Spreading Fertilizer to Grow Healthy, Green Grass for the Cows

Today, I wanted to talk about broadcasting fertilizer, or more specifically, spreading manure.

Whoa.  No, not that kind.  Animal manure.  This is not a political blog.  We like to talk about agriculture and family values.

I've captured below, for your viewing pleasure, a freshly laid, cow patty that is about as perfect as you can imagine that has just plopped from about a four foot height straight from Daisy's bottom.  This nice steaming pile consists of digested grass and water, a by product or waste from the cow's digestive system.  I want to show the cycle that occurs and also highlight the symbiotic relationship that is working out here on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

If you focus your eye on the center of the pie and work your eye upwards to the one o'clock position, you will see not one, but two flies.  This is important and I'll explain more about that in a minute after you gaze into this masterpiece for a while.

Cow Patty

Flies are attracted to poop, there's no denying that, but so are chickens, and that is a good thing for the grass in the pasture, the chickens and ultimately the cows.  Here's how the cycle works:  The cow eats the grass and poops.  The flies will lay their eggs in the cow patty and hatch out large, juicy maggots.  It just so happens that those are appetizing to chickens.  The chickens will use their legs to scatter out the poop, hunting for tasty morsels to dine on in the cow poop.  You can see that one of the hens and Daisy are eating together, side by side.

Working together - Teamwork

Actually we have a number of chickens that work in the sanitation crew, spreading the cow manure all throughout the pasture.  In a feedlot, you won't see grass growing.  The poop is piled so thick that it stinks and the nitrogen content is too "hot" to allow any grass to grow.  I don't have the time or stamina to spread all the poop, but the chickens have a vested interest in doing so.

Scattered cow poop, coupled with the sunshine and rain, provides a great growing environment for healthy pasture grass.  The cows will eat that grass and convert the energy into delicious milk for our family to enjoy. The hens convert the foraging from the poop, bugs & worms in the pasture to fresh eggs for us and our customers to consume.  Finally the scattered poop grows more grass, keeping the wonderful cycle going 365 days a year!

Remember that pretty cow patty we viewed above?  Well this is all that remains of it once the chickens have scattered it out.  Rains will further erode this into the soil.

Spreading it all out

It doesn't take long at all for the cow patty to be completely gone and out of sight... They've broadcast the manure into a wide circle that dilutes the effect of the round brown mound that's fallen down.

But the effects of the cow patty remain.  Look in the photo below and you'll see that the old adage, "the grass always grows greener over the septic tank" applies to the cow patty as well.  Look how lush and dark green the grass is over the spot where a cow patty once rested.

The Grass Always Grows Greener over the Cow Patty

You'd think that the cows would go and gobble that lush grass up, but just like you and me - they don't like to eat food from the bathroom.  The Good Lord has given them instincts to not eat near the bacteria and parasites that accompanies poop.  You'll notice that they eat around the dark green growth, but never directly over it. Next year the ground will still retain some of the fertilization from the poop that has bettered the soil.  By that time, things will have "cooled down" where the cows will be able to eat the green grass that will grow there.

The Circle of Life!