Renter's manure spreading "technique"...

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IluvABbeef

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Last winter I was walking with my brother and S.I.L. to see if we could get the skidoo going and noticed something very strange in the field my grandpa had rented to a neighbor who was Dutch dairy farmer.

It was pretty disturbing, to say the least. The diary farmer had, of course, spread manure on the rented field in the fall, but what he had in the manure was the thing that grossed me and my brother and my s.i.l. out.

There were a whole pile of cattle bones spread out, like whole bones: leg bones, hip bones, ribs, parts of skulls, among other things, often with a bit of flesh still attached. (I don't have pics, and even if I post them, I might get hollered at b/c it'd be too gory for these boards) I thought, "why the heck would he do something like this? Why couldn't he run the bones (or, the body of the dead cow) through a pulp machine that'll grind them up and THEN spread them on the fields??"

I dunno...maybe it's some "strange" technique this dairy farmer has that he's brought over from where he immigrated from...or something else...whadyall think?? :help:
 
IluvABbeef":3hnb0fv9 said:
Last winter I was walking with my brother and S.I.L. to see if we could get the skidoo going and noticed something very strange in the field my grandpa had rented to a neighbor who was Dutch dairy farmer.

It was pretty disturbing, to say the least. The diary farmer had, of course, spread manure on the rented field in the fall, but what he had in the manure was the thing that grossed me and my brother and my s.i.l. out.

There were a whole pile of cattle bones spread out, like whole bones: leg bones, hip bones, ribs, parts of skulls, among other things, often with a bit of flesh still attached. (I don't have pics, and even if I post them, I might get hollered at b/c it'd be too gory for these boards) I thought, "why the heck would he do something like this? Why couldn't he run the bones (or, the body of the dead cow) through a pulp machine that'll grind them up and THEN spread them on the fields??"

I dunno...maybe it's some "strange" technique this dairy farmer has that he's brought over from where he immigrated from...or something else...whadyall think?? :help:
ahh i think i know what that dairyman was doing or trying todo an it didnt work right.i think he was trying to compost his dead cows in his manure piles.an he wasnt turning the piles right to keep the heat in the piles at 110 degrees.or letting them compost long enough.even if composting is done right it wont compost all of the big bones.youll still have to disspose of them before you spread manure on the fields.
 
bigbull338":wqjh13sv said:
ahh i think i know what that dairyman was doing or trying todo an it didnt work right.i think he was trying to compost his dead cows in his manure piles.

I was thinking the same. That the man had composted the cows, but they didn't get thoroughly composted before he spread them.

Where I work, they've recently started to compost any deads that aren't sent out to be posted/necropsied.

Katherine
 
Bigbull and Workinonit, I never reallly thought of the compost thing, and now I'm wondering if he'd have trouble having them bones getting caught up in his mower, if the coyotes don't chew on them first...

Dusty, it MIGHT, but I hope not... :shock: btw, he does put his cows and jersey bulls on there to graze in the spring, but mostly he uses it for silage or hayledge, cutting it at least three times a year.

Beefy, that part I'm not entirely sure about, we can only guess.
 

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