cow manure

[Peter Warne]

At the moment we have about 30 cows which a neighbour has left on a part of our land needing the grass cut. Needless to say, while they're there we have an endless supply of cow manure. Only problem is, they're not organically raised cows. I'm wondering if anyone knows just how bad (if at all) the manure from non-organic cows is. We do all our veges and fruit trees strictly organically, ditto the chooks. Would it be a serious deviation to use non-organic cow poo?

Can anyone help?

Peter

[Chook Nut]

Hi Peter,

I would say no it wouldnt be too bad to use. Farmers only treat their cows when they have to.... and you should find they will be happy to tell you what they used and when they used it! I have seen some products they use and some have been almost totally organic in their compositions.

If your still concerned just use it on your fruit trees instead of the vegie patch.... Your chooks would also be only too happy to glean any seeds left behind and have the bonus of breaking it 'patties' down for you making it easier to spread.

If your still concerned and your thinking about improving your pastures... i saw on a show the other day where a farmer went round putting clover seeds inside the 'patties' in the paddock... the patties acted as a weed barrier to ensure the only the clover would come up in that area and the pattie supplied a source of fertiliser for the clover...

Cheers... Dave