There is certainly N value in the 'hard' nitrogen, I measured about 5% recovery in the grass in 18 months from the raw manure.
Longer term studies, some going many years, get up to around 10%.
And the organic matter itself gives a benefit to the soil, plus all the phosphorus and other...
The corral was bedded here too, one difference being probably that here it sat empty over the summer and the manure and bedding was hauled in the fall, most common in this area. So the most potential for loss. Spring hauling does seem to capture a bit more ammonia and nitrate N in the studies...
This trial was really about where cattle are winterfed and not how. I've seen people winterfeed out on pasture in a lot of different ways, and some do use feeders for efficiency. Seems to be a juggle between cost of feed and cost/hassle of feeding.
That said, we did measure feed used on this...
Most of the nitrogen that goes through the animal is in the urine, in the form of urea (liquid 46-0-0). That got boiled away by the sun in the manure that had sat in the yard all summer before we scraped it up and hauled it. That's my understanding from digging through other research on the...
Hi, I'm winding up a research project comparing winterfeeding out on pasture vs feeding in the yard and spreading manure with equipment.
For example this is a map of soil nitrogen levels under where a couple bales were fed out on pasture. Averaged a gain of 104 lbs/acre, with levels rising up...