# Milk as Fertilizer?



## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

A friend has been contacted by a milk distributor about using milk as a fertilizer. I am trying to get some feedback on some concerns.

Has anyone tried milk as fertilizer or know someone who has? What were the results or impressions?

Does it have to be raw milk? Everything I am reading says raw milk.

Would milk have an affect on insects in the form of feeding them? My concern would be fire ants.

I am trying to gather some thoughts before we return the call.

Thanks.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Is it a byproduct of milk?Or actual milk.Milk is arounnd $23 a hundred lbs,so whats up?


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

This is a brand name processed milk. It is the milk brought back to the plant from the retail stores and close to going out of date.

In the past it has been given to hog farmers. Some even offer it to weaned calves to put on weight.

Now it is being promoted as fertilizer and probably at a price.

Will pasteurized milk have the same results as the studies done with raw milk?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Most processed milk I have seen has some of the cream removed down to 2% or skimmed milk.I'm thinking most of the value is in the cream,How much I have no idea.

Could you get a analysis of it or send a sample in and get the N-P-K values.I'm not sure what other nutrients would be in it?


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

It will still feed microbes and add calcium and low level micros. Not too many hog farms here any more. The local coops would just get permission to dump it in the manure pits here recently. I imagine it would be kinda rank if not injected. What are they wanting to charge for it?


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

I dump leftover fresh cow and "waste" milk in the barn cleaner

Our old milk hauler who has a small organic dairy said 1 gallon of milk to 10 gallons of water per acre. Sprayed with a sprayer. Used as foliar fertilizer like fish emulsion


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I believe it is the microbes people are claiming do the most good. Since most of the information refers to raw milk I was wondering if pasturazation killed the microbes.

Milk has calcium and potassium and some nitrogen.

I am not sure what the milk will cost. The company called my friend and left a message. We began trying to gather information before returning the contact. I am not sure if they have someone contracted to deliver or spray, will have to find out. At this point we are trying to learn if there really are benifits before following up and meeting with them.

Looking around the web there is a lot of positive information about how well the microbes work in improving the soil.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Isn't killing all microbes the goal of pasteurization? I have read some about milk as fert (raw whole) with good results.

What about pouring store bought milk at prescribed rate on a SMALL test plot?


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Some of the people who grow record large pumpkins and squash feed these milk. Lots of it. Of course some give them beer too. 
There are two perfect food in nature that can feed any living thing. Those are milk and eggs. The energy and nutrients are easy to take in.
Saw a video of a guy who sprayed milk on pastures. He did trails on his farm. Was interesting.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

hog987 said:


> Some of the people who grow record large pumpkins and squash feed these milk. Lots of it.
> I wonder on a per acre basis how much it would be?


A lot of claims a guy hears would work on a garden.Then some guy puts it in a jug and thinks you can spray it over many acres and do the SAME good when it is diluted down over many acres.One thing it does do is takes your $ and gives it to them.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

There was an article in Hoards Dairyman a couple years back regarding this. I will have to look back and find it but the summary was that after processing it wasn't anything better than flavored water if i remember correctly.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

A couple of instances we had to dump a full bulk tank of milk, both due to cooling system failure and the milk got hot and soured. Spread it on thru a liquid spreader, no dilution, about 20,000 lbs. each time. I don't recall seeing all that much difference in the parts of the alfalfa/orchardgrass field that got the milk from the rest of the field. Honestly, we didn't pay that close attention to yield variance.

Sure attracted the wildlife and insects.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Tim/South said:


> I believe it is the microbes people are claiming do the most good. Since most of the information refers to raw milk I was wondering if pasturazation killed the microbes.
> Milk has calcium and potassium and some nitrogen.
> 
> I am not sure what the milk will cost. The company called my friend and left a message. We began trying to gather information before returning the contact. I am not sure if they have someone contracted to deliver or spray, will have to find out. At this point we are trying to learn if there really are benifits before following up and meeting with them.
> Looking around the web there is a lot of positive information about how well the microbes work in improving the soil.


Call me crazy but why not call and ask them? Obviously they're trying to sell it to you (or get you to take it off their hands) but if they have test results from an accredited lab and a price to give you, those would certainly help your decision making.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Call me crazy but why not call and ask them? Obviously they're trying to sell it to you (or get you to take it off their hands) but if they have test results from an accredited lab and a price to give you, those would certainly help your decision making.


Those are the questions we intend to ask. I subscribe to the opinion the better informed a person is the better equipped they are when talking to someone trying to feel them something.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Tim/South said:


> Those are the questions we intend to ask. I subscribe to the opinion the better informed a person is the better equipped they are when talking to someone trying to feel them something.


And references. Those would be great too.


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

Would be interesting to do part of the field and do tissue samples to determine the difference if any...perhaps if they don't have that documentation they would like to do the research on your field?


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Pasteurized or not, it would still feed the already existent microbes in your soil. Not sure how much I'd actually pay for it though.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

The deal is way over my head.

