Using Steer Manure to Replace Compost?

Viragrow carries Red Star Steer Manure
at $2 for a 2 cubic foot bag or
$1 for the Garden Gourmet steer manure
in one cubic foot bag

People are coming to Viragrow and telling me they are buying steer manure for their garden rather than compost. It's okay to do that and you might save maybe one dollar per cubic foot but let's understand the difference. If you are going to do that, do it the right way and understand that steer manure is steer manure and compost is compost.

The usual terms applied to packaged steer manure is "aged". Fresh steer manure contains lots of urea which is "too hot" for plants and can burn or kill them. Aged manure has the urea lost or volatilized as ammonia (ever smell ammonia in a feedlot?). The urea not lost as ammonia is converted by soil microorganisms into nitrogen "fertilizer".

Manure has stuff in it besides urea. The manure varies in nutrients depending on what the animal ate. The quality of a steer manure is directly related to what the animal was fed.

"Aged" steer manure is dried manure. It has not been composted. The composting process takes manure and plant waste high in carbon and converts it into humus. Humus is the "black gold" that experienced gardeners value. Steer manure is steer manure. It is not compost. It does not contain humus. Buying steer manure and calling it compost is like buying eggs and calling it an omelette.


If you want to convert a bag of steer manure into compost you can. Mix it half and half with wood
shavings or pine bedding or straw or shredded newspaper, put in the shade, keep it moist and not too wet and turn it when the inside temperature of this pile reaches 160F. This temperature kills the microorganisms, good and bad, in this mixture. Cow poop WILL have E. coli in it. Dried cow poop can have living E. coli in it for months after it has been dried.

Cow poop is not safe to handle (unless you take precautions just like it is poop) unless it is composted. Turning the compost pile reintroduces the good microorganisms back into the pile and re-inoculates it. They grow again because of the rich mix, dominate the bad microorganisms.

Viragrow Compost. $2.50 per cubic foot

Continue to turn it, over and over, when the temperature reaches 160F and don't stop until the temperature starts dropping. Once it starts dropping the compost is "finishing" and

turning into humus, "black gold".

OR you can pay $1 more per cubic foot and have Viragrow do it for you. Your choice. I think a buck is pretty cheap for all that work.

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