Fertilizing pastures

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Not yet. The chicken farm hasn't been there too many years and I just haven't had the extra money. Had plans of fertilizing this fall but the land next to me came up for sale so that idea got axed. They recommend 2 tons to the acre but I've talked to several people that said it was too hot and had better luck doing 1 ton 2 yrs in a row. I did go over about 150 acres with a Lawson aerator to try and free up the soil. Hopefully that will help. I'm on old neglected farm ground and the soil is really tight.
I know you have to get litter when you can, is it hen, pullet, or broiler litter? There's no way to know if it's too hot without an analysis. Around here , a 2ton/acre application would be towards the lighter side. I have applied 5ton on neglected ground, when it was free.
 
I know you have to get litter when you can, is it hen, pullet, or broiler litter? There's no way to know if it's too hot without an analysis. Around here , a 2ton/acre application would be towards the lighter side. I have applied 5ton on neglected ground, when it was free.
He said laying hens early on. That is usually without litter and is high powered if they are high rise houses. The problem is the clumps if there are water leaks in the houses or it gets rained on. A good fertilizer but hot stuff. Wet clumps on the ground will smother/burn the grass under it. So being sure of the moisture and getting it spread ASAP is key. And neighbors will know you are spreading it more than other litter except for turkey litter which seems to smell the most even with shavings.
 
I know you have to get litter when you can, is it hen, pullet, or broiler litter? There's no way to know if it's too hot without an analysis. Around here , a 2ton/acre application would be towards the lighter side. I have applied 5ton on neglected ground, when it was free.
They built a new cage free egg plant about 5 miles from my house. I believe there are 8 3 story houses. The guy with the litter contract has to keep the moving. He delivers and spreads it for $30-35 a ton but last year he started to just deliver for $15-20 a ton depending on how far behind he is. There's also a local company that rents a nice litter spreader for $100 a day. I've got 200 acres that really needs it. It's something I just need to pull the trigger on.

Edit: what Ebenezer says is true. It's one of the main reasons I bought the ranchworx style aerator too. Most of this litter goes to farmers who disk it in pretty quick. The guys that fertilize pastures or meadows have said they think the run off from the rain washes allot of the Phosphorus away? Not sure if this would be correct but the slits the aerator makes are supposed to make a huge difference in soil absorption.
 
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They built a new cage free egg plant about 5 miles from my house. I believe there are 8 3 story houses. The guy with the litter contract has to keep the moving. He delivers and spreads it for $30-35 a ton but last year he started to just deliver for $15-20 a ton depending on how far behind he is. There's also a local company that rents a nice litter spreader for $100 a day. I've got 200 acres that really needs it. It's something I just need to pull the trigger on.

Edit: what Ebenezer says is true. It's one of the main reasons I bought the ranchworx style aerator too. Most of this litter goes to farmers who disk it in pretty quick. The guys that fertilize pastures or meadows have said they think the run off from the rain washes allot of the Phosphorus away? Not sure if this would be correct but the slits the aerator makes are supposed to make a huge difference in soil absorption.
Yes, the P does follow runoff, so be careful around water sources, tanks, ponds, ditches. The regs now aren't as strict, but common sense prevails.
 
Not yet. The chicken farm hasn't been there too many years and I just haven't had the extra money. Had plans of fertilizing this fall but the land next to me came up for sale so that idea got axed. They recommend 2 tons to the acre but I've talked to several people that said it was too hot and had better luck doing 1 ton 2 yrs in a row. I did go over about 150 acres with a Lawson aerator to try and free up the soil. Hopefully that will help. I'm on old neglected farm ground and the soil is really tight.
Our place was/is very tight. Some places worse than others. I'll be curious to know how the aerator efforts work out. Share your results please.
 
Our place was/is very tight. Some places worse than others. I'll be curious to know how the aerator efforts work out. Share your results please.
One of the ways they told me I'd know it was helping sounds a little backwards but I can see how it'd be true. They said spots that held water or stayed wet after rains shouldn't puddle and stay wet as long and ground that was really hard after rains would start getting spongy when it rained. Unfortunately we've had very little rain since August. We ran the aerator in August/September.
 
One of the ways they told me I'd know it was helping sounds a little backwards but I can see how it'd be true. They said spots that held water or stayed wet after rains shouldn't puddle and stay wet as long and ground that was really hard after rains would start getting spongy when it rained. Unfortunately we've had very little rain since August. We ran the aerator in August/September.
Dry as shite here too this year.

That does make sense to me.
 

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