Vista Alegre Baserria Cows don’t use the loo...
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Cows don’t use the loo... PDF Print E-mail

… or nappies?

All animals poo and cows as well. Their poo is actually very good for the fields, as it helps make grass grow (poo fertilises the soil). When cows graze their poo falls straight to the ground in little piles called cow “flops” or cow “pats”. If you remember where a cow flop is and go back six months later it will have disappeared. Small animals, particularly insects, help it break down and take it into the soil where it provides food (nutrients) for plants.

When the cows in are their barn, the poo is pushed along the floor by a mechanical implement called a “slurry scraper.”

This poo is called slurry and is collected in a slurry pit. Now and again, a tractor pulling a slurry spreader takes slurry to the fields to spread it. This is like feeding the soil: slurry contains nutrients which are good for the soil and the plants that grown in our fields.

Three week later, the slurry has “disappeared”

Straw is spread on the floor and cubicles of the calves’ (0-6 months) and heifers’ (6-24) barns.

Their poo gets mixed up with the straw and more is then freshly laid. This mixture of poo and straw is called manure.

Manure is spread on the fields using a manure spreader pulled by the tractor. It is even better for the soil than slurry because of all the straw it contains.... it is also very good for our allotments.

It is not a very good idea to spread too much slurry or manure on fields because in very big quantities it becomes bad for the animals that live in the soil (soil or “edaphic” fauna and microfauna) and plants. The equivalent of the poo from two cows per hectare is sufficient.

Can you spot any loos in the fields on the Vista Alegre farm? We doubt it! So where is all the cow poo?

Komunik ikusi al duzue Vista Alegre baserriko larreetan? Ziur ezetz! Baina orduan, non dago behien kaka?


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Special corner for schools: visit our special corner for schools for special information about our farm and the farm dairy. There are resource materials for teachers. In this corner you can find out how to arrange a class outing to our farm.

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