Posted this question on Agtalk, figured I'd do it here as well. We picked up a job this week, hauling stockpiled beef cow manure with the sidedump. Forty mile round trip, the guys were looking for about 40 loads, but there is at least 60 or more available. The stuff is free, guy that has it just wants it gone. Anyone know a ballpark figure on what the stuff is worth spread on a field? Just looking for a nice, round average, it hasn't been tested and will not be. Trying to figure out if it's worth it to peddle it all, or if $6 per ton to haul makes it cost prohibitive.
This is the best I could find: https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/AY/AY-277.html They say the value is in the P and K, not the nitrogen. Basically around 10-20 pounds each of N P205 K20, so pretty marginal for hauling it 40 miles, then reloading and spreading. Unless you find an organic producer who has to pay more for his NPK. Sorry, didn't mean to shout.
Well, that is pretty promising. At $600 per ton for 11-52 (phosphate) fertilizer, the cost per pound of the phosphate is about $0.60. At 10 lbs per ton, a 25 ton load *should* have at least $150 worth of phosphate alone, and he is getting a load to the field for $140. Plus, he's also getting the K, which is worth more than the phosphate.
And I honestly thought this was going to be a political discussion
Sometimes I wish HEF had a political topic like Agtalk does. If you want to post in it, you have to list your full name, or they'll boot you. Good and bad I guess. No, this thread is completely about manure, the real stuff. Nice job to pick up this time of year, can't do anything else. Had to quit at 3 today, however, because Mother Nature has her seasons confused. We were 45° today, and there was 2" of loons*** in the corral and out in the field I was trying to dump in.
And depending on the soil type the organic matter is a big boost too. One of my customers has a large farming operation tied in with a local 1000 cow dairy, they pump liquid from the lagoons through their irrigation system and haul off the solid stuff to spread on open fields all winter. The Dairy paid for the pumping system to get rid of the liquid. The farm has not bought a lick of fertilizer since this was all tied in back in 2009. This is all in sand country and the soil is loving it. Unfortunately, when the poo trucks break, they are in my shop. The smell makes for fast repairs.
Another bonus for manure is that it supposedly lasts longer than commercial fertilizers.as in keeps test numbers high longer.guys around here say it’s evident on the yield maps around old farmsteads and it’s probably been 30 years since it had manure on it.and like RZ said organic matter is huge!
FWIW Earlier this fall I loaded and hauled some cattle manure for a guy. We loaded it on tandem dump trucks and stock piled it in a field. IIRC it was @ 8 mile round trip. Using an estimated 15 ton per load it cost him @$4/ ton to have it loaded and hauled. Still needed to be spread. I will just throw this out there. I was told by a guy that it takes a year for cattle manure to release the nitrogen into the soil after it has been spread. I consider him to be pretty competent on the subject but by no means an expert. So that might be something a person might want to consider and look into further.
These guys are getting it for about $6/ton. From the research I've done, there is hardly any nitrogen value in this stuff (it's been piled and composting for over 5 years), the real value is the organic matter with a little P and K thrown in. This is marginal ground they want it for (hilltops and some saline spots), but if they can substantially increase the production on these smaller parcels, it will be a positive deal. Just a 30% increase will pay off in 3 years.
Talked with the guy I know today, He figures they spend 3-4$ a ton direct spreading with ten wheelers within a 6-8 mile radius hauling solid material. when they get further out they haul and stockpile and reload the spreaders in the field. the extra handling probably comes close to doubling the cost. Their material is Dairy waste which is a bit hotter in nitrogen than beef lot manure is.
I always thought old manure was in high demand and people paid good money for it, way more than $6/ton. If you have somewhere to stock pile it you could probably sell it for about what topsoil is worth.
Piled and composted for 5 years can mean a whole lot of different things as far as the manure is concerned. I'd think it would be worth it to send in a test. If it has composted, then the weight will have been reduced, concentrating the nonvolatile P and K, and even the N might have been stabilized so that even if the percentage is lower by weight than the fresh manure, the available N for next growing season might equal a higher N in fresh manure. Fresh manure spread in the winter will lose N before summer more than composted. People sure will pay good money for it, just depends on where you can find them.
The guys are paying us $6/ton to haul it, the rancher that has it is giving it away, nobody close to him wants it. Kind of hard to believe, but whatever.
