gardengal wrote:
On Mar 2, 6:06 pm, "SteveB" wrote:
I live in the middle of pasture land. Lots of free cow patties. My
wife seems to think that this would make good fertilizer, or at
least good mulch if tilled in.

Other than using fresh dung for the production of food, are there any
downsides to using manure? I believe I once read that stall manure
had high levels of urea, and would not be good to put on plants.
This is pasture manure, so it would not have as high urine level as
stall manure.

Yeah, I know I can go buy fertilizer, too. But I can also take the
money I save and go fishing a few times.

Tips and caveats on manure use? Good/bad for flowers or areas where
I am going to put lawn?

Thanks.

Steve

All ruminant animal manures are very good organic sources of plant
nutrients. But with very few exceptions, they should never be used
fresh. They need to be aged at least 6 months or preferrably, properly
composted.

I think this is going too far, I use horse after a week or two with no ill
effects, it isn't really very strong.

This will allow the high concentrations of ammonium (urine)

I am not trying to be cantankerous but there isn't any urine in ruminant
manure. They do it separately unlike birds. There may be urine in straw
that has been used as bedding but that is another matter.

to volatize and dissipate and reduce most weed and pathogen issues.

There is not much volatile material in ruminant manure and why waste it? To
get rid of weed seeds you would need to compost it or turn it so that the
seeds are killed by heat or germinate and die in the heap.

David