In article ,
"Compostman" wrote:

I don't understand why the emphasis on steer manure. I live in a city and
there aren't any steers for miles. (And what's so special about manute from
castrated mall cattle?) How about elephant manure. The zoo here gives it
away. Shoud I insist on manture from castrated elephants? And I don't have
a rototiller. What should I do? This is one of those times when I wish I
had a television, so I could just watch that instead of having to deal with
the complications of trying to improve my soil. Here I've been adding
Starbucks coffee grounds to the top of my soil (no rototiller) and things
seem to be doing pretty well. Now I discover that without manure from
castrated cattle, I'm a failure.

Zoo Doo is fine. Most zoos don't give it away; they sell it to raise money
for the zoo. It's a good thing to buy, you help the garden & the zoo
simultaneously.

Rototiller can be rented cheaply, but if you've got a strong back, all ya
need's a shovel.

As for steer vs dairy manure composts:
1) Fully composted Dairy manure has one-third to one-half the amount of
nitrogen as does fully composted steer manure. 2) Fully composted dairy
manure has less than half the phosphorus of fully composted steer manure.
3) Steer manure also has slightly more potassium than dairy.

So the steer manure is measurably better, though either dairy or steer
manure will do the job well enough.

Composted chicken manure is better still, with twice the nitrogen of steer
manure compost & four times the nitrogen of dairy manure compost.

-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"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/