Turkey litter for hay field

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We use poultry litter.... 2 ton to the acre... spread it whenever we can get on the field without tearing it up... since it is sitting out, may as well get it down now, you are going to lose some nitrogen from it sitting. If you get some rain, it will start the process of it soaking down into the earth... worms will work on it some without getting burnt as it settles in on the soil. You want it on before the grass breaks dormancy..... We spread on crop fields just before drilling or planting....
 
blackladies said:
Going to try turkey litter instead of chemical. Didn't fertilize last hay season and could really tell. About 2 tons per acre and what month for application?
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Send off your soil tests and get back the analyses. Get the turkey litter tested, and see what needs it could fill, and what rate per acre, Then get your fertilizer mixed with what is needed that the turkey Litter can't cover.
 
Warren Allison said:
Send off your soil tests and get back the analyses. Get the turkey litter tested, and see what needs it could fill, and what rate per acre, Then get your fertilizer mixed with what is needed that the turkey Litter can't cover.
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Spot on @Warren Allison! I'll add this, and it's about timing which you didn't mention. The litter is high in Nitrogen. Bear in mind, adding Nitrogen to the soil to coincide with the already increased growth rate during the spring flush will increase the likelihood of grass tetany. Doesn't mean it will occur. But, this induced miner imbalance/deficiency that results in cattle, when it does occur, happens quickly and can kill within a couple of hours. It's not a gradual effect over time, like most deficiencies.
 
The litter is already piled up outside uncovered? I have experience with broiler litter, but not turkey litter. My concern would be the loss of nutrients being piled up and getting wet and turning to mush. I would be inclined to spread it now, but you will lose a lot of the nitrogen by spring. I assume the grass is fescue? Just prior to greenup is a good time to spread litter.

Does the litter have a lot of shavings that are not broken down? I can't zoom and see much detail. The color makes me think it might have a lot of shavings. Visible shavings in the litter decreases the fertilizer value.
 
simme said:
The litter is already piled up outside uncovered? I have experience with broiler litter, but not turkey litter. My concern would be the loss of nutrients being piled up and getting wet and turning to mush. I would be inclined to spread it now, but you will lose a lot of the nitrogen by spring. I assume the grass is fescue? Just prior to greenup is a good time to spread litter.

Does the litter have a lot of shavings that are not broken down? I can't zoom and see much detail. The color makes me think it might have a lot of shavings. Visible shavings in the litter decreases the fertilizer value.
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Turkey and broiler litter should be very similar. There will be more variation between loads of broiler litter from different sources than there is variation between broiler and turkey litter.

In a sense shavings decreases the fertilizer value, at least what is available immediately to the vegetation. The shavings that are present bind the nitrogen within the litter making it unavailable to the plants until the shavings break down. That amount of time varies based on climatic conditions but the most control over this process that the producer has is consideration of the particle size of the savings. For example, sawdust will break down faster and have more immediate nutrient availability than wood chips, everything else being equal.
 
Mark Reynolds said:
Turkey and broiler litter should be very similar. There will be more variation between loads of broiler litter from different sources than there is variation between broiler and turkey litter.

In a sense shavings decreases the fertilizer value, at least what is available immediately to the vegetation. The shavings that are present bind the nitrogen within the litter making it unavailable to the plants until the shavings break down. That amount of time varies based on climatic conditions but the most control over this process that the producer has is consideration of the particle size of the savings. For example, sawdust will break down faster and have more immediate nutrient availability than wood chips, everything else being equal.
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Also consider that shavings in the litter mean that a load has less manure since the shavings take up space. Litter is generally sold by the "load", not by the ton. Load the truck (volume of bed) and deliver to dump or spread. The space in the truck that the shavings take up mean that you are getting less chicken shyt that would have fit in the truck if those somewhat fresh shavings were not there taking up space.

People that don't manage water pressure on the drinkers and don't ventilate properly will end up with wetter litter and wet houses. Depending on the equipment used to condition the litter in the house between flocks, the wet litter removed each flock can contain a lot of shavings. Some litter is removed each flock as part of the conditioning. Then there is a complete to the dirt cleanout about every 6 flocks. That complete cleanout yields better litter - mostly dry, fine particles, easy to spread, maybe less odor. That is the best litter for fertilizer (based on visual response). The litter that comes out between each flock will be wetter, more fresh shavings, more likely to be deep stacked in a stacking shed where it heats up.

Most operations here compost the daily mortality in litter in a stacking/composting shed. After several months, it can be spread. That will be the least desirable litter.

Growout time on broilers is around 7 weeks. Turkeys much longer. So seems like more possibility for shavings in broiler litter than turkey. But, I have never been in a turkey house.
 
It does have a lot of shavings. First time buying litter so maybe bought the wrong stuff. $25 a dump truck load. Thought I would try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work out I'm not out that much money.
 
blackladies said:
It does have a lot of shavings. First time buying litter so maybe bought the wrong stuff. $25 a dump truck load. Thought I would try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work out I'm not out that much money.
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I've been pointing out more cautions with the poultry litter than benefits, but that is the direction the thread was going. Load for load, poultry litter is some of the best 'waste product' (and I don't mean that in a bad way) fertilizer that you can access. At $25 a dump truck load, I think you made out like a bandit.
 
