Cow manure is a great all-purpose fertilizer. It's low in nitrogen so it won't burn your tender plants, and has a good balance of nutrients. What's more, since a cow's four stomachs digest its food so thoroughly, very few weed seeds make it through, so you don't have to worry about them.
Cow, horse, chicken/poultry, sheep, goat, and llama manure are acceptable types of manure appropriate for use in vegetable gardens. There are differences in using raw, aged, and composted manure in a garden. Manure may be composted in a variety of means, for the home gardener, this is usually hot or cold composting.
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.
Vegetable root crops such as beets, carrots, radishes, and potatoes are particularly sensitive to adding horse manure. Salad greens are another vegetable type that can be damaged or burned by applying horse muck to the soil.
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. High concentrations of base cations like calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium are associated with increased soil alkalinity.
You can compost cow manure without equipment in six (6) months if you choose to do so. The composting period can be reduced to 20 days if you use manure composting equipment. It will take 7-10 days for an aerobic fermentation pot to complete the composting process.
So, cow dung must go through a composting process where bacteria break down the organic matter to turn it into fertilizer. As a general guideline, you can do it using three different procedures: aerobic digestion, hot composting, and vermicomposting.
Pathogens, begin to die once incorporated into garden soil, and research has shown that incorporating manure at least 120 days before harvest greatly reduces risks of food borne illness.
Don't Use Fresh Manure
If the manure is from a plant-eating animal, it is probably also full of weed seeds, which will not be inhibited from sprouting. If you still want to make use of fresh manure, don't apply it after your garden has been planted.
Cow manure is a great all-purpose fertilizer. It's low in nitrogen so it won't burn your tender plants, and has a good balance of nutrients. What's more, since a cow's four stomachs digest its food so thoroughly, very few weed seeds make it through, so you don't have to worry about them.
Cow manure has relatively less nitrogen than some other manures, so it can be added directly to the soil without damaging plants. It also adds plentiful amounts of organic matter and beneficial microorganisms. Some fresh cow manure, however, may contain harmful microorganisms, weed seed and too much salt for dry soil.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Manure that is piled and left alone will decompose slowly. This can take three to four months if conditions are ideal. It can take a year or more if the starting material contains a wide carbon:nitrogen ratio (as is the case when manure contains wood chips).
1. Raw materials for cow dung, chicken manure, and cabbage waste Figure 5 shows that the highest production of methane gas is on days 10-16, where anaerobic fermentation of bacteria occurs here or often referred to as the exponential phase.
The phosphorus and nitrogen in cow manure, after it's applied to farmland as fertilizer, can run off with rainfall into local waterways, including Lake Erie, contributing to algal blooms that turn the water green and can produce toxins harmful to drinking water.
Manure has some potential disadvantages when used as fertilizer. It can contain weed and pest seeds, rodents and other pests, and pathogens such as E. coli. It can also cause pollution if not managed properly, as the manure may flow into the surface or groundwater.
The key difference between manure and compost is that manure is typically animal dung and is a byproduct of livestock farming, whereas compost is a mixture of various components and is a collection of different waste materials. Manure and compost are important soil fertility enhancers.
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.
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.
Shred everything
Smaller materials break down faster than larger ones, and making sure everything is shredded is also a great way to create pockets of air within the pile to help aerate and speed up the composting process.