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captaincompostal

The Manifold Composting Uses of Cattle Feeds

captaincompostal
21 years ago

I love horse and cattle feeds! They have so many uses in my organic no-till gardens and lawn. I buy cheap 50 lb bags of the stuff. Sometimes I get the cheaper discounted ruined bags from the feed stores.

Check out my FAQ suggestions on the organic garden forum:

Cattle Feed Suggestions

My uses of Cattle Feeds:

1. Compost Nitrogen Activator to make the compost pile hotter.

2. Soil amendment. Great for use under mulches for extra NPK.

3. Compost tea ingredient. Great nitrogen source for teas. Similar to alfalfa teas.

4. Great cheap cover crop seed source and fertilizer. I plan to sprinkle a lot of cattle feed on top of compost in my fall/winter cover crop beds to make the extra wheat and oat seeds

sprout with my other green manure seeds.

5. Attracts lots of beneficial soil organisms and birds. The birds fight pestsy bugs. The microbes help digest the organic matter in the soil, thus producing more available soluble nutrients for plants.

6. The molasses in sweet feeds is beneficial to breed beneficial microbes in the soil and in compost teas. Soil and compost microbes love carbon for energy (simple sugars contain lots of carbon).

7. The corn meal in cattle feeds is a great natural fungicide.

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