Re: Manure Application Cost

Posted by Paul on March 25, 2017 at 09:19:38 from (66.60.207.13):

In Reply to: Re: Manure Application Cost posted by newhollandnut on March 25, 2017 at 06:41:19:

Manure has a lot of extras in micros and biological stuff and some organic matter that you just don't get in commercial fertilizer.

I would always take manure over commercial if the $$$ are close. Always. I can see three large hog operations from my yard, as well as a dairy and also a heifer feeding operation, and still I can't get any manure, it is used by those closer than me. I understand typically they pay for 2/3 the value of the P and K, as well as the application costs.

Having said that, manure is a very uneven fertilizer, even if you try your best. As well its strength is some of it is very slow release, maybe into the third year after application, but that is then hard to account for and leaves gaps over the three year period.

So by far the best way to go is get manure applied, apply it so you get one nutirient as high as you need for the crop (often P) and then come in with commercial fertilizer to fill in the gaps and level off the 'highs and lows' of manure application. Commercial fertilizer is much more predictable, but it's also very incomplete.

Many years ago I saw a fella spread manure and then in spring the commercial fertilizer truck would go over the same field, it seemed silly to me at the time. Now I get it, it's the right way to go.

As you say variable rate and grid or zone sampling works so very good with all this.

Im kinda scared of the 'double or triple' applied guys, they probably built up too much P, and wasted some N, and all us farmers are getting a black eye from this. Now back when my farm was mined out by lack of fertilizer, a double or triple application likely would have been the right thing; but I'd want to know before doing that with soil tests and manure tests even if imperfect you can at least have a plan.

A fella here with hog barns didn't want to share his hog manure, he figured if a little was good a lot was better and kept building his soils over applying.

Until his beans grew really really well, looked great, but kind of wanted to lodge over, and turned out they weren't setting many pods any more - the excess manure was going into growing kraut, not setting flowers and bean pods. Oops! He got it changed around and is selling his manure too now.

Paul

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