Finding the Right Manure

Gardeners will often talk about their favorite type of manure, and I myself am not immune from such opining ...but when you have numerous acres to cover the decision is often made by factors of cost and convenience.  While it may be ideal to envision a farm that raises animals to generate manure for it’s vegetable fields, limited acreage and limited human energy make this a difficult proposition for vegetable farmers.

So purchasing chicken manure is the most common choice, as it’s high potency makes it cheaper to ship and easier to apply.  It is also free of weed seed.  And while I am using chicken manure, it does have it’s down sides.  For one, it’s narrow carbon-nitrogen ratio means it contributes less to the building of soil organic matter.  It is also the by-product of industrial chicken farming.  You just don’t get mountains of chicken manure from raising pastured poultry.

Coastal Humboldt county has an abundance of dairies, so local cow manure seems like the natural choice.  Cow manure isn’t as potent, which means you need to use more of it; and even still, it will take multiple applications before these slowly released nutrients create nutrient sufficiency.  On the plus side, the shear bulk of organic matter you get from these higher application rates has its own benefits.  Finding quantities of cow manure that is ready to use, however, can be difficult ...especially when you don’t have your own dump truck.  I am lucky to have found a source for already composted manure that I can pay to have delivered to my farm.  Unfortunately, this manure is also pretty weedy.  As the piles sit composting, annual weeds grow on them and make seed, and the rancher I purchase from is not able to keep these down.  I am trying to ameliorate this by purchasing fresher manure that I can allow to compost on site for next year’s use.  The challenge with this is that is takes time (and extra space) to turn these piles for uniform decomposition.  The piles do get one turning when they get dumped at my farm, and I’m hoping this (combined with the action of my manure spreader) is enough.

Fully-composted Cow Manure

1/2 Composted Cow Manure