Composted manure from a variety of livestock animals makes excellent manure for fertilizer.
With renewed interest in organic fertilizers, many gardeners are considering the benefits of manure. Regardless of its source, Fine Gardening expert Brian Aldrich recommends using composted versus fresh manure, which can be malodorous, attract flies, burn young plants, and potentially contain disease pathogens. Livestock manure makes excellent fertilizer, but because of nutrient variability, have a soil sample analyzed annually.
Dairy
Manure from dairy livestock is an excellent fertilizer, providing required nutrients for most garden plants. To use dairy manure most effectively, gardeners must handle manure properly, have manure and soils tested regularly for nutrient analysis and apply manure just before planting, advises North Carolina State University. Proper timing for applying dairy manure maximizes the amount of nitrogen available to young plants and minimizes the leaching of nitrate into groundwater. Organic fertilizer is slow-release, which means that dairy manure continues to release nutrients into soil years after its application.
Poultry
Poultry manure is a valuable source of plant nutrients gleaned from cage litter and bedding material, such as wood shavings and peanut hulls, and may contain feathers and uneaten feed, according to the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Like other manures, nutrient composition can vary; therefore, always get a warranted analysis before applying. Composting poultry manure is particularly important because of its high nitrogen content, which can kill plants if used fresh.
Rabbit
Others consider rabbit manure the best fertilizer for gardeners. Bob Bennet of the National Gardening Association reports rabbit manure contains four times more nutrients than cow or horse manure and twice that of poultry manure. Its natural pelleted form is extremely convenient for users, compared with other livestock manures. In addition, unlike the other livestock manures, you can use rabbit manure fresh without the danger of burning plants. Rabbit manure used fresh provides about 2 percent nitrogen, 1 percent phosphorus and 1 percent potassium.
Other Manures
Although used less frequently for fertilizer, gardening experts recommend goat manure, and bat and bird guano. Like rabbits, goats also produce pellets, which many gardeners find easier to use than other livestock manures. Goat manure has little odor and attracts fewer insects than other livestock manure, advises Nikki Phipps for Garden Know How.
Growers have used guano, which is dried excrement from bats and seabirds, as a fertilizer for hundreds of years. However, its nutrient content can vary extensively because of the diet inconsistencies of birds and bats. Guano may contain Histoplasm capsulatum, which causes histoplasmosis, a potentially serious disease in humans, cautions the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. The Service also advises against using manure as fertilizer from cats, dogs and pigs, which share common parasites with humans.
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