Cattle manure value

[Overby]

Afternoon, I know I've read posts on here somewhere but cannot find them now.

What theoretical £ Value should be put on cattle manure spread on arable land?

Could be your own, straw for muck or bought in....

Say you got 500 x 200kg wheat straw bales turned into FYM then spread.

What value per tonne would you allocate (obvs relevant to straw price so value in proportion would do).

 

[onthehoof]

Been a few threads over the years, the general consensus seemed to be about £10/t

 

[7610 super q]

But isn't it a by product ?.........ding ding....

 

[Bald Rick]

But isn't it a by product ?.........ding ding....

If you’re talking straw .... no it f**king isn’t. £135/t? You’re havin’ a laff

 

[7610 super q]

If you’re talking straw .... no it fudgeing isn’t. £135/t? You’re havin’ a laff

I was told on the straw price thread straw is a by product. What goes around comes around........

 

[Sid]

I was told on the straw price thread straw is a by product. What goes around comes around........

How many nutrients per ton in fym based on the base value of straw

 

[Will 1594]

Would it be economic to use a walking floor , to bring muck and take straw back , if any one wants to do the numbers ,from kings lynn ,
you can have 200 acre of barley ,90 % winter barley , FREE you bale it stack it up , we will load the straw ,andyou bring back the muck
is one acre of straw ,for 15 ton muck ,.? black grass free straw ,

 

[Speedstar]

Would it be economic to use a walking floor , to bring muck and take straw back , if any one wants to do the numbers ,from kings lynn ,
you can have 200 acre of barley ,90 % winter barley , FREE you bale it stack it up , we will load the straw ,andyou bring back the muck
is one acre of straw ,for 15 ton muck ,.? black grass free straw ,

Move 250 mile north & you have a deal

 

[Hilly]

If you’re talking straw .... no it fudgeing isn’t. £135/t? You’re havin’ a laff

Get with it man it’s £150.00 now

 

[Will 1594]

Move 250 mile north & you have a deal

Be better tombring the cattle to the east like they used to do ,
instead of hauling feed ,etc to the west ,
will all soon change when elms kicks in and they turn the west side into a tourist picknic site and a few , sheep to keep the pastures tidy for the walkers etc ,and plant upthe rest with trees

 

[e3120]

Would it be economic to use a walking floor , to bring muck and take straw back , if any one wants to do the numbers ,from kings lynn ,
you can have 200 acre of barley ,90 % winter barley , FREE you bale it stack it up , we will load the straw ,andyou bring back the muck
is one acre of straw ,for 15 ton muck ,.? black grass free straw ,

That's too one sided for me. I swap 5t of muck for 1 of straw; straw is in the swath, muck in the loader. Even then I elected to keep the muck this time and scavenged overyeared osr/oat bales last summer that had dried back out. Still happy with that plan, even the way things have evolved, though don't expect to find much this June.

 

[Brisel]

Been a few threads over the years, the general consensus seemed to be about £10/t

Not one I agreed with! From my own analysis of well rotted FYM the NPK value was £4/t spread, not allowing anything for P and K taken off the field in the first place (I was looking at buying in there muck but not supplying any straw). What is harder to value;

The contribution to soil organic matter and future yields
How much of the N, P, K, and to a lesser extent, Ca and Mg is actually available to the following crop. Manure analysis is very variable and how it is treated afterwards (delay before incorporation, turning/composting the heaps)
Damage done by the trailers & spreaders
Lost timeliness if either baling or spreading are delayed - can be significant if it delays osr establishment
Soil compaction by balers, loaders & trailers
Change in slug levels for not chopping the straw - relevant to oilseed rape establishment
Whose expense is the haulage, spreading, baling, stacking? Haulage can make muck very expensive.

IIRC the general conclusions were for both parties to feel they were benefitting which helps build a good relationship.

 

[Bossfarmer]

i was spreading some rotted muck yesterday at one load per acre(15t), so at £4/t i made £60/acre yesterday just from spreading that?

 

[robbie]

i was spreading some rotted muck yesterday at one load per acre(15t), so at £4/t i made £60/acre yesterday just from spreading that?

Yep, 60 quid an acre straight into your pocket

 

[Hilly]

I surpose the value of manure depends on how much the land needs it , am I wrong ?

 

[Hilly]

i was spreading some rotted muck yesterday at one load per acre(15t), so at £4/t i made £60/acre yesterday just from spreading that?

My contractor told me he thought spreading decent amount of dung made the difference of half to three quarters ton of barley an acre so maybe 60 is no far away .

 

[Brisel]

i was spreading some rotted muck yesterday at one load per acre(15t), so at £4/t i made £60/acre yesterday just from spreading that?

You might have saved £60/ac in fertiliser not needing to be bought in. Not quite the same thing but basically, yes.

If you have potash releasing clay soils then arguably the benefit from applying K as strawy muck is less but most crops do respond to fresh P and K even with already adequate soil reserves. High magnesium clays won’t benefit from Mg in the muck but the calcium in it will certainly help. In extremes, an excess of one nutrient may suppress another.

 

[robbie]

I think its wrong to look at the cost for muck on a individual crop/ year basis.
If you apply a single dose to one crop and put all the costs assosiated with the muck to that crop then its a non starter but if you have a long term view that muck is going to become a long term integral part of you farm and you can see beyond just the ££££ then it works.

If you say the muck costs £60 acre for example, applied once ever three years through the rotation then thats £20 year/acre. I dont know of anything else i could spend that money on which will do as much good long term.
Theres far more to muck than just nutrients and OM, regardless of soil type/location/farming policy it will make any land better.

 

[milkloss]

It’s me!!

manure is worth far more than its basic nutrients.

black gold I tell you.

 

[jondear]

i was spreading some rotted muck yesterday at one load per acre(15t), so at £4/t i made £60/acre yesterday just from spreading that?

Why are you spreading muck in Jan?
All nutrients will be down a ditch !