Merla went looking for some cow manure on a BD farm to make her Horn Manure and her CPP.
Some practical advice came back to use what you got, locally, even though it ain't exactly organic. Generally speaking I go along with practical advice like that. Get the engine running, the adjust the carburetor. Yet, the tale of the four cow pies comes to mind. All of these farms I have walked on in the last year, so my observations are fresh in my mind, and it is something I'm reflecting on. Ozark Farm #1: Rotational grazing; integrated with turkey manure and composting. I can go into long details about all the conservation practices and subsequent healthy indicators coming back to this farm. The farm is not organic but it is certainly a model of a sustainable grass-based livestock farm. The bottomline is the cow pie. These animals are healthy cows with healthy cow pies. The cow dung is quickly invaded by teeming hordes of insect life, especially dung beetles. Within a few hours it looks like an apartment dwelling with tunnels and honeycombs. Within a few days is has flattened to the earth. Nutrient cycling thus accomplished; organic matter returned to the earth. A living energy exchange has taken place. Ozark Farm #2: The farm has cows, yet it is a run down farm because they use continuous grazing and they medicate the cows heavily and use systemic insecticides to worm the cows. The forages are low grade and over run with weeds. When the cow pie hits the ground it just sits there. Weeks later it is still there in the same shape. The only insects visible are flies, indicators of a putrefactive microbial turn of events. There is no life in this cow dung, it is a rotting corpse of undigested organic matter. India Farm #3: The typical Indian peasant farm is integrated, working 1-3 acres of subsistance foods and cash crops with a bullock to raise a few extra rupees. The family lives close to their animals. They keep a cow for milk and yogurt, a few baby animals lounge about, and a bullock or two is there to work the fields. The woman gathers leaves and grass for bedding, and hay for fodder. The farmyard manure (FYM) is used to spread on fields, or used in a compost pile or to make vermicompost. The animals are healthy and contented. They exude a peaceful calm. It is against the law to kill a cow in India. The cows are naturally healthy and free of antibiotics and insecticides. The dung is free of contaminants, it is strong in quality and life force. The dung is used for soil fertility, for fuel cakes, and to smear on walls as an insulation, among other uses, including BD compost and CPP. India Farm #4: The farm uses water buffalo, so the dung is buffalo dung. A group of Indian farmers are visiting, sitting around drinking tea and discussing the merits of biodynamic farming. A question arises as to any differences in quality and power of CPP, cow pit pat, between cow dung and buffalo dung. The answer comes back from the more experienced biodynamic farmers that buffalo dung has 40% power. So I am reflecting on these observations and the quality of cow dung. I remember seeing those dead cow pies on an adjacent pasture, and then I think why not drive my pickup truck to a farm a little further away to gather cow manure of better quality. Steve Diver P.S. My colleagues at ATTRA put these two items together on nutrient cycling and dung beetles, of interest perhaps to some readers. The dung beetle pub is especially fun to read and think about. Dung Beetle Benefits in the Pasture Ecosystem http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/dungbeetle.html http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/PDF/dungbeetle.pdf Nutrient Cycling in Pastures http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/nutcycle.html http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/PDF/nutrientcycling.PDF
