Turkey/Chicken litter

[BobbyLummus1]

I have access to the litter in august at $50 an acre . Anything I should look out for or know ? I am thinking of doing 25% of my pasture every couple months till I get it all . Can the cattle stay on the pastures while the litter is spread ?

 

[TexasBred]

Bobby I've never used it but a lot of folks down this way use nothing but turkey liter fresh out of the turkey house. Stinks to high heaven til you get a rain on it. Suppose to be good stuff.

 

[Jogeephus]

Never moved mine when I've spread it. They will make that decision on their own. Like said, it smells aweful. Pray for rain. Good stuff though and it gives you a lot of micro-nutrients. I'd suggest not walking across the field to check the spread pattern though because it tends to stick to your boots like glue and it will permeate your clothes. Did I mention it stinks and if you have neighbors they are going to hate you.

 

[Craig Miller]

Lots of people here use it too. I cant speak with before and after soil test but i do know it will grow grass. You can Leave the cows on it if you want to. Pretty sure some cowgirls feed it to their cows.

 

[BobbyLummus1]

Thanks looking for all the wisdom I can get

 

[tom4018]

How much are you getting for $50 an acre? We leave the cows on the field.

 

[ga.prime]

The chicken litter I've gotten is composted and looks like potting soil and has no smell. I think I paid $25/ton dumped on the ground. Had to rent a spreader from the FSA and spread it myself. Then, you have to have a loader tractor and another tractor pulling the spreader. That was a lot of work for the benefits I thought. A load is about 25 tons and I've been thinking about getting a couple of loads and spreading them with a box blade on 3 or 4 acres and grow a garden on it and see what happens.

 

[BobbyLummus1]

This is actually broiler litter which from I understand is not as good as the big bird stuff but still good stuff . Its two tons per acre at $50 . $2500 for every 50 acres , $2500 buys alot of hay

 

[Chappydog]

We spread broiler litter every year. I'm hear to tell you it will grow grass. You need to get it straight out of the house if you can, litter out of a stack house will grow grass bit not as well. That stacked up litter goes through a heat and just doesn't work as well as "fresh" crap.
We spread a load / acre with is about 1 ton I guess. You can't go wrong with it at all.

Do you know how big of chickens were in the house, 5,6 week birds or older. The older the birds the better the litter.

Also when was the last time the houses were cleaned out?

 

[BobbyLummus1]

Not sure the age of the birds but he cleans the houses every 6-8 weeks i think he said , it will come fresh from the houses . Thanks thats good to hear !

 

[coalburner]

we put out about 5 ton truck load to about 4 or 5 acres. 18 wheeler load is about $650