Relative Values
Categories:
STABLE MANURE
The plant-food content of manure is determined
chiefly by the feed. The animals add nothing: they subtract. The kind
of animals consuming the feed does not affect materially the value of
the manure made from it, if the animals are mature and not giving milk.
The manures from the various kinds of animals differ in value per ton
because the feeds differ in character and the manure varies in
percentage of water. On an ave
age, however, the total annual product
of manure from farm animals, per 1000 pounds of live weight, does not
vary widely in value. The rich protein feeds given the cow, and the
heavy feeding, more than make amends for the fertility that goes into
the milk, and her annual product, per 1000 pounds of live weight, may
exceed in value that of the horse by 25 per cent. This is likewise true
of the pig, figured on the 1000-pound basis, while in the case of the
sheep the value, per 1000 pounds of live weight, is near that of the
horse.
These variations are not wide enough to have great importance to the
livestock farmer. The manure represents to him four fifths of all the
fertility that was contained by the feed he gave the various animals.
They added no plant-food, and they took away only a fraction that was
not large. They converted the crops into a form of plant-food that
either is available or can become so quickly enough, and in addition to
the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash that would have a high
valuation in a commercial fertilizer, there is a body of organic matter
that affects the physical condition of the soil favorably. The manure
also promotes the multiplication of friendly soil bacteria. Its
possibilities are so great that the inference of many farmers that no
successful agriculture can be maintained without it is very natural.