To obtain high-quality fertilizer, you need to mix cattle waste with other organic materials, such as hay, grass clippings, ceratin types of food waste, or even sawdust. The composting takes longer, and you have less control over the results.
The manure may be spread atop the soil or incorporated into the garden soil. Pig, dog, cat, and human waste should never be used in a vegetable garden. Cow, horse, chicken/poultry, sheep, goat, and llama manure are acceptable types of manure appropriate for use in vegetable gardens.
Ageing and Composting Manures
Simply ageing a manure pile for three months can kill about 60% of the weed seeds present, and bacterial counts start to drop within days after the manure leaves the animal. Then, when the aged manure is mixed into the soil, soil microorganisms clear out residual bacteria in about a month.
Many vegetable gardeners swear by the benefits of manure as a fertilizer. Adding manure to soil improves the soil's texture and water-holding capacity while providing nutrients needed by growing plants.
Dehydrated Cow Manure Uses:
Mix 1 part dehydrated cow manure with 3 parts of top soil. With poor quality top soil, use a 50/50 ratio.
If you are growing crops where the edible portion is in contact with the soil (such as carrots, beets, or potatoes) fresh manure applications should be made at least four months prior to harvest. On other edible crops, fresh manure applications should be made at least three months prior to harvest.
It's important that it be aged for it to work with your plants, as explained in this article: Turn manure into compost for your garden. When properly used, manure eliminates the need to apply chemical fertilizer, since they both supply, the three major nutrients needed by plants: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Too much of any nutrient can inhibit the uptake of other nutrients, resulting in deficiencies. High ammonium can inhibit the uptake of calcium, magnesium and potassium.
Don't over fertiliser or manure. Apply nutrients in the spring just before growth starts. Avoid using manures and fertilisers in late summer or autumn where they may be lost over winter and pollute water bodies.
Specialists at the University of Georgia recommend a rate of 150 pounds of cattle manure or up to 200 pounds of horse manure or 50 pounds of poultry manure per 1000 square feet of garden soil.
Spring is the preferred time to apply manure. Forage or hay crops generally provide the greatest flexibility in planning land application operations.
Composted cow manure fertilizer makes an excellent growing medium for garden plants. When turned into compost and fed to plants and vegetables, cow manure becomes a nutrient-rich fertilizer. It can be mixed into the soil or used as top dressing.
According to Countryside, however, the best manure for gardens is a blend of cow dung and properly composted manure, often referred to as “black gold.” Countryside also recommends taking advantage of the different kinds of animals on a farm, and blending the assorted animal droppings into workable manure.
When conditions are ideal, compost can heat up within one day, Andrews said. After the pile cools down to an ambient temperature, transfer it to the second bin. It usually takes another two to six months to decompose or cure.
However, cow manure is also rich in ammonia and, sometimes, can contain dangerous pathogens and bacteria, such as E Coli. So, an aging or decomposition process is necessary to break down the organic matter and eliminate the harmful substances before the manure gets to the fields.
Cow dung, also known as cow pats, cow pies or cow manure, is the waste product (faeces) of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle ("cows"), bison ("buffalo"), yak, and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue of plant matter which has passed through the animal's gut.
Disadvantages of Manure
The manures are reported to provide fewer nutrients to plants, and they are unable to provide high-yielding crops. Manures are slowly absorbed by the plants, and they add a lot of humus to the soil. They are made in fields, so transportation is difficult for manures.
Decomposition will be complete anywhere from two weeks to two years depending on the materials used, the size of the pile, and how often it is turned. Compost is ready when it has cooled, turned a rich brown color, and has decomposed into small soil-like particles.
This is a good environment for microbes and earthworms that can start turning the material into soil. That's why you need stay on top of the watering if you plan on using fresh manure as fertilizer. Make sure to cover the manure with some type of mulch to keep the pile damp too.
Horse manure is abundantly available and well balanced. Horses digest their food less thoroughly than cows, so their manure is richer in organic matter. It is, however, more likely to contain viable weed seeds.
To efficiently compost manure, turn the windrow when the internal temperature drops below 120 degrees F. After five to six turns, the manure should be composted. Temperatures should be taken at various locations and depths. According to Michel (2009), compost windrows can be turned every 10 days or two weeks.
First of all, you should avoid using fresh or un-composted raw manure on all your fruits and vegetables. Mainly the root vegetables such as radish, carrot, beetroot, and potato. It can burn and damage your crops. But, this is not the case for composted animal manures.
How do you mix cow dung with soil? To achieve the desired results, combine one part cow dung and three parts soil. Why fresh cow dung should not be used for plants? Fresh cow dung should not be used for plants because it contains high proportions of nutrients, including ammonia, that could burn the plants.