# Beef Manure.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

A real blessing and according to this research, no need to incorporate. Great read!

Regards, Mike

http://www.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/manure-remediates-eroded-hilltop-soils


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I wonder if mushroom compost I use (horse, poultry & cattle manure and rotted hay) would be almost as, the same, or better than beef manure? 
There's a "Scotts" facility nearby me that mixes mushroom compost with sois, bags it, and sells it as "potting mix" to consumers.
I spread it maybe 1/2"-3/4" thick and after 1 year, I have noticed greater yields.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> I wonder if mushroom compost I use (horse, poultry & cattle manure and rotted hay) would be almost as, the same, or better than beef manure?
> There's a "Scotts" facility nearby me that mixes mushroom compost with sois, bags it, and sells it as "potting mix" to consumers.
> I spread it maybe 1/2"-3/4" thick and after 1 year, I have noticed greater yields.


Maybe have it tested and compare....I would think that the mushrooms would have extracted some components out of the mixture, but how much and what I would not know for sure. It would definitely be beneficial for the soil irregardless.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> I wonder if mushroom compost I use (horse, poultry & cattle manure and rotted hay) would be almost as, the same, or better than beef manure?
> There's a "Scotts" facility nearby me that mixes mushroom compost with sois, bags it, and sells it as "potting mix" to consumers.
> I spread it maybe 1/2"-3/4" thick and after 1 year, I have noticed greater yields.


i doubt it would be as rich as cattle manure.You could plant directly into your compost and I would guess plants would grow.Cattle manure alone would be to "hot" and nothing would grow.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

The main problem I've found with some manures is that if the hay the animals eat contains herbicide residue, (Tordon for example) the chemical will pass thru the animal unchanged and harm your crop. I severely damaged 500 apples trees this way and killed about 200 more. Because of this, I will never again use any manure unless I know exactly where it came from.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Not a apples to apples test but pretty good eye opener on cattle manure benifets for me.

Farm A had cattle manure applied on bean stuble planted to corn for 15 yrs.Corn yields were around 225 bpa.Last 5 yrs haven't had much manure.Farm has been grid sampled and fertilized / limed accordingly.Now the yields are around 200 bpa.

Farm B was mostly commercial fertilized since 75.never seen fertilizer before that so was low.Grid sampled also 5 yrs ago variable spread/ limed.Now it only gets 50 lbs of N plus cattle manure and yields around 225.Even with corn on corn rotation.

Patterned tiled Farm B last fall hopeing to increase yields farther yet

Hands down cattle manure is much better then commercial fertilizer


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Hugh said:


> The main problem I've found with some manures is that if the hay the animals eat contains herbicide residue, (Tordon for example) the chemical will pass thru the animal unchanged and harm your crop. I severely damaged 500 apples trees this way and killed about 200 more. Because of this, I will never again use any manure unless I know exactly where it came from.


I seen were a feedlot bought ditch hay from a guy and he spread the manure on 25 acres that spring.I doubt he got 10 bpa of soybeans off of it.

I seen where another neighbor baled road ditch and used it for bedding in a hoop barn for hogs and he spread a few loads at a angle where he planted soybeans and he had dead streaks threw his bean field.

Just had a guy call to see if I had used any spray on some grass hay I sold to them.

I've never seen a issue if spread on ground going to corn the first yr and spy's the next but it makes you wonder if it still damages the soybeans the 2 nd yr.
The county/ state here uses Tordon on rd ditches for weed and brush control.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

One of the local ag. girls from the state told me it takes 3 years for the toxic effects of Tordon to wear off, a professor at the state university told me it make take up to 7 years. He said I could till-in activated carbon to get rid of it. Other herbicides are carried thru the animal as well. The pHD told me the name of another chemical, (he said it was worse than Tordon) but I forget what it was. These herbicides are used as a spray on some hay fields to control broadleaf weeds, and not only as a ditch spray. Dow chemical says that 50% of the Tordon will be broken down by microbes in 4 months, which means some will remain for a long time, 25% in 8 months, 12% in 16 months, etc. I have read papers that show manure has a high salt index as well. If you are getting good results then I say, "go for it." "Grow for it," is even better.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

swmnhay said:


> Not a apples to apples test but pretty good eye opener on cattle manure benifets for me.
> 
> Farm A had cattle manure applied on bean stuble planted to corn for 15 yrs.Corn yields were around 225 bpa.Last 5 yrs haven't had much manure.Farm has been grid sampled and fertilized / limed accordingly.Now the yields are around 200 bpa.
> 
> ...


