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Show Farm & Agriculture February 12, 2004, Page 21 Local company uses turkey by-products to enhance farming By CHERYL K. BREWER A joint publication of the With spring planting just around the corner, farmers, ranchers and gardeners gar-deners are sure to find Nutri-Mulch a sure-fired product for their soil. Nutri-Mulch, located in Moroni, UT; has developed a true compost produced pro-duced from a mixture of turkey manure and wood shavings, a byproduct by-product from the more than five million mil-lion turkeys annually raised in the Sanpete Valley through Moroni Feed Company. Turkey chicks are initially raised in large buildings with an eight-inch cover of wood shavings on the floor. The shavings absorb the moisture and waste of the chicks until they are large enough to go outside in large pens. Nutri-Mulch harvests the wood shavings and manure combination and takes it to a central batch plant location where the composting process begins. The product is placed in long windrows where irrigation water is added to bring the moisture level up to an optimum level. As the piles begin to heat up, they are turned by a special composting machine every two days. The carefully controlled and monitored moni-tored process keeps the temperature in the piles between 130-150 degrees Fahrenheit and supplies oxygen for the aerobic bacteria which accom- ! A special composting machine turns the windrows about every two days enabling the aerobic bacteria to accomplish accom-plish the composting process. The carefully care-fully controlled and monitored process is done at the batch plant of the Nutri-Mulch Nutri-Mulch division of Moroni Feed Company, Moroni. plishes the composting process. The entire process requires six to eight weeks. The product is then brought into a building where it is screened, bagged and ready for shipping to customers and distributors. Nutri-Mulch is used as a superior soil amendment of neutral neu-tral pH which contains soil enriching nutrients in the form of large organic molecules which remain in the soil where they are placed and are bio-available bio-available to plant roots when needed. The product is guaranteed to have Courtesy photo a nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium potassi-um ratio of 1:1:1, decreasing the need to add other commercial fertilizers. fertil-izers. Nutri-Mulch also contains many other micro-nutrients which greatly enhances plant growth and health. Since most of the wood shaving content of Nutri-Mulch remains after the composting process is complete, com-plete, this feature adds to its soil-structure soil-structure and water-binding characteristic. charac-teristic. Some of the largest distributors of Nutri-Mulch are IFA, Home Depot, Steve Reagen, Garden Wise and most independent nurseries. The operation, managed by Chad Larsen, sells over 25,000 cubic yards of product each year entailing about 77,000-100,000 bags. There are six full time employees and two crews of baggers that work from January to June and also in the fall of the year. Nutri-Mulch is open and ships year-round. They can be reached by calling (435) 436-8290. to cUDD filn) femuQD'S SM(si . rain)ln)F TO a3itato rjlftatt i7ao sbl . o n LnJvMJGJ (o Fop subscriptions, please call 489-5651. |