If you live near a horse or cow pasture, you live near a fertilizer "factory." My husband and I have, in the past, gathered several piles of horse manure from a field behind our house. We would just put wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load into two big piles under a tree, put a few worms that were dug up with one of the piles in them, and let them do the work.
My mother had told me that it was the way that her family did it, using the two work horses' manure to fertilize gardens and trees. We let dead leaves fall into it during fall and winter, sometimes contributing food scraps. By spring, we had nice, labor-free fertilizer for our pecan trees and tomatoes.
Source: My mother, who grew up on a farm during the Depression
If you have farms nearby, it may be easy to find free manure. This is a page about finding free manure.
If the cow manure is fresh it is considered hot, as it is still releasing nitrogen and ammonia that can damage plant roots. To cure, it needs to be hot composted for 6 months. This is a page about curing cow manure.
Manure is a nearly perfect natural fertilizer that can be used throughout your garden. This is a page about using cow manure in your garden.
Composted chicken manure when mixed with your topsoil makes a great fertilizer. This is a page about using chicken manure as garden fertilizer.
Alpaca manure makes a great soil conditioner for your garden, it improves soil quality, water retention, and is a good fertilizer. This is a page about using alpaca manure in your garden.
