Page 36 - ALG Issue 1 2019

General
Comparative Values of Manure
I expect that there are only a few people around (if any) that can remember the days when milk was delivered to your door by horse and cart. Enterprising gardeners were likely to rush out into the street armed with bucket and spade to collect any droppings that the horse might deposit in their street; jolly good for the roses was the assumption.
Well, any manure is better than nothing, but despite the good PR enjoyed by horse manure it is, surprisingly, not the best when it comes to nutrient content. The following figures for comparison were given in an article that was written in 1960:
These figures relate to dry manure rather than newly-produced fresh manure, and it seems that different species need different amounts of fresh manure to produce the stated 100 lbs of dry manure. As a consequence, further details were supplied:
Rabbit .......................... 140 lbs Horse .......................... 240 lbs Dairy Cow..................... 480 lbs Pig .............................. 380 lbs Hen .............................. 210 lbs
In addition, the article does state that all manures will vary in composition, depending on the food fed, quantity and quality of the bedding used, method of storage – and waste can even differ within the same species. Hence, one can only take the above figures as a guide.
Also, one needs to clean out one’s animals with the end product of manure/compost in mind. I suspect that a lot of rabbit owners clean out their pet with little else in mind other than a clean hutch. Only the damp used corners and soiled litter need be removed with the minimum of disturbance as (there is a body of thinking that) less upheaval causes less stress to the animal. Clean, dry litter can be recycled with extra bedding added as necessary. Unless the weather is very hot and there is concern about flies and maggots, a more thorough clean out need only be done about every three weeks.
The litter used will also affect the quality of the waste as manure material. With larger farm animals it is likely to be straw and barley that breaks down a lot quicker than wheat straw. Whilst fanciers and pet owners may use wood shavings, this is not particularly ideal, and hemp or flax bedding breaks down a lot better and much quicker.
As a cavy fancier, I have no precise data on the waste value
of manure that my own stock produces and is used allotment- wise. I find hemp products difficult to come by these days, so flax bedding is used and this proves a satisfactory substitute. If it’s not too indelicate to mention, this is supplemented by my own use of the site toilet (via a watering can) and this improves the nitrogen content. Whenever available, additions of weeds, green waste and windfall apples are made.
However, I have received some data from a German lady that has done research on the use of cavies (guinea pigs) in Africa (introduced by European priests in the early 1900s as a source of meat protein). In one case study relating to south-western Tanzania, comparisons were made between chickens and cavies on various aspects of management and use. When it came to manure quality, the results were that 35% of the participants preferred chicken manure and 65% cavy manure.
Hopefully, this information will be of interest to some readers.
Obituary
Trevor Taylor will be remembered
by some in NSALG as a member
of the Management Committee,
treasurer and East Anglia Rep.
His allotment years began when
he took on a plot at Vinery Road
in the Romsey Town area of
Cambridge in the 1960s, and he
was soon involved on the joint
committee which runs Vinery
Road and its sister site Burnside.
He eventually gave over 40
years’ service to that committee
as secretary and treasurer. The
pavilion building at Vinery Road is named in his honour.
Trevor was also active in the Cambridge Central Council
of Allotment Societies and was, for a number of years,
its Honorary Secretary. He was a key contributor to the campaign to maintain allotments in the 1980s, when their future was in doubt. He fought tooth and nail to minimise the loss of land in the face of development, even though a play area and a school were built on parts of the Burnside and Vinery sites respectively. The Kings Seeds scheme, adopted by Trevor for the Burnside and Vinery sites, probably in the early 1980s, may well have contributed something to the financial stability of the Society. It is probably no exaggeration to say that, if it weren’t for Trevor, Burnside and Vinery allotments might not have survived to this day.
Trevor developed a brain tumour in 2010 but recovered sufficiently to carry on attending Burnside and Vinery committee meetings until about 2012. He continued as Honorary President until his death. Trevor was a true character, with his love of jazz, red wine, and his dry witty banter. He passed away peacefully in Cambridge on September 19th 2018 and is survived by his wife Ann. Joan Bullock-Anderson, Burnside and Vinery Archivist
Lbs of Soil Nutrient per 100 Lbs of Dry Manure
Nitrogen Rabbit 2.7 Horse 1.7 Dairy Cow 2.7 Pig 1.8 Hen 2.2
Phosphoric Acid
1.5 0.9
0.6 1.9 1.1 2.5 1.3 1.8 1.8 0.8
Potash
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36
Allan Trigg