Manure Auction Draws Strong Bids

Chris Torres
Staff Writer

Manure has become quite the commodity these days, as evidenced by the prices garnered for 4,300 tons of it at an auction recently in Danville, Pa.

The auction, held last Friday at the Don Cotner farm, attracted about 70 people and 21 registered bidders.

According to Mike Weaver of Weaver Auction Service, the auction was the first of its kind in the region, modeled after a similar auction that has been held for the last six years near Erie, Pa.

“As far as I know, there is only one other one in the state that I am aware of,” Weaver said.

The 4,300 tons of poultry manure was sold in lots or “houses” based on the nitrogen, phosphorus and potash (N-P-K) analysis.

The auction attracted six buyers.

The highest bid came from a farmer near Bloomsburg, Pa. who paid $22 per ton for 1,500 tons of 68-59-51 manure, for a total of $33,000.

Other high bids included $15 per ton for 45-46-35 manure; $21 per ton for 41-66-52 manure; and $20 per ton for 46-108-68 manure.

“It’s actually turned into a commodity item now, because there are so many different folks after manure,” Weaver said. “If you look at what the commercial fertilizers are costing, that’s the big thing right there. Farmers are just trying to be more diligent and by being more diligent, they are looking at alternative fertilizers.”

All of the manure was sold within 18 minutes. Buyers had to meet certain nutrient management requirements before they were allowed to take the manure with them.

They had to provide a manure transfer sheet, nutrient balance sheets and a three-year soil test.

Judging by the amount of calls he got days after the sale, Weaver believes the auction was a hit and there are already plans for another one next year.

“A lot of farmers up in this area were selling their own manure for $5 to $10 a ton. Nobody had a fair market value for that,” he said. “This now establishes fair market for this. The auction method is the only fair method of finding out what the fair market value of an item is.”

Dean James, farm manager of the 400,000-layer Cotner Farm, said the idea for an auction came after he had heard about the auction held every year at the Sperry Farm in Crawford County, Pa.

“We always joked about how we should put it up on eBay. But it would be tough to do that,” James said.

They have sold their manure in the past, based on the price commercial fertilizer was garnering at the time. But those prices vary and according to him, farmers have their own ideas about how much manure is actually worth.

“Some folks are really expecting to get it for nothing and some really want to put a value on it,” he said.

His idea for an auction got a lukewarm reaction from many auctioneers, whom he claims turned him down because nobody else was doing it.

Luckily for James, Weaver knew the organizer of the Sperry auction and decided to take a chance on it.

“We should be able to put a value on our manure because it’s worth more than what we were moving it for,” he said. “We felt this may be the best way to do it.

“We felt that it was successful. I think it’s something we intend to do on an ongoing basis.”