[compost_tea] Re: Re: Aged manure?

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 10:49:16 -0700
> Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:11:01 -0400
> From: soilfoodweb_at_aol.com
> Subject: Re: Aged manure?
>
> But Kirk, what is aged manure?  It has been composted, so is it really
manure? <
Well, I was actually thinking - and believe I have seen a lot of this
stuff - that aged, or "rotted" manure - manure that has not been maintained
as compost, with temp, moisture and turning attention...  Passive heaps that
have been left to drain, de-gas and dry, maybe turned to make sure vermin
aren't making homes there or to deal with stink.  Left to sit and then put
into fields when there's time to do it - no maturation considerations but a
lot of people work on cycles which probably make it "mature" in compost
terms. And while it naturally composts to some extent, I don't think of it
as compost.  Good stuff yes, but not compost.  And NOP will not allow it to
be used as compost.

Now cow pies are a different matter.  Every cow I ever met pooped in a plop
and if they were loose there were plops pretty well distributed, definitely
not heaped.  They dry out - one of the functions of age, I hear, so I call
that aged manure.  Anyway, no way a 3 pound plop of poop is going to compost
on its own...

> Raw manure must be composted. <
I agree but don't think that's realistic yet.  Please don't take that to
mean I support NOP's "processed manure materials" though - I don't - where's
the science and experience behind that stuff?

> So, maybe the way to look at the NOP and USDA rules is to only call
something manure if it is fresh out of  the animal. <
That's what they seem to have in mind, but they cast it across manures that
are definitely not raw - even going so far as to call compost tea raw manure
today!

Another big pinch for me here is that while you can use raw or aged or
rotted manures 90-120 days out from harvest, what if you can't get in the
field in time?  If you're an organic operator, that's a big deal.

Manure that has been allowed to "age" is not raw manure.  If "heaped" but
not composted material is all plant material, there are no restrictions on
its use - though it is highly likely to contain the same pathogens NOP is so
worried about in manure.  Warped, not real, not sound or sensible.  Thus my
vent.  Hopefully will end head-banging on wall...

There's been a bunch of debate about this in the past, I'm sure, didn't
intend to spark one.  Don't think it's anything winnable at NOP anytime
soon.

> If it has aged, call it organic matter from a mixture of sources.
Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, microarthropods, worms....that's a
pretty good mix of organic matter...[snip] ...Anything with the word manure
in it is going to make the USDA go ballistic.  But when good aerobic
organisms have their way with manure, it isn't manure anymore. <
I agree.  My point precisely.  Yummy stuff for soil - anytime.

And Jimmy - I've never been around dung beetles but their covering it as you
suggest suggests to me a natural form of preserving/processing it - maybe
even making it edible or habitable?  And how do they cover it without
touching it?:)

Kirk





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Received on Sun Jun 06 2004 - 15:21:28 EDT

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