Composting Field Day

David Hall a Darling Downs composting expert helped us understand the difference between good compost and bad compost at our June Field Day at Goodar Station.

The field day kicked off in the paddock looking at Goodar Stations 900 tonnes of compost being expertly tendered to by Eric Glasser from Future Ag. This compost was trucked to the site from a chicken farm complete with its nitrogen component chicken manure and carbon component wood shavings that is like kitty litter for chickens. Eric talked through the process and the trials that have come with the composting of such large volumes on farm. Including when the site flooding in earlier in the year setting back the composting a number of months.

Goodar Station has been applying compost for a number of years at 1.8 tones a hectare. Johan Smith, Goodar Station’s manager, indicated that they continue to see benefits in the crops grown in those paddocks for years after a single application of compost.

‘Aerobic Composting is Key’ David Hall, composting expert

David Hall presented some really compelling data showing the difference between non-composted, aerobic-composted and anerobic composted. For those that get confused aerobic is when there is oxygen and anerobic is when there is no oxygen.

The aerobic compost came out on top for all of the tested nutrients. It takes extra time and effort however if you are going to spend the money to get the compostable material to your farm then it is worth getting the most out of it!