"Tim Miller" wrote in message
newsan.2003.04.01.01.59.16.377742.2017@noamspay. indspringmay.com...
On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 07:02:49 -0500, Gordon Couger wrote:


"Tim Miller" wrote in message
newsan.2003.03.31.03.56.31.255202.1615@noamspay. indspringmay.com...
On Sat, 22 Mar 2003 04:41:37 -0500, Gordon Couger wrote:


"Gilgamesh" wrote in message
...
"Archimedes Plutonium" wrote in message
...
Sun, 16 Mar 2003 19:27:57 GMT Charles wrote:



http://plenty.150m.com/My_Links_Page..._manure01.html _


Thanks for the excellent site of comparison of rabbit manure to
other manure. Rabbit manure is unusually high in nitrogen.

Can someone tell me in chemistry if the animal body does something
with nitrogen that the plant body cannot do to nitrogen?

SNIP
Yes.
It degrades the protein, which contains nitrogen. The protein is
originally created by plants. You have this entirely the wrong way
round, I'm afraid.

Bacteria do quite well at creating protien. I can feed a cow urea for
a major part of her protien requirement and if there are enough
carbohydrates available the bacteria in the rumen will convert it to
protien the cow can use quite well.

With corn so cheap it less expensive to burn it for heating to heat a
house than anything but natural gas it makes good sense to winter
cows on pasture on corn, urea, low grade hay instead of good hay and
oil seed meal that is costs a small fortune. The cows do just as
well. You have to make sure and have enough trough space that they
all get to eat and you have to feed them every day or may have
problems but after the bacteria get through with it the cow likes it
fine.

What with natural gas prices going up, corn will be more expensive to
produce. This is especially true for crops that need anhydrous ammonia,
since I suppose it's hard to import. Do you have in guesstimates on how
much U.S. farmer's production costs will increase this year?

It's not too hard to import I think it is 200 miles form one plant and
140 from another plant. You forget we sit on a rather large natural gas
feild.

By import I mean from foreign countries that still have low natural gas
prices. Dry chemicals like urea are lot easier to ship.

If I am buying corn I don't give a damn the price of NH3 only the price
of corn counts. The price of NH3 matters to the guy that grew the corn
but that is not today's problem. It will effect the price of Urea making
it cost about
380 USD per short ton but for no more than cattle need it doesn't mater.

You confuses the cost of production wiht the market value of the
product. If I could be guaranteed getting back all the money it cost to
rasie a crop I would be a rich man. I would never loose money and make
some on good years.

Unless you are like me and grow corn as a hobby prices in the long run
can't stay below the cost of production minus subsidies. I think you will
agree that farmers have bills to pay.

You again show that you lack the basic underrating of farm economics.

BTW, in another thread Uncle Al suggest that it might be better to burn
the ammonia and sell the resulting nitric acid thant to use it to grow
corn to burn in a stove.

It was me that suggested burring the NH3. Themodynicly it is possible but
the practical problems are probably insurmountable. Making an engineering
that can withstand nitric acid as a exhaust product is probably not
possible.

If I grow corn I am concerned about the cost of production. If I buy corn I
only care about the price. I may feel a little sorry for the guy loosing
money at those prices but I am not going to pay him more than the going
price for it.

The same is true if I am growing it. If burning it saves me the equivalent
of 40 or 50 cents a gallon over heating with propane instead of selling it
burning it makes sense. Ag markets don't consider the cost of production
that's the farmers problem. My wife and her siblings just spent a
considerable amount of money putting in drip irrigation that will hopefully
lower the cost of production for the farmer and increase the total income
for them. I am considering doing something on a smaller scale in Oklahoma.

Gordon