, people are going to wake up and realize there is a reason no one was farming 8,000 acres 100 years ago, it can't be done sustainably.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget these geniouses will likely buy in the feed for their cattle instead of growing it.

[steev]

Yes! An excellent article. It's not neccessarily bad to be around when shit happens. The alchemists were on the wrong track: it isn't lead you want to turn into gold, but shit, and it's better to turn it into bok choy than gold.
A digression: A peasant was trudging to work in Winter. He found a half-frozen bird in his path. Looking around, he spied a fresh cow-pie. He scooped a hole in it, put in the bird, and loosely replaced the poo around the bird before continuing on his way. As the bird revived in the warm cow-pie, it felt better and started to chirp. A passing wolf heard the bird, came over, and ate it. There are three morals to this story.
1. The one who puts you in the shit isn't necessarily bad.
2. The one who takes you out of the shit isn't necessarily good.
3. When you're in the shit up to your neck, keep your mouth shut!
So far I am blessed with sources of poo free for the hauling, as much as I can handle; I intend to add as much to my soil as I can against the day when the cost of poo, or hauling, or my declining strength gets too dear for me to continue, by which time I expect my domestic production may be enough to sustain the system I've developed. Further, I think gophers are repelled by poo. If you've read the thread on humanure composting, you know my opinion of gophers.

[grunt]

Alan, I agree, it is going to take a lot more change to farming practices than just shifting from chemicals to manure for fertilizer. As for the weeds, our forefathers managed to use the manure and get a crop, but then they weren't mono-cropping several thousand acres in the same location year after year either.

[seedywen]

Hmmmmm!

If manure is applied with the same mindset as chemical fertilizers, I fail to see the net gain.

For the numerous reasons raised by previous posters.

For many years, if I had a dollar for everyone that wanted to buy manure off my farm...

However I explain(with perhaps varied amounts of understanding of the listener)that every piece of poo(chicken, duck, rabbit, goat, sheep, heck even dog/cat)is valuable to our farm. It has tangibly 'cost' us already...in 'inputs', labor, time, wear/tear of equipment, etc.

Usually suggest they contact someone with horses, with a manure disposal 'problem', ask for lawn clippings or leaves, or go down to the beach after every storm and collect seaweed etc.

However I don't live in an area, where farming has traditionally been much larger than self-sustainence. Much easier to plug into the global market economy by 'extracting', in the historical short-run. Mine minerals, cut trees, harness rivers, than create a continuous loop of input/output.

Please don't peg me as a 'greenie'. I've long advocated for any practices regarding human endeveaor that are 'sustainable'. While bearing in mind, 'life' is continually changing and evolving.

Humans may be at the top of the food chain at this point in time, but by no means, is that a given.

[steev]

In our current situation, top of the food chain isn't a very useful construct. I think we've more managed to produce ourselves a real tangle in the web of Life. It remains to be seen whether the damage can be undone before we need to be cut and dropped out of the web for the greater good of the myriad species that aren't so ego-ridden.

[bunkie]

i wonder how many people are aware of what the animals, the manure is coming from, are fed? if much of it is commercial feed, then it opens up the possibility of containing GMOs, and possibly chemicals, right?

[mjc]

Dec 26, 2010 11:27:10 GMT -5 bunkie said:

i wonder how many people are aware of what the animals, the manure is coming from, are fed? if much of it is commercial feed, then it opens up the possibility of containing GMOs, and possibly chemicals, right?

Which makes it all the more important that it be 'hot' composted, for at least 6 months, preferably 1 yr (almost all antibiotics will have broken down to nothing by the six month mark and by 1 yr so should anything else).

[grunt]

I have an organic dairy just down the road from me. They grow their own feed, and none of their animals are given antibiotics unless sick and needing them, as we would. Only problem is they will only trade their manure, not sell it, and I have no truck to take the trade home in. I'll have to figure something out, I guess.

[steev]

A small trailer can be lots cheaper than a truck, while still hauling a lot of poo. That certainly sounds like a primo source, although I am not that much a fan of cattle-poo; cattle just do too good a job of stripping their food of its goodies, I think, so its just not as nutrient rich as that of horses, for instance. Still, we work with what we have, however much better it might be to have something else.
Also, sometimes I've worked out arrangements with trades such that it wasn't just a one-to-one immediate exchange, but that I might make several "payments" toward one "delivery". Do they have a truck with which they might be willing to deliver a quantity? Would they set aside a designated pile as "yours" that you could more incrementally? Good luck.

[steev]

That should read "move incrementally".

[mjc]

All manure is valuable...some more so than others. If for no other reason, it all will add SOMETHING back to the soil...with most, even if it isn't nutrients, it will be fair or better amounts of organic matter.

Of course, the best manure to add is that which was produced on the land it is being added to. That returns the most back to where it came from, without taking it from somewhere else.

[flowerpower]

I use all the spoiled hay I have for the garden. When I needed a pumpkin patch, I piled it 2 ft high in places to kill the grass. In just 2 years, that area turned into beautiful loam. Each year I expand the patch 3-5 ft piling hay up. My pumpkin patch could never be too big.

[wildseed57]

I must not have hit the right key as my input didn't show up, so I'll try again here. I have a good source for all the manure composted or not along with rotted feed and hay great stuff when I can get it brought to me I usually pay out for it even though its free well worth every pound to the ton.
One thing I like its comes from a Organic certified Dairy and I don't have to worry about it containing growth hormones, antibiotics, steroids and such that a lot of Farmers use even Horses are given Antibiotics and other drugs at times. My dairy friend that I have known now for 30 years is a great guy and He uses tons of manure composted and raw which is spread out over his 200 Acres he rotates where his cows are at any given time. It would cost him way to much to buy chemical fertilizers as he doesn't get a lot back for his milk mainly because of middle men who jack up the prices to make a profit that my friend never sees, which is very unfair.
I love using the composted manure and I know that its great for our soil friends that work it into the grown and turn it into useful nutrients that the plants can use, I try not to disturb the soil to much so that the soil ecology is not stopped while the top soil settles down. I think that the use of manure composted or not is far better than chemical fertilizers because they can actually kill organisms in the soil which makes it harder for plants to use it.
George W.