With silage harvest coming up quickly, manure application will soon follow. Because silage is often the first crop to come off the field, it allows for earlier manure application and thus an earlier cleanout of pens before winter. As that manure application plan develops, include best stewardship practices for optimum rates and preferred application methods in final decisions.
In April, I traveled to Ohio to attend the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community’s Waste to Worth Conference. A highlight of this year’s conference is that the first day we all got to tour area farms and businesses that are doing great things with manure or other waste products.
Nebraska Extension is calling on municipalities, lawn care companies, farmers and others to donate or sell wood chips, hay, lawn waste and other carbon sources to livestock producers hit hard by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
The prices of synthetic fertilizers have increased significantly over the last year leaving growers and even homeowners facing the decision of finding alternative sources of nutrients. One great option is the use of manure or compost from a local farm or from your own operation. The use of manure in gardening can loosen compacted soil, increase carbon in the soil, and reduce surface runoff and leaching all while providing nutrients that your plants need. While this option is great, it is important to be aware of the potential carry over of herbicides in manure from grazing animals.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) has changed recommendations for crediting nitrogen following manure applications for field crops. New research has shown that most manures are similar changing the organic-nitrogen availability factors.
