One Scoop at a Time

Karen Woodsblog, News, NWSS Livestock Blog

With 23 professional rodeos and over 100 livestock shows, the National Western Stock Show is home to thousands of different animals during the 16-day event.  This means A LOT of poop. In fact, approximately 17,000 yards of manure is hauled off each year!

Upon the completion of the 2020 National Western Stock Show, a Colorado-based business, B.O.S.S. Compost, hauls all of the livestock manure overnight to US Bar Ranch to begin the composting process.

Compost is a natural biological process, carried out under controlled conditions. During the composting process, various microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, break down organic material into simpler substances.  The material after composting is certified organic.

“We make our compost formulas from the highest quality organic materials so that we can meet the Rocky Mountain Organics Council’s compost classification list, and the US Composting Council’s TMECC testing standards,” according to B.O.S.S. Compost.

After composting is completed it is shipped to different retail locations along the front range. Compost that includes sludge waste and bio-solids will have its place in fertilizing isolated highway median strips and reclaiming strip-mining land.  

Compost with similar content used during Stock Show, like enzyme-rich animal feed, baby poultry bird bedding, and high-quality horse bedding that contains flailed wood shavings, alfalfa, and straw — can be used for flowerbeds, tree planting, vegetable gardens or lawn establishments.

“Compost is an excellent way to increase the water-holding power of root systems, which is vital to growth,” according to Denver Water.     

In addition to saving money, recycling livestock manure is environmentally friendly. This is one of the many ways Stock Show recycles these natural resources and continue to grow the future of agriculture, one scoop of poop at a time!