Manure has been used for centuries in agriculture to improve crop yield and quality, and add nutrients into the soil. It is one of the best ways to add organic matter and fertiliser to your garden, fields or landscape.
It is a simple by-product of farmyard animal waste, typically cow dung and urine, but other types of manure are used as fertiliser and are popular around the world depending on where you are and what you’re trying to grow.
“Sheep manure is high in nitrogen and potash, while pig manure is relatively low in both. Horses mainly eat grass and a few weeds so horse manure can contain grass and weed seeds, as horses do not digest seeds the way that cattle do. Cattle manure is a good source of nitrogen as well as organic carbon. Chicken litter, coming from a bird, is very concentrated in nitrogen and phosphate and is prized for both properties.” (Source: Wikipedia)
Manure is an excellent fertiliser containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other nutrients. It also adds organic matter to the soil which may improve soil structure, aeration, soil moisture-holding capacity, and water infiltration.
Farmyard manure can also be mixed with farm animal bedding such as straw which the cows live on during the winter months.
The liquid form of manure is known as slurry.
Manure muck spreader
For many, however, manure is often associated with the countryside, farms, cow sheds and muck spreading with visions of a tractor and trailer bouncing down a narrow country lane liberally distributing its contents over the road and your car before veering off into a muddy field.
The rather pungent smell emanating from the trailer is a hearty welcome to the countryside!
Muck spreading however is largely the preserve of farms and done on a scale covering acres and acres of land in preparation for growing crops.
For the avid and average gardener and landscaper though farmyard manure is sold in bags or delivered loose with a degree of nurturing between the mucking out of the sheds and its application to your garden.
Rotating cow manure
While the components of farmyard manure are simple (it’s cow waste) the process of making it into a saleable product is one of time and labour.
Our matured farmyard manure, for example, is a mixture of manure and straw bedding. Cows are brought into the sheds during the winter months where they defecate onto straw bedding. More straw is added, collected at the end of the season and left to breakdown over a period of 12-14 weeks.
To produce our matured farmyard manure the piles of dung and straw are regularly turned which, in turn, aerates the compound, increases the temperature and kills off weed seed – often associated with regular farmyard manure.
Unlike fresher manure spread on the fields, matured farmyard manure doesn’t smell. This is due to the process of turning which breaks down the compound matter.
How Do You Use Farmyard Manure in the Garden?
Bagged or loose, matured farmyard manure can be applied directly onto flower beds or vegetable gardens. How much you need entirely depends on what it is you’re wanting to achieve be that improving large vegetable patches or smaller flower beds.
A point of note: when we talk about buying loose manure we’re not talking about the sloppy, slurry variety (visions of a muck spreader rolling up at your front door!). Where you purchase it and in what quantity will determine its packaging and delivery: bagged or loose.
Manure is alkaline, not acidic, with a pH value of around eight to nine but this depends on what the cattle are eating which is why it’s important to test the manure after it’s broken down. This in turn will determine which flowers and vegetables to apply it to.
For example, azaleas need a more acidic compound to thrive, and you’d apply less manure to carrots which tend to fork when bedded with lots of muck. Potatoes on the other hand thrive in manure.
What Are the Advantages of Farmyard Manure?
Farmyard manure is a natural source of organic matter and nutrients that helps improve the yield and quality of gardens and crops.
The key ingredient is nitrogen, but its structural properties also enable it to be used for mulching to protect against harsher weather, as a moisture retainer, and provide drainage due to its larger, cloddier form. As microbial activity breaks it down its natural ingredients are released into the soil.
Being organic it has no added chemicals which for the discerning horticulturalist is important.
The result is that it enriches soils and improves soil fertility.
One of the (few) problems with farmyard manure is that it is cloddy – it sticks together in large lumps – making it more difficult to dig into the ground and break up the soil.
Another downside may be its aesthetics: its cloddy appearance may not be as appealing for some gardeners – but that’s personal taste.
If aesthetics are important or a finer structure is required our manure can be combined with other products that enhance soil quality, notably our JPR Gold soil conditioner, and Border Mix to top up existing beds and borders.
However, if working in a light and sandy soil matured farmyard manure can add structure and substance.
When Would You Apply Farmyard Manure?
Farmyard manure is typically applied in spring and autumn as it takes time to breakdown and release its nutrients while at the same time providing a layer of protection in cold and wet weather.
