Land Application

With increasing regulations, the livestock producer needs to understand the scientific principles that affect manure transformations and how to use these principles to manage the manure for maximum fertilizer value with minimal environmental impact. Improved land application of manure is one part of the solution, but we suggest that the producer evaluate the quantity of nutrients arriving on the farm as feed, animals, and fertilizer compared to the total that is exported.

Monday, April 26, 2021

Variable Rate Manure Applications Based Upon Management Zones

There are many challenges associated with variable rate manure applications such as variable nutrient content within the manure source and nutrient availability, application equipment, and prescription methodology. However, in many cases, these challenges are outweighed by environmental and economic benefits from variable rate manure applications.

Friday, March 19, 2021

Manure Phosphorus and Water Quality

Chesapeake Bay experiences summer algae bloom connected with excess phosphorus.

Manure produced in animal feeding operations is a source of fertilizer that can be used to reduce our dependency on commercial fertilizers. Manure contains several essential nutrients that crops that crops rely on to grow, most notably nitrogen and phosphorus. Proper management of manure before, during, and after land application helps to slow down the contamination of our streams and reservoirs.

Monday, March 8, 2021

Got Manure? Need Manure? – There’s an App for that!

The UNL manure team has been working on building an app to connect the public to the manure people they need, and maybe learn a little bit about manure along the way. Our goal with the app is to enable folks to find a manure applicator, broker, advisor, or resource person in their area. We’ve been testing and updating, and we think it’s ready for its full debut! The app is available for both Android and Apple devices.

Friday, January 15, 2021

Bringing Manure Application to the Digital Age

Combined display of GPS technologies and real-time constituent sensing during manure application

Current manure application practices have little to no precision application capabilities compared to other modern agricultural equipment. Due to some recent emerging technologies being released on the market, manure application is finally joining the digital age. This article summarizes these new precision manure application technologies.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

2021 Land Application Training Shifts to Hybrid Learning

The Animal Manure Management team has opted to change the format of live Land Application Training events this year. In February and March, the team will host a series of three1.5-hour long zoom sessions that will serve as the first portion of initial land application training. Recertification training and the last segment of initial training will be held at a later date, hopefully in-person. Anyone is welcome to participate in the zoom sessions, but participation at each session will be limited to keep them interactive and informative.