2006-01-23 - 9:40 a.m.
It seems that a lot of my job involves manure. I put out tons of it through the year. I put out the fresh horse manure we get from the stall horses and I put out composted manure we get from a nearby horse farm. Then I put out goat manure Sue and Becky clean out of the goat barn. Manure is King around here. Between manure and wood chips and grass clippings it seems our farm is built on what others would call waste.
I remember an old story about a farmer who had done such a great job increasing the fertility of his farm that he was asked to speak at a farmers meeting. Being a man of few words, when he got up to speak his speech was short and to the point, "Friends" he said " I have just one word that explains my success, Manure! Manure, manure and more manure." His wife sat in the audience next to a wife of a neighboring farmer who was her friend. Her friend listened with disgust to the speech then turned and said to the farmers wife, "Honey, can't you get your man to call it something other than manure?". The wife put her finger in her friends face and quickly replied, "You just hush up! It took me ten years to get him to call it manure!" Call it what you will, it is still an important part of our fertility program.
An old Amish farmer was asked one time why he would not change from horses to tractors. He simply said, "Tractors don't give any manure". Now I use tractors but I understand the importance of manure.
