How do you fertilize with cow manure?

Answer 1

If you are referring to potted plants, gardens or flower beds, then the manure needs to be mixed in with soil before adding it to your plants. Since cattle manure is quite strong, you need to add at least twice as much soil as there is manure. Then put the mixture in the pot with the plant, if you are putting potted plants, or if you are wanting to fertilize your garden, simply spread it out on the garden them work it in with the garden tiller. It's best to have a tractor-powered tiller to work the manure into the soil even better before planting. Let the weeds come up, then till again, and then go ahead and plant your garden. If you are fertilizing perennials or your flowerbeds, simply throw the manure-soil mix over the plants so that you make a layer of it about an inch thick. You could water if you want, but some people like to let Nature take care of that.

If you are referring to fertilizing fields or pastures, you need to get a big manure spreader and a tractor with a good front-end loader to load up the spreader before taking it out on the field and spreading the manure on there. You just need to make rows of it, up and down the field, as you go. Or, you could hire someone or a company to do it for you. Manure spreading is a big job, and doesn't end with just spreading it on the fields: it needs to be worked in with a disc or cultivator. You don't have to do that with pastures. Usually cattle grazing has enough manure on it, but rotational or MIG grazing allows for more denser manure spreading than continuous grazing. With continuous grazing it is a good idea to take the manure that has accumulated from the pens where cattle are housed in the winter (or on a feedlot) and spread it out on the pasture. Nature will take care of the rest, letting the grasses and microbes in the soil to break down the manure and convert it into soil and nutrient for the grasses.