Why is feeding cattle in a corral/drylot appear to be such an inefficient way to cycle nutrients?
There is a number of reasons for this: 1) There are a lot of nutrients in cattle feed. Each round bale of hay (1384 lbs or 628 kg) we fed contained approx. 27 lbs (12 kg) of nitrogen, 3 lbs (1 kg) of phosphorus, and 25 lbs (11 kg) of potassium. 2) Cattle don’t retain a lot of nutrients in their feed. Figures vary somewhat, but seem to be in the 10% range for nitrogen, 15% for potassium, and 20% for phosphorus. 3) Nitrogen is expelled by the animal mostly in the urine, not in the dung. And the urine form is 90% urea. This urea is the same stuff sold in commercial fertilizer dealers as 46-0-0. The nitrogen component of synthetic urine used in testing is made by mixing laboratory grade 46-0-0 in a bucket of water. Cattle can therefore be looked at as liquid nitrogen fertilizer factories. 4) Drylots (corrals, pens) concentrate cattle and therefore, nutrients. The animals in the drylot pens used were kept at 21 X the density of the animals fed on the pasture. All these factors result in hug
