Raw Milk As Fertilizer!

[Jonathon]

So a couple of weeks ago for no apparent reason, the idea to use Raw Milk as a soil additive / fertilizer came up - just totally random. I do in fact drink raw milk and have just started my yearly seeds. Anyway, every day it seemed to keep coming back up and I would dismiss it, thinking I would try to research any connection later. Well today I finally looked it up. Lo and behold - I found this article:

LINK (http://www.dirtdoctor.com/newforum/root/applying-raw-milk-to-the-soil-t11007.html)

Excerpt:


* Raw milk can be sprayed on the ground or the grass; either will work.

* Spraying milk on land causes grasshoppers to disappear. The theory is that insects do not bother healthy plants, which are defined by how much sugar is in the plants. Insects (including grasshoppers) do not have a pancreas so they cannot process sugar. Milk is a wonderful source of sugar and the grasshoppers cannot handle the sugar. They die or leave as fast as their little hoppers can take them.

* Theory why milk works. The air is 78% nitrogen. God did not put this in the air for us but rather the plants. Raw milk feeds microbes/bugs in the soil. What do microbes need for growth? Protein, sugar, water, heat. Raw milk has one of the most complete amino acid (protein) structures known in a food. Raw milk has one of the best sugar complexes known in a food, including the natural enzyme structure to utilize these sugars. For explosive microbe growth the microbes utilize vitamin B and enzymes. What do you give a cow when the cow’s rumen is not functioning on all cylinders (the microbes are not working)? Many will give a vitamin B shot (natural farmers will give a mouthful of raw milk yogurt). Vitamin B is a super duper microbe stimulant. There is not a food that is more potent in the complete vitamin B complex than raw milk (this complex is destroyed with pasteurization). Raw milk is one of the best sources for enzymes, which break down food into more usable forms for both plants and microbes. (Again, pasteurization destroys enzyme systems.)

* Sodium in the soil is reduced by half. I assume this reflects damage from chemicals is broken down/cleaned up by the microbes and or enzymes.

* If you choose to buy raw milk from a neighbor to spread on your land, consider offering the farmer double or triple what he is paid to sell to the local dairy plant. Reward the dairy farmer as this will start a conversation and stir the pot. The cost for the milk, even at double or triple the price of conventional marketing, is still a very cheap soil enhancer.

* Encourage all to use their imagination to grow the potential applications of raw milk in agriculture, horticulture and the like – even industrial uses – possibly waste water treatment.

If you live in California where raw milk is available in stores, this is an easy solution. If not, just have to find a good dairy cow somewhere ;) I'm going to use this in combination with sea mineral (celtic sea salt) and see how I do.

[penn]

Acres magazine had a good article where a farmer did an experiment on his land with raw milk and the thickness of the pasture sounded amazing. He found that he could get the same results by diluting the milk up to a 1 to 4 ratio.

It was within the last 2 years that I read that and would love to tell the month but I am not sure where I saved the magazine. It was a great article. Maybe you can search their website for it.

I have wanted to try that on our yard to see if the grass would get thicker. We have clay soil and the mud is a mess with kids and dogs when it rains.

Let us know how your quests turns out. Blessings,. Penn

[Lord Sidious]

That would also be a way to buy/sell raw milk in places that won't allow it.
If you are buying/selling it to use as fertiliser, then the laws won't fully apply.

[Jonathon]

Excellent point Lord Sidious. Nice loophole.

[Lord Sidious]

Excellent point Lord Sidious. Nice loophole.

If you want a remedy to a situation, you must find a way to make the law not apply to you.
Sounds easy, but getting them to agree is the hard part.

[str8thinker]

Wouldn't you worry about the butter fat clogging the leaf pores? Seriously.

[jjl]

**************************8

[Maria Stade]

Thank you for sharing !
Intresting !

All Love

[Steven]

Best way is to try it out. Then judge by yourself. I will certainly try it out.

Thanks for the idea Jon.

Namaste, Steven

[ThePythonicCow]

That would also be a way to buy/sell raw milk in places that won't allow it.
If you are buying/selling it to use as fertiliser, then the laws won't fully apply.

Do not assume that our government enforces the law fairly.

[9eagle9]

When I was a teen we had a couple of dairy cows that gave far too much milk for us to consume. A farmer down the road said he used his excuess as soil enhancement. I seemed to work beautifully although I rather kept thinking we were wasting the milk. But basically people were running screaming when we insisted they take home a few gallons everytime they visited. I milk fed pumpkins with it and it seemed to do particularly well with flowers.

[blufire]

Hi Guys, I have a small dairy of 6 goats and a Jersey cow. I will have milk through the week that has to be thrown out for one reason or another. I have tried spraying directly onto the garden area or pasture and experienced two things . . . . a bad smell . . . and it can attract mice and rats. If you dilute too much to counteract these problems then you don’t get effective nitrogen levels.

So instead the raw milk goes directly into the “hot” compost pile, where it is immediately worked deep into the layers.

My tests have shown that it does raise the nitrogen level to a degree or at least noticeably.

In Kansas raw milk can be sold directly off the farm it was produced on. When I lived in Missouri though raw milk has to be labeled “for animal use only”. . . . . which was easy enough. The best line of action is to just keep a low profile and be fastidious in how the dairy operation is run so there is no reason for “officials” to come after you. Doesn’t hurt when one of the county health inspectors needed goat milk for her infant granddaughter!! ;)

[Lord Sidious]

That would also be a way to buy/sell raw milk in places that won't allow it.
If you are buying/selling it to use as fertiliser, then the laws won't fully apply.

Do not assume that our government enforces the law fairly.

What is this ''our'' you speak of?
In all seriousness, I never refer to them in that way. The or a, yes, but never our.
And as for fair, if that is what you want, then you need to learn how to wield more force than them, then you will get fair.

[ThePythonicCow]

Do not assume that our government enforces the law fairly.

What is this ''our'' you speak of?
At one level, yes, not "our" government. At another, more base and legalistic level, it is "our" government.

We exist at multiple levels. There is truth in each level, even when "higher" levels seem to blatantly contradict "lower" levels.

[blufire]

Thread is on raw milk as fertilizer . . . . .

******blufire gently nudges topic back by saying*************

If we could use all the BS generated by all the governments worldwide “as fertilizer” we would have incredible growing fields in all four corners of the earth :p

[Arrowwind]

sounds interesting to me and makes sense..
seems to me that the most beneficial ingredient to add to a garden is enzymes and microflora and raw milk has it

so the formula is one to four... that being one part milk to 4 parts water?
If I make 5 gallons how much land would that cover by spray?

[Jonathon]

In the article it mentions they tested with 20 gallons in various dilutions with water. They noticed no difference between 3 gallons of milk w/ 17 gallons of water vs. 20 gallons of milk (this on a per acre basis). Acre = 4840 square yards. 20 gallons = 75700 milliliters. 15.6 ml per square yard - that's not very much, so it sounds like all you need to do is to introduce it to the soil and the microbes will do the rest. I assume they multiply fast, otherwise it would matter how much you used. Will be interesting to experiment.