Milk and fish oil as fertilizer for pastures

[Howdyjabo]

I spread waste Ice cream for years. I'll take chicken manure over it any day.

 

[Atgreene]

Do a quick Google search on Ray Archuleta nrcs crop rotation. He gets pretty in-depth on soil microbes and building soil, never heard him speak of milk though. I've heard of using it but never tried it. Anything to boost soil microbes can't hurt.

 

[hawkeye78]

Milk is a good way to put more microbes in the soil. I have been using fish emolusions and kelp as fertilizer on corn, wheat, oats, and hay. It helps promote microbial activity in the soil. It doesn't kill microbes like chemical fertilizers do. It also is a natural pesticide and insecticide. Since I've started using it on my corn I haven't had the bug or disease problems that I had with chemical fertilizers. I have neighbors that think I'm crazy for using this but I want the ground to work for me not to have to keep spraying chemicals to keep growing a crop. If you have any questions I would be happy to help.

 

[Jacob]

Thanks everyone!!! I'm excited to try this on a test plot to see what happens. We are adding additional pastures and will be doing a lot more rotational grazing and I think this will help also.

 

[R V]

Interesting thread... Hawkeye do you mind posting more specifics.
Thanks!
Ron

 

[shaz]

Thanks everyone!!! I'm excited to try this on a test plot to see what happens. We are adding additional pastures and will be doing a lot more rotational grazing and I think this will help also.

Ok, I will too. But how long before we can say conclusively that we actually did something?

3 years and one needs to be a drought?

I'

I'll get 200 gallons in the next week or so. What is a good mix?

 

[Richardin52]

You might try several plots with different rates of application and also have a control plot that you put nothing on. Before applications start dig a one foot square hole and count the worms then do it again say two weeks after application. Ground moisture will have to be accounted for some how to see if there is an increase over time but not to compare plots I would think.

A good way to see how much microbial life you have is to lay cotton cloth on bare soil on each plot and see how long it takes for the microbes to break it down.

 

[novatech]

You feed the microbes that in turn multiply and consume the organics and produce the NPK as by products. The only draw back I can see is that you are eating up all the organics at a far greater speed than normal which would produce very good grass. This is only temporary unless you also continuously replenishing the organic matter. It may work but just like most other things it's not a magic bullet. Developing a good sustainable pasture takes work, time, management, and knowledge. ( A little rain wouldn't hurt either).

 

[TexasBred]

Milk is a good way to put more microbes in the soil. I have been using fish emolusions and kelp as fertilizer on corn, wheat, oats, and hay. It helps promote microbial activity in the soil. It doesn't kill microbes like chemical fertilizers do. It also is a natural pesticide and insecticide. Since I've started using it on my corn I haven't had the bug or disease problems that I had with chemical fertilizers. I have neighbors that think I'm crazy for using this but I want the ground to work for me not to have to keep spraying chemicals to keep growing a crop. If you have any questions I would be happy to help.

Why kelp and how can you afford it? The stuff is extremely expensive for what you are getting. Only thing in it at any beneficial level is iodine.

 

[chippie]

Milk is a good way to put more microbes in the soil. I have been using fish emolusions and kelp as fertilizer on corn, wheat, oats, and hay. It helps promote microbial activity in the soil. It doesn't kill microbes like chemical fertilizers do. It also is a natural pesticide and insecticide. Since I've started using it on my corn I haven't had the bug or disease problems that I had with chemical fertilizers. I have neighbors that think I'm crazy for using this but I want the ground to work for me not to have to keep spraying chemicals to keep growing a crop. If you have any questions I would be happy to help.

My husband is curious how much milk per acre (gallons per acre) do you use?

You feed the microbes that in turn multiply and consume the organics and produce the NPK as by products. The only draw back I can see is that you are eating up all the organics at a far greater speed than normal which would produce very good grass. This is only temporary unless you also continuously replenishing the organic matter. It may work but just like most other things it's not a magic bullet. Developing a good sustainable pasture takes work, time, management, and knowledge. ( A little rain wouldn't hurt either).

Not necessarily. You only spray the area about twice a year. Also, it does not have to be raw milk.

 

[hawkeye78]

Ron the company that I get the fish emolusions and kelp is Aggrand it is a division of Amsoil. The 4-3-3 is what I use the most of it costs about $20 per gallon and you apply 1-2 gallon per acre per haying or rotation of cattle. All Aggrand products have a big particulate size so you will need to remove nozzle screens and get bigger nozzles to prevent clogging. They will settle out so you will need to keep them agitated and you need to spray it within 48 hours of mixing with water. You will want to rinse tank thoroughly after use the kelp will grow moss in the tank and nozzles. The website is aggrand.com their is a lot of recommendations and some useful videos about equipment to apply.

