Filed under: April 2014 | Tags: buffer zone, Compost, environmental stewardship, manure, school kids, young people
Compost all spread on our 2014 corn field
April 29, 2014
I spent last weekend, before the current rainy weather, spreading all of our manure. The manure has been piled and rotting since last fall. I don’t like to spread raw manure. I feel that I lose too much when doing that. The manure, composted or even partially composted, is much better for the soil and the soon to be growing plants. The nutrients are more readily available to the plants after it has been composted.
I use a lot of straw and bedding material. This carbon material, ties up the ammonia in the manure. That ammonia smell, is the nitrogen escaping from that manure. Once it is stabilized by the straw and bedding, the nitrogen is tied up. The plants can use it. It also makes spreading manure a good job, the smell is much less and almost earthy…rather than unbearable š®
I also leave room at the end of the field for a grassy strip to absorb any runoff that might escape the field. I believe that environmental stewardship is the responsibility of every farmer or landowner. I try to practice what I preach and farm by example. I got to share my experiences and my efforts with some kids today from our local technical school. It was a great day!
The kids and I walked our woodland and the buffer zones around our farm. The rain had been falling much of the morning, so it was a perfect day to show my successes and even a failure or two. I am not perfect, but I keep trying… I wanted to impart that philosophy with the young people. All it takes is “try” with a little “umph” to triumph in everything you do…. I know they left here thinking positive thoughts… because not one kid said, “oh poop” to anything that I said š®
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