What is the value of manure?
You will find that from the perspective of sustainable agriculture, or nutrient cost, farmers with liquid manure systems frequently look at their crops showing the results of good nutrient management saying, “There is my profit.” It is recognized that 75 percent of the nutrient value of a crop that is fed to animals, ends up in the manure. Conventional spreading will return about 30 percent back to the soil, 90 percent return is possible by applying at the proper time and getting the nutrients into the soil. Valuing manure is not simple. The N, P, K is generally valued at $60- 100/ per cow per year, but other soil building capabilities of manure exist and are harder to value. Some practitioners of good soil management feel the soil building elements of manure are just as important as the dollar value of the major nutrients.