 

[hawkeye78]

novatech when you graze cattle they leave manure and tramp some grass on the ground this will help increase the organic matter to feed the microbes. If you need a quick boost of organic matter I am trying a new product with the fish emolusions and kelp. It is Humate which is humic acid that gives the plants instant organic matter and will help loosen up the soil and release some of the nutrients that are tied up in the soil. It classified as a bio-stimulant. This will help produce more grass which in turn you will graze more cows to put more manure and grass on the ground to feed the microbes and increase organic matter. Its a win-win for everyone. It is about $15 per gallon delivered to you and you can apply 2qt-2 gallon per acre.

 

[hawkeye78]

chippie I'm not using milk. because I don't have access to it but 1-2 gallon per acre of raw milk would be more microbes per acre than are their now. I read some where that a guy had some milk get contaminated with antibotics so he had to get rid of it he took it up to a hill and let it run down the hill. This was in the winter and he could see where the milk went the next spring because the grass was dark green and taller where the milk was dumped compared to where it wasn't. How much are you applying to you pastures?

 

[Till-Hill]

Someone smarter than me can figure out how much nitrogen is in their milk. Our's gets sampled every other day for MUN levels (Milk Urea Nitrogen) to see if we are wasting protein fed to our cows. Our tank has been running about 13.1 to 14.5 and is measured by milligrams per deciliter......some dairy's be alot lower some higher but most will fall right around that......

 

[chippie]

chippie I'm not using milk. because I don't have access to it but 1-2 gallon per acre of raw milk would be more microbes per acre than are their now. I read some where that a guy had some milk get contaminated with antibotics so he had to get rid of it he took it up to a hill and let it run down the hill. This was in the winter and he could see where the milk went the next spring because the grass was dark green and taller where the milk was dumped compared to where it wasn't. How much are you applying to you pastures?

I found the information at this site: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/milk-fertilizer.htm

It is 5 gallons per acre. It is a good article.

We drag our pastures with a flexible harrow about every 2 to 3 months to scatter the manure.

 

[Lucky_P]

Till-Hill
Total N in milk(by Kjeldahl analysis) averages about 3.2% - so...there's about 4 oz. total N in a gallon of milk. So, if somebody's spraying 2 gallons of milk/acre, they're putting on about 2oz of N/acre - most of it in the form of protein, but NPN sources, like MUN, do make a contribution. While some of that NPN will be available to plants - and microbes will deaminate the amino acids - producing more ammonium compounds, they also will lyse the urea - and I'd hazard a guess that a significant amount of that stuff will off-gas into the atmosphere as ammonia.

If you've got access to waste milk, and need to dump it somewhere...why not on a pasture? Unlikely to hurt anything, but I'm very skeptical about the magical qualities that are being ascribed to it, especially if you're diluting it out enough to disseminate 2 gal/acre.

 

[Jacob]

Here is a great article on the topic with a recipe. What is everyone's thought on the recipe and would you mix together or put on in different applications?

http://holidayranch.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/something-new-spraying-milk-on-pasture/

 

[hawkeye78]

You need to really mix the sea 90 if not disolved correctly it will clog the nozzles

 

[purecountry]

We applied raw milk to pastures, berry trees and garden patches for a few years. It's the fats in the milk that are easily broken down into sugars/carbon that make a great food source for the microbes. With raw milk from a grassfed cow you get a lot of beneficial enzymes/microbes as well, according to research done by the late Terry Gompert at the Univ of Nebraska @ Lincoln.

After a visit with Terry when we spoke at the same conference in Alberta a few years ago, I followed his recipe of 1ga raw milk to 4ga water, and spread it on all sorts of things. Our berries were bigger and sweeter, soil was softer and looser, and bugs were definitely down in the garden. Which is no surprise since bugs can't digest sugars.

It's great for soil, but it's not a silver bullet. One thing we found is that in certain soils you have deficiencies that milk simply can't correct. Sometimes you need a stronger source of Calcium to overcome excesses of things like Magnesium. That's when I use GSR Calcium from South Dakota. Works great.

I've tried soft rock phosphates, liquid fish, compost tea and all sorts of things. Bottom line, there is no silver bullet, but any of these products are far better than putting NPK on year after year after year. NPK feeds the plant, it does not feed the soil. So the growth of the plant takes minerals from the soil, and you are not replacing them. Over time your soil gets worse and worse. You have to add amendments or do crop rotations that include green manure plowdowns or in a pasture setting you have to rotationally graze things properly or you will have issues. Those could range from weeds, invasive plants, declining production or any number of things. They are all a result of not managing for better soil.

 

[R V]

I am considering trying the milk on a field, but what times of the year/part of the growing season is the best time to apply? I would like to try a test field to see how it responds and would like to maximize the chance that it will help.
Thanks!
Ron