They are looking for someone who can use 5,000 gallons a day.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

5000 gallons a day would add up to a lot of fertilizer over time. Did they say what they wanted for a price?


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

Where the hell were they during the drought? That may have been a win win situation!


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

hog987 said:


> 5000 gallons a day would add up to a lot of fertilizer over time. Did they say what they wanted for a price?


You provide the transportation and disposal. They pay you.

I can not imagine the amount of land it would take in committing to 100,000 gallons per month.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Tim/South said:


> You provide the transportation and disposal. They pay you.
> I can not imagine the amount of land it would take in committing to 100,000 gallons per month.


We apply as much as 6000 gal of hog manure per acre per year so I don't think you'd need much more than 300 acres for 5000 gal of milk per day BUT you'd need ground that was fit and open at all times (or most of the time) and that would be the tough part.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

I'd jump on it I bet it would help some of our marginal land.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Tim/South said:


> The deal is way over my head.
> 
> They are looking for someone who can use 5,000 gallons a day.


WOW, even at 20 gallon an acre it would take 250 acres. At 50 gallon/acre a 100 acres a day. I suppose if a person had some big center pivots and an injection pump....


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

So whole cows milk is about 110% the weight of water. So since your using US gallons not imperial. If my figures are correct you will be getting about 4000 pounds of some kind of nutrients per day. A large part of that would be calcium.(wont have to lime the soil) The protein would be the nitrogen once it breaks down. If you could work it out for cheap it would be nice. But logistics would be very hard.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

How quickly would the calcium be avalible?

I was thinking it would be best applied to just plowed ground then you could apply at a very high rate it would soak in and not run off. Then disk or fit the ground and plant.


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## Aurora_Ranch (Sep 25, 2012)

Not actually a fertilizer, the milk will make the endogenous microbe population in your soil explode with milk the microbe you will get is lactobacillus which does wonders for the plant through health of the soil. Soil health is very important, you can also culture your own indigenous microbes using hard boiled rice and placing it on an area of soil and leaf litter on your property to build the natural microbe colony back up on your land. If you have the time you can make some extremely effective organic fertilizers for pennies on the dollar compared to traditional chemical fertilizers.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Pennies on the dollar? Just how long will it take to make organic fertilizers to cover a few thousand acres? Just curious is all.

But yah, the milk will help the indigenous soil microbes, your earthworms might like it as well. We don't have enough beef cows to fertilize very much with manure, so instead we spread thin and refer to it as feeding the earthworms.


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## Aurora_Ranch (Sep 25, 2012)

It could be done if you wanted to put the effort and time in and learning the process. When I get my other meadows in order I am going to select one and use Korean Natural Farming method on it that way it is on a much larger scale. I have done it with the garden and smaller spots and it has done very well, just time to scale it up and see how it goes. If your soil is optimum and healthy it will cut fertilizer cost way back.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Aurora_Ranch said:


> It could be done if you wanted to put the effort and time in and learning the process.


We are farmers. We are committed to time and effort.

My BIL moved here from a city in another state. He had been studying farming for 20 years, subscribed to all the natural farming magazines and web sites. He told me farmers here did not know how to farm and he was going to show us.

We all stood back and watched as he applied all of the organic methods he believed to be gospel. We watched as his yield on good ground went from great to good to poor.

The "time and effort" comment is condesending.

Farming certainly looks easy from the road.


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## stack em up (Mar 7, 2013)

I actually just bought an 80 acre corn field that was 100% organic. I will chop it for fodder here probably 2'weeks from now. Reason I bought it is the bank shut down the organic farmer, and put it up for bids. Virtually no way it would ever make an ear as our corn is tasseling now, this corn is about 3' tall. Not a major endorsement for organic in my opinion.

I know a lot about optimum soil health as my oldest brother is an agronomist, and we have tried a multitude of things. Have read gobs of books and been to many meetings about improving yields with proper soil health, that being said, it's not feasible to feed 9 billion people with yields that are 1/3 of county average. My $0.02


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

There is a lot about soil health, the way plants grow, soil micro-organisms etc that we don't fully understand yet. I don't look at one way of farming and compare it to another way and say that way is wrong. I figure I can learn from any method and apply it to my operation. Some guys being organic have huge yield. Why can they do it and other can't? Some guys are high input farmers trying to do everything right and their yields suck...why is that?

Now about feeding a growing population. One thing that is not talked about much is proper storage methods for food in large parts of the world. I read an article about India a few years ago about how much rice is wasted. Its about 50%. Between storing in sack in the open and having the rain and rats destroy it.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

In theory Organic works and works well. It all depends on your definition of working well, or profitably.

Most Organic Types need to plow and cultivate and swing a hoe. Something the No Till folks say is the ruination of good soil.

During my teens our normal methods were not much different form "Organic".

Then good corn yields were in the 30 bu range.

We actually made a living with those yields. We could buy a farm with those yields.

What I have learned is that what works in one climate and soil probably will not work in a different climate and soil.

To make "organic" work you must game the system.


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