Agricultural Production Animal Manure Management

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.

What Are the Barriers and Benefits of Manure Use in Cropping Systems? (part 1 of 2)

Understanding the agriculture community's perceptions of manure's benefits and barriers is important to recycling manure nutrients efficienty.  A survey of 957 individuals from the U.S. and Canada is helping us understand the next steps to encouraging manure's use as a valuable asset.
Animal manures can be a “valuable asset” or a “pain in the assets”. Understanding the agriculture community's perceptions of manure's benefits and barriers is important to recycling manure nutrients efficienty. A survey of 957 individuals from the U.S. and Canada is helping us understand the next steps to encouraging manure's use as a valuable asset.

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Can I Irrigate Animal Manures On Growing Crops?

irrigating manure in front of feedlot
High rainfalls can leave holding ponds or manure storage full and operators looking for irrigation options for applying animal manure during the growing season. This article discusses important considerations for application of open lot holding pond effluent and diluted manures during the growing season without damaging the crop.

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Extending the Manure Application Window: Post Plant Experiences

Glen Arnold’s 20-minute discussion of Ohio’s experiences with applying manure in corn after planting is available for viewing.
Extending the window for manure application offers many possible advantages. One can reduce some of the labor and equipment challenges associated with busy spring application windows as well as deliver nutrients to the crop more closely timed to the crop’s nutrient’s needs. Glen Arnold, Extension Specialist at Ohio State University recently met with a Nebraska audience to share field experiences in Ohio to side-dress manure into growing corn.

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Emergency use of milk as a fertilizer Q&A

Emergency use of milk as a fertilizer questions and answers.
Difficult challenges in the dairy industry such as those resulting from COVID-19 result in times when a market is not available for milk. When those occur, using milk as a crop fertilizer may provide a short-term option for gaining some value from milk. This article will answer several questions about using milk as a fertilizer.

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The connection between soil organic matter and soil water

Soil Aggregate
One benefit of increasing soil organic matter is to store more water in your soil. Why does this happen? Because soil organic matter creates pores in a range of sizes. Exactly how much more water is stored due to soil organic matter will depend on soil texture, though. Animal manures are one option for increasing soil organic matter and soil health.

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