Collecting manure from a pasture?

Hi folks! First time posting here
I live right above a huge field that is used to pasture 4 donkeys and a cow every summer for a month or so. It’s definitely not treated with anything, and is otherwise quite abandoned for the rest of the year (except for me foraging for all sorts of delightful herbs & greens)
It’s February, and I’ve been trying to find somewhere to buy manure. But I just noticed sooo many little piles of manure that have been sitting in the field since September.
Some look pretty dried out. Do you think all the nutrients have already moved into the soil at this point, or would it be worth it for me to go and collect some of this for my garden?
Thank you! I am already SO grateful for this international community of wisdom & experience.

Hi Savannah and welcome to Permies.
You pose a good question. Manure should almost always be old and aged and composted before you use it. And all the great bacteria in it are much more important than just the nutrients. The question is.... Were the animals fed anything else besides what was growing in the field? Lots are animals are fed hay and corn and grains that aren't organic and are covered in Roundup. I picked up a couple of truckloads of manure years ago and added it to my garden. Nothing grew for 3 years. Boy, did I learn a lesson. You might ask the owner what he feeds his animals and is it O.K. to get some manure. Better to be safe than sorry. Happy gardening.

Thank you! Gosh I have read many many many stories like that, and am definitely feeling cautious about sourcing my manure! I'm sorry that happened to you :/

While they are in the field, they are definitely only eating/grazing from the pasture and nothing else, though it's possible the owner uses non-organic feed other times of the year... I am pretty sure Roundup is banned in France. (Not to say that other chemicals aren't used though!) I will see if I can hunt the owner down...

I guess my main question is that since the piles are so small (just a single poop here and there) is it likely that everything (nutrient/bacteria/etc) has moved down into the soil already? Maybe (probably) I'm over-thinking it, but I just wonder if it would be a huge waste of my time to go digging for this manure-treasure, and try to find nitrogen-bacteria rich sources elsewhere.

Savannah Clayton wrote:

I will see if I can hunt the owner down...

Good plan - the owner may be intentionally putting those animals there to build the soil and may not want you harvesting the poop. Nowadays, manure tends to be considered a "waste", but I've noticed where I live that many of these "waste" products are now being recognized as valuable inputs.

Many people underestimate how important it is to add carbon to one's soil, not just nitrogen. The fact that you can still see the shapes of the poops, suggests to me that they haven't been rained on to the point that there won't still be useful nutrients and carbon in them. However, there may be plenty of weed seeds, which can be an asset as well as a liability - chopping and dropping the weeds in your garden can be adding organic cover to the soil - I'm learning to treat my weeds as a resource when they don't try to kill me (I still think Himalayan Blackberry is a scourge!)

So respectful, thank you for that Jay! I have already thought to not take all the manure (if it's even possible to hunt it all down haha), and observe this field each year and it is quite healthy and lush. In addition, the owner of the animals is not the owner of the field, who does not use it or even live in the village any more.

Thank you for that carbon reminder!