SCORE ON LLAMA POO

I found the only Llama farm within 3 counties while driving to my dance class. Little sign on the side of the road, LLAMA MANURE FOR SALE. I got most of my truck bed filled for $35.

Llamamomma, can I put a bucket full in each 4x4 now for planting in a few weeks? I have 7 beds. The rest will be mixed with all the bags of leaves I scored 2 weeks ago to start a compost bin.

I think you will be very happy! Congrats!

This is my experience - I age my own llama manure (usually) before composting but thats just me since my llamas are regularly dewormed. So a couple weeks to maybe two months of aging is the time frame for deworming meds to leach back out. Then compost it. It must work since there are still worms in a bed where I experimented with a worm tube and large fat worms are all over the place.

On the other hand.....this can be a tricky topic!

I read all the time llama manure can be used straight from the animal to the garden beds. Great cause it does not burn. Then some are concerned with what the animals are possibly medicated with. It's your call as to what your comfort level is. Some also question whether persistant herbicides in hay eaten by the animals (that goes for any farm animals) end up in the manure that might affect vegetable growth in your garden. Valid concerns and you could ask the llama owner what wa sprayed on the hay. Personally we grow some hay which I'm comfortable with and we buy some hay not knowing what is in it. So far nearly everything grows and we're still here. Bottom line I guess is find your comfort level.

Score! That's great Kay. I'm still trying to convince my wife to get lamas. Her family has always been cattle ranchers so it's a spirited topic round here. Enjoy your gold

The poo had been collected and put under tarps on the edge of the the field area. Some of it was already getting ashy from composting. However, some looked pretty fresh, and now it is all mixed up in my truck. Maybe I'll just put it all in the compost bin and save it for fall. I have some homemade which included some horse and cow manure, leaves, grass, coffee grounds, old plants and kitchen scraps. That can replenish the existing beds and we can buy again this year if we get any new beds made. Of course it started pouring buckets about 30 minutes after I got it loaded. I had a tarp, but I expect it will still get wet. Should make for a really interesting unloading.

Kay

Should make for a really interesting unloading.

If you leave it long enough you will end up with compost....

Rooster I remember a discussion about mowing the lawn.... at your place.... I wonder if Llamas would help with that.

Kay
Here is a thought if you want to test the manure and use it sooner- I read about this from a university study -- have a "test" pot with Mel's mix also throw in llama manure. Sacrifice a couple of highly sensitive seeds like beans and see how well they grow. If persistant herbicides are present, the plants won't look vigorous or in the worst case won't grow at all. I bet you would know pretty quickly. If all is good then add manure to the beds like you originally intended. Or make manure tea. Tea is a nice option since a little manure goes a very long way.

llama momma wrote:Kay
Here is a thought if you want to test the manure and use it sooner- I read about this from a university study -- have a "test" pot with Mel's mix also throw in llama manure. Sacrifice a couple of highly sensitive seeds like beans and see how well they grow. If persistant herbicides are present, the plants won't look vigorous or in the worst case won't grow at all. I bet you would know pretty quickly. If all is good then add manure to the beds like you originally intended. Or make manure tea. Tea is a nice option since a little manure goes a very long way.

I did this with a load of horse/goat manure I got last fall. I used beans and grew them to 4th leaf stage before adding the manure to my existing compost piles.

Great, then you could test the llama beans and use them right away instead of waiting till Autumn as you mentioned earlier.

GWN wrote:

Should make for a really interesting unloading.

If you leave it long enough you will end up with compost....

Rooster I remember a discussion about mowing the lawn.... at your place.... I wonder if Llamas would help with that.

Not in my experience. The llama wanted to browse and with that long neck managed to eat all fruit trees/ roses eventually. She became very good sausage

Her poo was greatly appreciated. I composted it, it seemed about the same as sheep manure in heating, not much but some. They have very efficient digestive systems and few seeds can make it through alive.

Llama sausage, Say it ain't so! I have a friend in eastern ohio who had a particular llama that no longer fit in and it became food also...

Kay that's wonderful! Good discussion people!

I suppose you could batch test any new manure or load of ready made composts by using a fusion of say a pound or so with a pint of warm water steeped & stirred for a couple of days and use a really fast growing crop like cress on some damp kitchen towel .

Starting both the cress and steeping the manure etc on the same day

Then when adequately brewed & ready on day three use some of the elixer on the towel & on the growing the cress , it feel it would kill it if weedkillers were present, for it is such a delicate crop. I say on th towel and the cress just incase it is a root acting killer( pre emergence killer ) and on the actual cress greenery just in case it is a systemic type killer via the leaves
You'd have the results in a week rather than a month or so . You could even do the test indoors at almost anytime of the year as well .

That sounds like a great test David! Quick and easy!