Symbiotic Compost

[Meadowlark]

I'm retired and one of my retirement jobs is raising cattle. The cows make excellent cow manure which when composted is free of pathogens and seed and a tremendous garden soil builder.

I formerly did this all alone but nowadays, I use dogs and helpers to round 'em up.



The manure and scrap hay is dozed into big piles which then generates tremendous heat killing all the bad stuff.






Contrary to what you will read on the 'net and what "experts" say this is highly fertile and soil tests prove it. Result "No N P K required" Perfect soil additive.

Nutrient	Your Results	Optimal Range	Rating
pH	6.37	5.8-7.0	Optimal
Total Nitrogen (N)	38.91	32.0-60.0	Optimal
Nitrate (NO3-N)	30.14	-	-
Ammonium (NH4-N)	8.77	-	-
Phosphorus (P)	31.59	8.0-20.0	High
Potassium (K)	114.79	38.0-80.0	High
Sulfur (S)	9.92	7.0-22.0	Optimal
Calcium (Ca)	83.01	80.0-320.0	Optimal
Magnesium (Mg)	33.68	27.0-70.0	Optimal
Sodium (Na)	13.81	0.5-30.0	Optimal
Iron (Fe)	1.27	3.0-10.0	Low
Manganese (Mn)	4.7	4.0-10.0	Optimal
Zinc (Zn)	0.17	0.1-0.25	Optimal
Copper (Cu)	0.03	0.06-0.3	Low
Boron (B)	0.01	0.2-0.6	Low

 

[Mike]

So you're just composting only the manure and straw? That's awesome! I need some cows.

What kind of test kit are you using to test this? Probably not a bad idea to get tests done before adding it into the garden.

 

[Meadowlark]

Some straw, urine, manure and a little top soil scraped up.

I use MySoil for my tests...about $30 a test, pricey but very good lab.

 

[Mike]

Some straw, urine, manure and a little top soil scraped up.

I use MySoil for my tests...about $30 a test, pricey but very good lab.

Probably worth the $30 just to find out what's going on in the soil. I wish I'd thought to do that last year. It'd be interesting to see how much difference one year of growing would make on the soil.

In any case, we're planning on starting a compost pile this weekend with some straw and some rye grass clippings. Probably will add in some raked up leaves (I'm assuming those count as brown matter?) and whatever sawdust I have in the shop floor. Hopefully it'll be done and ready to use on the fall garden.

 

[Meadowlark]

That stuff will be magic for your garden.