Manure as fertilizer ...................

 I live in the middle of pasture land.  Lots of free cow patties.  My wife
seems to think that this would make good fertilizer, or at least good mulch
if tilled in.

Other than using fresh dung for the production of food, are there any
downsides to using manure?  I believe I once read that stall manure had high
levels of urea, and would not be good to put on plants.  This is pasture
manure, so it would not have as high urine level as stall manure.

Yeah, I know I can go buy fertilizer, too.  But I can also take the money I
save and go fishing a few times.

Tips and caveats on manure use?  Good/bad for flowers or areas where I am
going to put lawn?

Thanks.

Steve

 I use horse shit every Spring and have great results with my plants.

 SteveB wrote:

A furphy, urea is good fertiliser.


Why not use it if its free and save the petrochemicals that typically go
into synthetic fertiliser.


Cow pats are good for gardens.  Cow and horse manure both provide beneficial
organic matter and nutrients.  There is little in the way of harmful
pathogens in them and once dried out or composted briefly they are fairly
inoffensive.  I would say go for it, there is much to gain and little to
lose.

David

 
I've been told that cow manure is full of seed ready to sprout wherever you
use it.   Horse manure is a better solution.

Chicken manure is okay if you leave it exposed to the weather for one
season, and use it where the soil is high on the alkaline side.  An easy
route to this is use of range chickens (not stuck in a coop all the time).
Confine them in an area to range, then move the ranging area to some other
location the followiing season.
--
Dave

CDOs are how we got here.
A modified version, new taxes in the future, is how Congress will get us
out?

 Dioclese wrote:

Some of the nutrients in fresh chicken manure are quite volatile and others
are very soluble in water.  Leaving it out exposed will release these into
the environment, which will indeed reduce the chance of burning plants due
to excess.  However these useful substances will be wasted, unless you want
the grass downhill from the heap to be nice and green.  A better solution is
to mix it in with compost where at least some of the nutrients will be
absorbed, or dig it in when preparing a bed and leave it a couple of weeks
before planting.

I am not sure why you are saying to use it where the soil is too alkaline.
I cannot see that you would be adding enough to alter the pH of soil very
much (especially clay-based soil) and I would expect it to raise rather than
lower pH.

David