Price of Manure

[whiteface]

In some areas operators of manure composting facilities will remove manure at their cost.

[grassfarmer]

Whiteface, Pity you weren't next door to me - I've already cleared out all the immediate neighbours old manure piles. I'm amazed that people don't value the organic matter let alone the fertiliser value of manure. Driving around the country it certainly shows on a lot of these young (less than 100 years old) farmed Alberta soils that are played out.
Many of my neighbours claim to be so poor they can't afford to spread their manure on their land. Kind of a chicken and egg situation - if they can't afford to spread it how can they afford to give away a multi $ asset? If they bit the bullet and used it maybe they could afford a lot of things?

The only things that winter in my corrals are backgrounding calves, the rest are out on the fields. When calculating the profitability of backgrounding calves I don't charge the cost of bedding or hauling manure out to them - I charge it to the grass growing operation, the benefit here exceeds the outlay many times.

[smcgrath76]

I'm not "cheap" I'm "tight" or Scotch which may be between the two.
If I was selling/giving away manure I want you to pay for the test. If I'm buying/receiving I still want you to pay for the test.

[smcgrath76]

And if I was receiving manure from another operation I would gladly pay for testing that told me what pathogens and weeds were in the manure. I know what weeds I have on my own property and sure as heck don't want chamomile or tansy hauled in with a load of manure.

[nejar]

If you are able to receive manure of any kind for the price of a manure test take it, and do a complete test complete with micronutrients. You will probably find that the value of the manure at 40 t's/ac will be approximately $100/ac the first year and at least $50/ac value released the second year, not to mention the value of the extra organic matter added at a rate of probably over 1000lbs/ac. The cpmplete manure test will cost less than $80. You do the math.
According to the new AOPA guide lines you will be respnsible for your manure management plan if you are spreading over 500 tons of manure. All that means is a 24" soil sample and a manure sample with documentation.
Keep in mind that applying manure will increase the organic matter in yopur soil. This will qualify for carbon credits as defined the the Kyoto accord. They are presently values at $8 and expected to rise in the future.
The thing is we need the feedlot industry, your land needs the manure, and there could be another potential source of revenue from the increase in Organic matter.