I have been neglecting the cleaning of the cow shed for far too long. I am afraid that reading some old posts from the Rural Missourian shamed me into getting the job taken care of today. The Missouri Rev inferred in several posts how forking manure was a regular chore that had to be done to keep on top of Sam and Sadie’s care. Boy, talk about sticking a knife in my heart! I had not done this job for many months, and things had really piled up – so to speak. I was very thankful for the help of my father and his Kubota tractor with a front end loader to tackle this job. As you can see, it made quite a pile.
Now some would be a little uncomfortable with piles of this nature lying around, and if this was the final destination, so would I. But around here, this pile is like money in the bank. During the year we might end up with 4 or 5 of these “deposits”, to which we add lawn and garden waste, and after which we will stir them with pitch fork, rototiller or front end loader, to end up with a rich compost to spread on all the gardens and green house beds. (And I have to say that my wife Janis raises the finest looking gardens you’ve ever laid eyes on.) I’m not quite sure what the neighbors think, but for me, it’s quite satisfying to have a few piles of black gold lying around.
Consider for a moment, the monetary value of such a pile . Steer manure or peat moss is selling for $5 to $9 at the garden stores. The bags contain approximately 2.5 cubic feet of material. The pile in the picture above will cover one of our gardens with about 2″ of finished compost. In calculating how many bags of steer manure it would take to cover the same area, it would take 285 bags. (wow!) At $5 per bag, that comes to $1425 Considering that we receive several of these piles per year, the cost of keeping a cow shrink considerably!
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean! But much increase is by the strength of the ox. Proverbs 14:4
Yes, our brood cow can not only supply us with a calf to raise for meat, she is, like our chickens – a working girl, content to add to the economy of the Shropshire home. Thanks Bright! (cow’s name)
Allen
January 21, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Allen & family, it is good to have another Christian agrarian family blogging, as everyone’s experience is most valuable and encouraging. I am glad you are on board. Keeping up with the manure forking has not always been easy, especially during bad ice storms and bitter cold weather when Sam & Sadie are allowed to stay in the covered coral. In a matter of a few hours they leave enough manure to fill several large trash cans, which we haul to the back paddock. You are right, manure is gold. We hope the mule’s manure will help produce our first crop of sorghum cane this summer.