One reason some might have a better result from manure than commercial fertilizers is that manures contain trace elements such as boron, copper, zinc, manganese, etc. If you are using only NKP in your program and are lacking boron for example, then manure will always give a better response. If your local dairy is using hay that has been grown with close attention to all of these trace or minor nutrients, then the hay has these micronutrients when it is cut and baled, and the animal craps out some of these minerals, and you can then bypass some of your micronutrient worries. This is a great deal, that is, if you don't get a bad batch that contains herbicides that can damage your crop.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Hugh said:


> One reason some might have a better result from manure than commercial fertilizers is that manures contain trace elements such as boron, copper, zinc, manganese, etc. If you are using only NKP in your program and are lacking boron for example, then manure will always give a better response. If your local dairy is using hay that has been grown with close attention to all of these trace or minor nutrients, then the hay has these micronutrients when it is cut and baled, and the animal craps out some of these minerals, and you can then bypass some of your micronutrient worries. This is a great deal, that is, if you don't get a bad batch that contains herbicides that can damage your crop.


Hte manure I'm applying has been tested and contains enough Sulfer and Zinc which we typically add to the commercial fertilizer as soil tests called for it.my soil tests have never called for Boron here.I probably am benefiting from some in the manure though.

Sulfer and Zinc would cost me $20-30 per acre useing commercial fertilizer.I'm getting that for free in the manure.

Organic Matter of the manure is a huge benefit also.

Tordon is some potent stuff for it to kill soybeans after it has been diluted that much.Feedlot cattle that are fed about 1lb of hay per day in the ration that had been sprayed that is mixed with 30lbs of other feed then it goes threw the animal and crapped out and then spread on a field will kill soybeans and other legumes.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Friend of mine owns a farm and is also a bit of a scientist. He told me that when you spread compost manure or other organic materials on fields, the worms come up to get into it. They drill millions of holes in the ground which helps aerate and soften the soil.
Yet another benefit.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> Friend of mine owns a farm and is also a bit of a scientist. He told me that when you spread compost manure or other organic materials on fields, the worms come up to get into it. They drill millions of holes in the ground which helps aerate and soften the soil.
> Yet another benefit.


when we build terraces the topsoil is pushed back and the terrace is built with clay and the top soil is replaced.The soil is severely compacted from scrapers.To get the soil back in shape we will spread manure over it.Gets the good bugs a working.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> Friend of mine owns a farm and is also a bit of a scientist. He told me that when you spread compost manure or other organic materials on fields, the worms come up to get into it. They drill millions of holes in the ground which helps aerate and soften the soil.
> Yet another benefit.


Yep, we don't have near enough cows to spread manure on all our acres, when I do spread I call it feeding the earthworms. I tend to spread on hilltops or other areas that have thinner topsoil to increase earthworms and microbial action. Went to a side slinger to get a more even spread and better control of the spread, only spread about 1/2" thick again from the lack of cows. With the mild winter they really stayed out in the winter pastures so don't have much to spread this spring.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

JD3430 said:


> Friend of mine owns a farm and is also a bit of a scientist. He told me that when you spread compost manure or other organic materials on fields, the worms come up to get into it. They drill millions of holes in the ground which helps aerate and soften the soil.
> Yet another benefit.


Earthworms are extremely valuable. In fact, I have made several posts on this site about the value of earthworms. Hard to believe, but they can bring up tons of soil per acre per year. Feeding the worms is a great way to loosen the soil.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Hugh said:


> Earthworms are extremely valuable. In fact, I have made several posts on this site about the value of earthworms. Hard to believe, but they can bring up tons of soil per acre per year. Feeding the worms is a great way to loosen the soil.


The highest spot on this farm used to be like a brick, grandfather used to plant plow down rye on it all the time.

Best thing we done was to quit plowing and went to a chisel plow then spread that hill top heavy with pen packed manure that had straw for bedding, did that for 5 or 6 years.

52 acres next to us was farmed by several different BTO's before we bought it, whole thing was like concrete after years of them mudding stuff in and mudding it back out. By then we were spreading liquid slurry, best way we found for that was to rent a bunch of extra pipe and spread that 52 acres heavy for several years, all the extra OG and earthworms eventually loosened it up. No till and cover crops has helped even more.

2012 in the drought that one topped 260 b/acre in spots and averaged over 220.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Turkey manure here. I have been trying to build soil test for 20 years by applying commercial fertilizer above the recommended rate and I have saw numbers jump faster in one year with 4 ton turkey poo. Yields are showing it too.


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