Anyone here using feedlot or corral manure on their pastures

[whitewing]

If so, I'd like to hear about your experiences, good or bad.

I'm seriously considering it as I've got lots of manure on hand and believe that the practice would also help build better soils for me over the long haul, especially as it relates to water retention.

Thanks in advance for any replies. :tiphat:

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I can't see a problem with it if you're speaking of using manure from your own cattle on your pastures.

 

[whitewing]

I can't see a problem with it if you're speaking of using manure from your own cattle on your pastures.

I'm currently working with over 200 animals. My cows are corraled every night. When I buy a group of young bulls, they typically spend all their time in corrals. I've now got several years worth of manure built up, including lots of straw mixed in where the young bulls have been housed.

Last year I started moving this material closer to my bermuda but haven't yet had a chance to spread any on my pastures. If I go forward with the idea, I'll purchase a manure spreader and see how it works out. I'm hoping it'll be worth the expense and effort.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

It sounds like a good plan to me.

We've got an old manure spreader out in one of the unused tobacco barns that I intend to refurbish one of these days and use it to do what you're planning.

 

[whitewing]

Almost all the tractor work on my place, I do myself. Firstoff, I don't care to have others using my equipment, and secondly, I find that I learn a lot more about my place looking down from the tractor.

I've noticed there are a number of spots.....some small, some rather large....where my bermuda doesn't grow well. These spots usually seem to have a really thin layer of topsoil, often with a bit of gravel on the surface. These spots too are where the weeds and other stuff I don't want in my pastures seem to take root. Otherwise, the bermuda smothers them out.

The other day I was discussing this with my crew and we decided it'd be worth the effort to move material from my corrals, mixed with some topsoil, and try to build up the soil quality in these spots so that the bermuda can overwhelm the bad stuff. I guess this is actually a bit off-topic for the thread, but it popped into my mind anyway.

 

[TexasBred]

I know several dairies that do it. I'd make sure I piled it and allowed it to compost before putting it on the fields. Should do you a good job.

 

[dun]

The only problem we have with it the amount of weedseed it introduces. I have never figured out why manure that has been composted for a year or so tends to be really weedy. As long as the stuff is dry and you spread it thin it does help the tilth of the soil and gives the grass a real boost. But you have to be propared to get agressive with weed control when the growing season arrives.

 

[tsmaxx47]

what other plans would you have for the manure WW?

 

[whitewing]

what other plans would you have for the manure WW?

Sell it in the city or leave it where it lay until the cows can step over my fences. :lol2:

 

[KMacGinley]

We do this regularly.

 

[TexasBred]

The only problem we have with it the amount of weedseed it introduces. I have never figured out why manure that has been composted for a year or so tends to be really weedy. As long as the stuff is dry and you spread it thin it does help the tilth of the soil and gives the grass a real boost. But you have to be propared to get agressive with weed control when the growing season arrives.

dun several years ago I had a pelleted feed sample tested by a lab (a microscopic test) . It was amazing the amount of tiny weed seed of many varieties they found in the feed.

 

[dun]

The only problem we have with it the amount of weedseed it introduces. I have never figured out why manure that has been composted for a year or so tends to be really weedy. As long as the stuff is dry and you spread it thin it does help the tilth of the soil and gives the grass a real boost. But you have to be propared to get agressive with weed control when the growing season arrives.

dun several years ago I had a pelleted feed sample tested by a lab (a microscopic test) . It was amazing the amount of tiny weed seed of many varieties they found in the feed.

I would have thoguht that after a year of composting the seeds should be pretty well dead, that's one of the pointsin composting it.

 

[TexasBred]

True but seems there are always a bunch that survive. Sort of like goat weeds tho...not a one to be seen for 40 years but go out and run a disk across a pasture and you'll immediately have thousands of the things.

 

[dun]

True but seems there are always a bunch that survive. Sort of like goat weeds tho...not a one to be seen for 40 years but go out and run a disk across a pasture and you'll immediately have thousands of the things.

That and the ever present pigweed. When we bought this farm there was a pile of dairy manure that had been collecting for years, a pile 30 foot high and probably 100x100 feet. I spread it in a field that we had planted winter wheat in the year before and had cut it for hay. I fianlly got around to spreading the manure in the spring and had a solid field of pigweed. I cut and baled it before it when it was just starting to go to seed very much and planned to burn it. A neighbor took it instead to dump in some gullys. His cows found it and decided it was candy. Now he has the most luxurious field of pigweed in the area. I have maybe a plant or 2 each year that I spray the snot out of.

 

[Farmerjon]

I thought that was what manure was for. I have started composting my manure and turning the piles with a front end loader from time to time and notice that kills more of the weed seed. Got to get the weed seed in the middle of the pile to get it to the heat to kill it. Originally my compost piles looked like tall ragweed piles, but turning every so often, once or twice in the summer depending on rainfall, I notice the newer piles are just piles of almost mulch looking stuff. I do spread on existing pastures and do clip pastures before weeds go to seed. Seeing better grass and fewer weeds with my better work with the piles. I have not gone to the extreme of covering the piles with a tarp to keep the N from leaching due to rain. That is on the list for next summer to do.

 

[bigbull338]

yes you can use the manure from your corrals on your hay meadows.an itll make those bare spots grow thick an lush with time.

 

[dun]

Is Bandini still in existence? In the 80s they sold composted cattle manure in 25 pound bags in california.

 

[expensive hobby]

I wonder what it would sell for now Dun. Sounds like a good job for the kids to do when they are bad. "Go out and shovel bags of composted manure for 3 hours because you talked back to your mother!" I kind of like it.

 

[James T]

If so, I'd like to hear about your experiences, good or bad.

I'm seriously considering it as I've got lots of manure on hand and believe that the practice would also help build better soils for me over the long haul, especially as it relates to water retention.

Thanks in advance for any replies. :tiphat:

Whitewing, I don't have any experience with spreading cow manure but I do recall by grandfather using a spreader quite often. Just for the heck of it, I searched the web to see what the value of manure might be. If I remember correctly, phosphorus was not a big issue in your soil. So that leaves Nitrogen and Potassium. One study I read placed the value at about $20 a ton. If that number is correct, give or take, and a 37 cubic ft spreader costs around $2700 (US), you would need 135 tons spread to break even (not counting the cost of loading the spreader and the fuel used).

To get a true value, you would have to do a soil test, after haying, and also test the manure. You might be able to get a cheaper spreader or come up with some other way of spreading it. There's no question that the manure has value! It's all about getting it spread where and how you want it. If it's small areas then the solution might be simpler.

 

[1wlimo]

I thought that was what manure was for. I have started composting my manure and turning the piles with a front end loader from time to time and notice that kills more of the weed seed. Got to get the weed seed in the middle of the pile to get it to the heat to kill it. Originally my compost piles looked like tall ragweed piles, but turning every so often, once or twice in the summer depending on rainfall, I notice the newer piles are just piles of almost mulch looking stuff. I do spread on existing pastures and do clip pastures before weeds go to seed. Seeing better grass and fewer weeds with my better work with the piles. I have not gone to the extreme of covering the piles with a tarp to keep the N from leaching due to rain. That is on the list for next summer to do.

This is the best way to do it, and much better done when the manure is fresh. Getting the heat to build up is how to kill the weed seeds and bacteria etc.