Goat Manure As Fertilizer What You Need To Know

Does goat Manure Make A Good Fertilizer?

Unlike many synthetic bottled nutrients, goat manure as a fertilizer is a much more reusable and environmentally friendly option.

Since I have been looking for more ways to use organic biofertilizers in my garden. I decided to find out how algae could possibly fill that role.

Goat manure compost and fertilizer is organic matter commonly used in gardens to help increase the quality of the soil while providing additional nutrients for your plants to feed off.

Since goats produce naturally dry pellets collecting and working with them is pretty straightforward and much less messy than other manure types. It also smells less than most other manures, which is another plus in my book.

Using goat manure as fertilizer can get used in just about every type of garden. It benefits flowering plants, herbs, vegetables, and fruit trees while improving your soil's health at the same time.

Another benefit of goats having neater and dryer pellets is that insects are not as drawn to the manure as they are to cow and horse manure. It is almost odorless while still providing many of the same benefits as other manures to your soil.

Goat manure can get directly added to your garden in its pellet with a low risk of causing any nutrient burn to your plants.

You can put the pellets in your garden, then till and spread it, or mix it with sand and straw as a medium for spring beds.

Another option is to add manure fertilizer to your garden in the fall. Adding it in the fall will allow it to soak into your soil over winter.

How to Get Goat Manure Fertilizer

Most garden supply centers, local farms, and retailers have goat manure available for purchase, just like soil. You can even get some farms with goats, but they do not sell the goat droppings might allow you to collect some from their farm for your garden.

Goat Manure Liquid Fertilizer

Also Known as Goat Manure Tea

Creating tea from your manure is a great way to provide a natural fertilizer to your plants and meet many of your plant's nitrogen needs.

A downside to using manure tea instead of mixing the manure in with your soil is that it will not improve the health of your garden's soil.

You will need a fabric sack like a pillow case or fabric bag in which you can put the manure.

You want the manure in the sack to fill up approximately two-thirds of the bucket you are placing.

You can tie the top of the bag, or if it is large enough, or wrap the opening around the top of your bucket and fold it over.

Now fill the bucket up with water almost to the top. Leave around one inch of space of air and place the lid on top of the pale.

Every day or two, you want to stir the water and manure up. Keep the solution brewing for 7 to 10 days to allow the nutrients to leach into the water.

Now you will want to put on some gloves and get ready to plug your nose, although we're lucky since goat tea has one of the weakest smell of most manure teas. Take out the bag filled with the manure, lift it out of the bucket and wring it out, getting as much water out of the sack as possible.

Before adding it to your plants, you will want to add some more water until the liquid fertilizer is a weak tea color. You want to add more water to reduce your chances of burning your plants.

Now you can add the diluted fertilizer to your soil or use it in a spray bottle and apply it to your plant's leaves, also known as a foliar spray.

You can still use the leftover goat manure in the bag and add it directly to your soil or put it into a compost pile. While it will have minimal nutritional value for your plants, it can help the soil's tilth, allowing more oxygen to make it to your plant's roots.

Quick Goat Liquid Fertilizer

Goat Manure NPK

So on average, the npk value of goat manure is around N 0.7%:, P: 0.3%, K: 0.9%.

Each batch can be slightly different based on the feed the animal was consuming and how it was processed on the farm it came from.

Other factors like the age of the manure, its decomposition rate, time exposed to the elements, the percentage of organic matter, microbe populations, and the soil types can all alter the nutrient values.

Composting Goat Manure

Using goat manure and making your own compost is a pretty simple process and not really messy. Especially when using a dry manure like goat droppings.

Goat manure is an excellent choice since it allows more airflow into our compost piles. The additional oxygen provides more airflow to enter the compost, helping to speed up how quickly our compost will be ready for use.

Any compost pile is just the natural breakdown of organic material into a dark, loose, and soil-like material. It is a great way to use organic materials to enrich your garden and help improve your garden's soil health significantly.

It's great for our plants and the microorganisms within the soil while helping us to reduce our household waste at the same time

How to Compost Goat Manure

Step 1

First, you need to make sure you have some type of compost bin into which you can put the organic material to hold. Just about any garden center will have options available.

Go get goat droppings from a store, local farm, or your own gats if you have them.

Step 2

Put the manure into the bin and layer it with soil, kitchen scraps, grass, clippings, or chapped leaves. The materials should get mixed together. You can either do this when adding the materials or stir it up afterward. It's easiest to add a little manure, grass trimmings, kitchen scraps, and repeat.

The other option is to add each item at once and get something like a pitchfork so you can turn over the materials and help get them mixed together better over time.

Step 3

You want to keep the pile moist, so during hot weather, you will want to check on it and add water to ensure it stays moist.

You also need to mix and turn over the pile from top to bottom every two to five days. You can do it less, but it will take longer for your compost to finish.

Goat Manure Benefits

It is usually higher in nitrogen when compared to cow or horse manure.

It can help your garden to have healthier plants resulting in larger crops.

It has a more balanced pH level and lower salt levels compared to other manures like chicken manure.

Since goat manure is quite a bit dryer compared to cows and horses, it generally does not smell as strong.

Being a dryer source is not only helpful in reducing the smell but also makes it easier for your to spread into your garden.

Adding goat manure to your soil creates better soil conditions in your garden. It helps to improve the texture and tilth while efficiently holding onto water and allowing more oxygen to make its way to your plant's roots.

Disadvantages of Goat Manure

Like many organic fertilizers from animals that eat grass and weeds, the weed seeds could be in the compost if it was not correctly processed.

You can reduce the chance of weeds coming in by using cover crops like winter rye which releases chemicals preventing weed seeds from germinating.

You should check your garden for the first few weeks to find any weeds developing from adding the manure. As long as you pull them before they can seed, you should not have any real issues in your garden.

Another problem with incorrectly composted goat manure is the possibility of maggots and flies. This is more of a problem for people making their own goat manure.

While it has lower salt levels and better pH, it also contains significantly lower nitrogen levels than chicken manure. Many plants require high nitrogen levels for optimal growth in the vegetative stage. Goat manure alone may not provide the nitrogen needed for optimal plant growth.

Goat manure placed on a slope in an area with significant rainfall is suspectable to soil erosion compared to other composts.

It's best to put goat manure on areas with a flat surface to reduce the risk of having all your work wash away with the first heavy rainfall.

Summary

While adding goat manure to your garden can improve your crops, it tends to work best for growing herbs and vegetables.

Plants requiring high nutrient levels still benefit from using goat manure but may require additional nutrients.

You may need to use alternate organic fertilizers to provide the higher nutrient levels necessary for some plants.

Using green manure by mixing cover crops into the soil or brewing them into tea is an easy way to add additional nutrients while improving the fertility of your garden's soil.