"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
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?

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.

And I've used it fresh and steaming straight from the horse's bum.

It really is just all about 'where' you use it. If it's still steaming, ya
don't put it on seedlings, but a fully grown bush doesn't care two hoots
about how fresh it is as long as the steaming poop isn't laid on 6 inches
deep and right up to the trunk of the bush.

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.

I read something about the difference between cow and bull poop once.
Apparently cow poop is 'richer' (for want of a better description) than bull
poop because of the differing physiology of the animals. Cows can pee right
onto their plop, whereas bulls/steers can't. Made sense to me having
watched then doing their business quite often - only trouble is, I can't
recall now what ingredient it was in the cow poop that made it 'richer' but
it would make sense if it was more ammonia maybe. and how do people
likeyou and I segregate our poops. Do I go round asking the bulls/steers to
put tags on their poops or to only poop in a particular spot?

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.

I'm with you. Put the nutrients where they should be and don't waste them
in a pile becoming 'well rotted manure' (a ridiculous phrase that).