Poultry litter here is sold by the ton. There are scores of poultry houses in the general area here. If you paid $25 a dump truck load I agree you made out like a bandit. We are paying $25-40 a ton, delivered... most are in walking floor trailers that have 30 ton or so..... Average load is around $900-1,000 for round figures.
Since the price is more than right, you will mostly have a totally positive response. It will add organic matter and do a decent job of feeding the soil. You will get some weeds out of it... the only downside of poultry litter. Even composted litter will spread weeds into the fields. The pluses far outweigh the minuses.
You will need to keep an eye on some soil tests; at least test after a year or 2.... phosphorous levels can get high from poultry litter....
 
farmerjan said:
Poultry litter here is sold by the ton. There are scores of poultry houses in the general area here. If you paid $25 a dump truck load I agree you made out like a bandit. We are paying $25-40 a ton, delivered... most are in walking floor trailers that have 30 ton or so..... Average load is around $900-1,000 for round figures.
Since the price is more than right, you will mostly have a totally positive response. It will add organic matter and do a decent job of feeding the soil. You will get some weeds out of it... the only downside of poultry litter. Even composted litter will spread weeds into the fields. The pluses far outweigh the minuses.
You will need to keep an eye on some soil tests; at least test after a year or 2.... phosphorous levels can get high from poultry litter....
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Thank you @farmerjan. I didn't have real numbers to put with my assessment. This shows how great a 'steal' the litter was WAY better than what I could!
 
Just put 4 tons to the acre and have been for years. It can be stacked for short periods of time. We paid $36 a ton spread. The only problem I have with it is there must be some left over seeds in the feed they don't eat. You get some unwanted plants that I have never seen before. Hoping 24d will take them out
 
Mrcopier said:
Just put 4 tons to the acre and have been for years. It can be stacked for short periods of time. We paid $36 a ton spread. The only problem I have with it is there must be some left over seeds in the feed they don't eat. You get some unwanted plants that I have never seen before. Hoping 24d will take them out
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4 tons to the acre seems a little thick. Do you soil test? Please show pictures of the unwanted plants (weeds by definition) that you have and someone here can help identify them, which will help in eliminating them.
 
For those buying litter by the ton, do they weigh every load? Get weight tickets? Or use a historical value for the weight by size of truck body and every load is the same price assuming same tonnage? Making a trip to scales on every load here would add some time. Just curious how other people do it.

To me, paying by the ton could be bad if the litter was wet.
 
blackladies said:
It is for the hay field. Cattle won't be grazing till late fall 2024. Should be cutting hay in early June.
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You will be safe from tetany when cutting the hay in June. Theoretically it could happen in June, but haven't ever heard of it occurring then and wouldn't ever expect the conditions to even remotely come close to being correct for tetany to occur then. I apologize as I hadn't seen you post about hay or tetany in June. Grass tetany results from a insufficient uptake of magnesium by plants during and because of periods of rapid plant growth. The resulting low magnesium content in the grass (during the rapid spring greenup, exacerbated by added nitrogen to increase quick forage production in the spring) results in a deficiency of magnesium in the animal and an imbalance with calcium, which can and often is fatal but can quickly be reversed with an injection of (I think) calcium by a veterinarian with no long term negative effects, if administered quickly enough.

A quick scan of the literature shows that grass tetany has been known to occur when livestock is fed baleage from certain forages, although I have never heard of that happening.

I worked with a producer one time that applied nitrogen to his spring pastures and suffered the consequences so to speak. The producer contacted the vet quickly enough and the vet saved at least 3 cows that were showing symptoms to various degrees, but the producer lost 4 cows within what the producer estimates to be a period of two hours......out of a herd size of 27.
 
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We use hi-mag mineral early in the year to help prevent grass tetany; around here nearly every farmer with beef cattle uses hi-mag early in the year and by June it is usually not a problem. All depends on the growing season early, and temps for fast early growth and amount of moisture to promote that fast growth.
Most all our delivered litter is weighed by the load... the poultry farmers have several of the big walking floor trailers, and they go by scales and weigh everytime. We have alot of truck stops with scales all around here... and you weigh empty once, then run the rigs over the scales everytime after and they get tickets. We pay by the ton. There are a couple that have done averages and when a trucker is good, he can tell you within a little bit what the trailer load weighs... but it is pretty much accepted that the loads are all weighed. These poultry farmers want to get paid for all they send out.
When nitrogen got so crazy high, getting poultry litter was hard... even with us being regular customers for years... it has come back to more normal situations.

We had a pile off loaded at the edge of a field one year... the conditions were so bad for getting it unloaded at alot of places and we had a couple places that the trucks could back in and not get off hard ground so the trucks would not get stuck. Sort of a "sacrifice" place for guys who had to get some moved and could not get their regular customers delivered to. The pile sat for a couple of months before we could get on the ground to get it spread. 8 years later, that section of the field where the pile sat, is still more productive than any other place on the whole field. Hay grows faster, taller and has more moisture and is slower to dry mostly because of it being so thick.
So, even if you lose some of the nitrogen by piles sitting, there is alot of good stuff that percolates down into the ground and will feed the crop for years.
I have no problem with the 4 tons to the acre that will actually help to build up soil fertility... that area where the pile was, tells me that it did not hurt the ground at all...
Yes, there are always some seeds that will come through even when it is composted, and some weeds associated with litter. You deal with it when the soil is healthier and the hay or other crops do better. We also spread it on pastureland when we have "extra"....
 

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