I've been finding conflicting answers on how much N, P, and K might be in it. Since the ranchers only feed grass hay and no grain or silage, common info says the nutriet value is going to be pretty low. Some say there will be almost no N in it. The guys that are getting it aren't at all concerned about the nitrogen, they are using it almost strictly for the organic matter and they say there are many micronutrients you can't buy with commercial fertilizer.
I think people want it for their gardens.
A few years ago I pushed a old cattle feeding ground that was 3 ft. deep in old manure into a huge pile for my brother. Before I could haul any home for my own garden a local gravel contractor bought the hole pile. It was rotted to a rich black consistency. The trucker whom is a neighbor sold it for near twice the going price of black dirt in ten yard loads. It all went that same spring. Nope, I never got paid for my work, or got my share.
Sounds just like family.
An ole English saying, "where there's muck there's money".
Thought about this thread when I heard the story on the AM radio station . https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-manure-quota-01162019142901.html
Man we buy it to mix into topsoil around here...our soil is so bad around here we have to use manure to make it work....try a big landscaper.....we prefer sheep... But old beef works great too
Like rondig we added it to topsoil to produce a better product. We would mix it with a 980 in some alchemy invented by our boss. We had lots of sand, native topsoil, subsoil and what manure we could score. Blend vigorously on a blending deck and toss it in a McCloskey 621. Sometimes we couldn't make it fast enough. However there are probably 5 million people people within an hours drive of where the pit and plant were. About 3 million of them were rabid gardeners or landscaping companies doing developments Even at that though we didn't purchase much. It was usually a farmer looking for a close dump. It was very popular and our landscaping guy's were long term customers. We would have been purchasing it for blend had the situation been different.
I used to work on one of those "Scarab" mixers for a local compost outfit. they used mostly Mint waste and piled manure and wood waste onto the windrows with loaders then mixed it with the scarab. It came out nice and black, with a good smell, not minty at all.
Manure is sometimes hard to give away. A bad day is when your tank is sucked flat. Thankfully many people let you know you are number one every day.
I think that tank has seen a little too much Vacuum . Is that a shank trailer behind it? A guy up here has a 4 wheel machine with shanks to inject liquid for a couple of dairies.
Yes but we call them a plow. It had a vacuum relief on it. Sometimes they stick. These tanks also get weak on the top. This one may have had a baffle broken in it. They are also supports. Being a 2505 with a Cat it is probably around 18 years old.
Got one of the local spreader trucks in the shop for a rebuild on the bed, new shaft and sprockets for the drag chains, new front idlers, and new drag chains.
Manure value? That depends on how big of a piece of **** it is.---That floor is too nice RZ, you need some cracks in it so your creeper gets stuck.
It does have some creeper trap joints, You make darn sure how you park a transmission jack project.
Now this is a spreader. Had it in last year with a broken bracket on the suspension cross shaft. 45,000 lb capacity I think.
Are those bail strings?? Those eastside cows must have a serious constitution!
Yep baling twine, I don't think it's in the feed but it seems to be everywhere around these dairies. Really does a number on shaft seals.
they play hell with a zero turn mower too
I had a Bush Hog mower come in about two years back with a bad main gearbox. It was one of the big fold up jobbies, Dropped the pan that holds the blades and found about 200 lbs of baling twine up inside there. Nice mess, of course it got the seal and lost all the oil in the box.
If the manure comes with "grubs" its value may be diminished.
The feedlots around here pile and spread all the time. Pig barns either use an irrigation or they pump to a tractor and injector and plow it in. Another big thing around here is turkey litter. They haul it in from southern Missouri for corn ground. The microbes and nitrogen are suppose to be great in it.
local contractor has a fleet of these, emptying dairy effluent ponds tractors and tankers have got bigger since photo was taken
HeavyEquipmentForums Many hidden values too-like standing in line at grocery store check stand and there is some stuck to the bottom and sides of your shoe--you will find it will be a quick check out.
LoL don't count on a stinky boot for a quick exit. There's a lot of the country with human-----manure in the parking lots and sidewalks. Pack bedding is sweet compared to junkie. My own experience has been job offers. If you're an unknown person sporting the right look, the BTO starts with offering a job. Then they offer to buy you out.