Poop!!

[rccoyote]

From reading the postings in tractorbynet for the last 6 months leading up to the purchase of my tractor I've noticed that the members know a little bit about a lot of things. So ,my question is about pig poop. I was talking to the ag teacher at the kids school today and we got to talking about gardens. I mentioned that we were preping our garden over the winter months and I could use all the organic matter I could get to condition the soil. He then offered to me a mountain of pig poop from the ag barn. It has been accumulating over a 15 year period. there must be 50 tons of the stuff.(no exageration) It sits in a feild across from the ag barn and has saw dust mixed in with it (very fine stuff). I dug out about 3 tons of the stuff today with my "new" tractor and FEL. I hardly dented the pile. My question is...Is this good fertilizer for a garden?? The center of the pile that i dug into was extremely composted, almost like a sludge with an amazingly stout humus aroma. Tilled into the garden all winter with a dose before spring planting are my thoughts. What are ya'lls thoughts on this? Also scince there is so much of this stuff i thought i might spread a thin layer over my front lawn this winter and let it work in for planting some bermuda next year(north central texas here). My front "lawn" is almost an acre. Advice please! rccoyote

 

[Buck]

You can buy manure spreaders as attachements. That ought to tell you something.

Too bad they don't let you spread the septic sludge anymore!

 

[DUMBDOG]

Fifteen year old fertilizer, the best. The fresh stuff is not nearly as good, the old stuff which has had a chance to break down is very good for growing plants.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

PigPoop, or PP, in addition to being good fertilizer, is an excellent medium for dealing with oil spills on the ground.
You till in wood chips to keep the soil loose, and add PP, the miracle ingredient, and in 3 to 6 months there will be no trace of oil.
The 2 biggest problems with PP are handling difficulty and odor. Liquid manure spreading operators hate running PP.
You also want to monitor how much PP you use as it is a rich fertilizer.

 

[karmakanic]

The only this I know about that is the fact that the richest ground we have is where the pig pen used to be back when the place was a real farm.

Dave

 

[Egon]

Get as much as can. As you said the center of the pile will be the best. Any extra dilute with sand, bag and sell as fertilizer.

Egon

 

[Boondox]

Just be sure you stick with the well composted stuff. Fresh PP is loaded with pathogens that can effect us as well.

Pete

 

[dlabrie]

The best garden I have ever had was over an old pig pen. Wish I could get some more.

 

[budman72]

I have a book titled "Self Sufficiency on 5 Acres" that I bought at a thrift store, the author claims the best way to prepare a garden is to fence an area and put pigs in it. Add any table scraps and in 3 months you will have the best garden soil available. Seems the pigs will not only turn the table scraps into fertilizer, they will find any bugs, seeds or roots in the soil, but turn the soil over for you as well.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Buck, you brought it up.

http://www.weblife.org/humanure/default.html

 

[rccoyote]

Yes Buck, I realize why they make manure spreaders. Thats a #2 shovel you are refering too correct? My question was about pp specificaly. I have never dealt with it and wasn't sure about it's use for growing human consumables. I seem to recall something mentioned way back in my younger days when i had a memory about pp having some kind of toxins or extra high urea content or something to that efect. Boondox mentioned something about pathogens which i am going to investigate further. All in all it sounds like really good fertilizer as long as i stick with the well composted stuff, which all of this is. Think i'll go and grab another 5 tons or so this morning. Thanks for the feed back guys! rccoyote

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

rccoyote, I have raised hogs on and off for the last 30 years, never have I used hog manure on the vegetable garden. A vet told me not to so I didn't. I would also take a long hard look at lawn application if you have a well. He told me why, but I can't remember what I did yesterday more or less what he said thirty years ago.