In article , Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

The message
from (LouiseW) contains these words:

Steer manure has more salt (the animals get salt licks to encourage
them to drink to bring their weight up)

The licks given to cattle are mineral salts such as magnesium, an
essential part of herbivore diet, nothing to do with making them drink
more. Mineral salts and liquid intake are processed by the kidneys to
the bladder and eliminated in urine. Even by dairy cows.

Louise erred only in her statement as to the source of the greater number
of sundry mineral salts in feedlot-steer manure. The salts come from the
bottom-of-the-barrel garbagy fattening feeds given to steers to maximize
their weight before slaughter (for the same reason that farm-raised fish
have more mercury than wild -- its from the unfit-for-consumption feeds
made from all sorts of garbage). Dairy cows aren't forcefed the same kinds
of low-grade feeds so don't get the sundry pollutants in their turds. The
usual gardening assessment, however, is that the higher percentage of
salts in composted steer manure is still such a small percentage that it
wouldn't hurt even salt-sensitive plants, plus it washes through the soil
after a couple of hard rains.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com