ANIMAL MANURE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 27 January 1939, Page 8

ANIMAL MANURE

OF GREATEST VALUE DAILY PRODUCTION ON TIIE FARM 'j FERTILISER COMPARISONS * i About four-fifths of the food conL sumed by farm animals is excreted, e | and the fertilising value of this is * | enormously increased over that of j the green food constituents as conti' If properly conserved animal manure - ! is equal in fertilising value, pound foi t ] pound, to the most expensive combi- < ’ nation of chemical fertilisers, and has s i the added advantage that besides pro* . J viding plant nutrients it is an excollenl r medium for the production of humus -1 the organic water-conserving colloid \ of soil. r I The daily production of dung pel | 0001 b of live weight of dairy farm -' animals is approximately:—Cow. 521 b: horse. 401 b: pig, 501 b. This means that ?! on a dairy farm running, say. 35 cows s) lour horses and four sows, there would - be a weekly production of six tons, -j Assuming that one-third of this was - , collected from milking shed yard, pig- - j sties and stables, and conserved in a ? j sheltered pit or tank, it would rep res j sent 100 tons of first-class fertiliser j each year, independent of the waste green stuff which might be combined r with it in the compost heap. If spread over the surface and ploughed in. this would be sufficient for nl I least 20 acres of cultivated crop.