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Show Spreading Manure Aids Wildlife, Specialists Say Farmers who spread manure on their fields in late winter and early spring are helping wildlife as well as crops, extension specialists report. re-port. Value of manure spreading for plant food Is recognized, Tut few people realize that good farming practice also is a wildlife conservation conserva-tion help. Most manure contains weed and crop seeds that make good winter feed for pheasants, quail and other birds. February, March, and sometimes April, are lean months in many northern states for the wildlife population. pop-ulation. Pheasants and quail are weakened by lack of cover during earlier winter months. Since much of their winter food supply has been exhausted, many birds will not survive lean pickings and rough weather during the last months of winter. Agronomists always have emphasized em-phasized that prompt spreading of manure saves plant food that might otherwise be lost through leaching. From now until full spring, manure should be spread when field conditions condi-tions permit. Spreading now will put nutrients in fields instead of down barnyard drains, extension specialists say. |