chicken litter
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All of the chicken manure at the farm my wife runs - ends up in corn fields as fertilizer.
All seven barns rotate out on 39 - 41 day cycles. It is given to a local grain farmer that I know quite well. He piles it in the corner of the field he intends to use it in. He lets it compost for one year and then spreads it.
Because the manure is free for the hauling he uses it extensively on about 800 acrs of land. Apparently it is rich in nitrogen and cuts down his fertilizer bill. It also adds a lot of fibre to the soil.
I am the fellow who combines a large portion of his crops and I can say that he usually has lots of corn.
if you have further questions, there are numerous Google hits and your farm agent will have lots of info available.
regards
Bez
All seven barns rotate out on 39 - 41 day cycles. It is given to a local grain farmer that I know quite well. He piles it in the corner of the field he intends to use it in. He lets it compost for one year and then spreads it.
Because the manure is free for the hauling he uses it extensively on about 800 acrs of land. Apparently it is rich in nitrogen and cuts down his fertilizer bill. It also adds a lot of fibre to the soil.
I am the fellow who combines a large portion of his crops and I can say that he usually has lots of corn.
if you have further questions, there are numerous Google hits and your farm agent will have lots of info available.
regards
Bez
Bama
Well-known member
A word of caution. I did this several years ago and I got a lot of weeds from it. I don't use it anymore.
Composting will kill your weed seeds. It also makes the nitrogen manageable - otherwise you will kill your grasses if you spread it on pasture, or stress your seeds which will lower the crop production.
If you dig into the pile in mid winter and it is not hot, you are not getting a good compost - it was probably too dry. Open the pile and steam should come boiling out when the temperatures are at minus 30 and minus 40.
Regards
Bez
If you dig into the pile in mid winter and it is not hot, you are not getting a good compost - it was probably too dry. Open the pile and steam should come boiling out when the temperatures are at minus 30 and minus 40.
Regards
Bez
stocky
Well-known member
it has excellent nitrogen content and is tremendous fertilizer for fescue pastures, it can burn and kill the clover. in sw missouri and nw arkansas there is a great quantity of it available because of such an abundance of poultry houses. there is also a government movement to ban it from being applied to cattle pastures because of the movement to ban run off into creeks and streams and lakes. it is already banned from being used in creek and river bottoms here. if they ban it, there will be a whole lot of the stuff sitting around
jerry27150
Well-known member
works real well but has to be spread real thin on pasture. old man used to raise broilers & anyplace we spread it would be dark green all summer & we never composted any. never had a weed problem
According to Oklahoma State it is impossible for a weed seed to survive through a chickens digestive system. But if you fertilize weeds with the litter it will definately make them grow.
It isn't necessary to compost unless you are spreading it on crops. Just watch how much you spread.
It is also high in phosphorus. This will build up on your land after years of spreading litter and that is the main reason they restrict spreading. Here in N.E. Oklahoma, if the phosphorus level is below 300, you can spread litter.
Great stuff to build up your soil.
It isn't necessary to compost unless you are spreading it on crops. Just watch how much you spread.
It is also high in phosphorus. This will build up on your land after years of spreading litter and that is the main reason they restrict spreading. Here in N.E. Oklahoma, if the phosphorus level is below 300, you can spread litter.
Great stuff to build up your soil.
stocky
Well-known member
john, very good point on the phosphorus. with table rock lake and lake taneycomo being such huge tourist attractions, they are trying to limit the phosphorus in the water. that makes sense with the litter restrictions. i didnt know the phosphorus content of the litter, i just thought it was the nitrogen
Dave
Well-known member
The organic nitrogen in the manure (about half the total N) takes time to break down and become plant available. This give the manure a longer lasting effect than commercial fertilizer. The problem is there is more P and K in the manure than the grass will use right away. The good news is that as long as the soil level isn't too high for P and K they wont leach away. Applying manure is like putting nutrients in the bank as long as you don't over do it. A good way to utilize this is to use chicken manure for a year of two and then use commercial fertilizer that is just nitrogen for a year or two. That way you keep things in balance.
Dave
Dave
BC
Well-known member
If you are needing all 3 major nutients, poultry litter maight be a good source. Typically, a ton of litter will be about 60-60-40. Unfortunately about 25% on N is lost due to volitilization and another 10% is available the 2nd year. You need to apply about two tons per acre to get real fertilizer benefit (about 84 lbs of actual N)
Got to http://www.litterhotline.com/index.html for more info on using litter.
Got to http://www.litterhotline.com/index.html for more info on using litter.
