Manure and the Environment

Manure contains four primary contaminants that impact water quality: nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria and other pathogens, and organic matter. Achieving a nutrient balance will reduce potential environmental hazards often associated with animal agriculture. An annual crop nutrient management plan is needed to ensure an adequate supply of nutrients to sustain profitable crop production, and to balance nutrient inputs (including manure) with crop nutrient needs.

Odor Management

Odor emission is of great concern to the general public. An odor management plan is required in the permit application for livestock operations with more than 1,000 animal units. Producers need to understand odor emission from animal housing, manure storage and handling, and land application and available management options.

Controlling Emissions

Good stewardship calls upon livestock and poultry producers to limit emissions of air pollutants where feasible. Odor control practices and technologies may take several forms. Information on control strategies may focus upon the type of emissions controlled or the source of air emissions.

OFT Worksheet Version

Step-by-step instructions for using the worksheet version of the Odor Footprint Tool and an example completed worksheet are provided in the following documents.

Odor Footprint Tool

The Odor Footprint Tool (OFT) estimates the frequency of annoying odor events around an existing or proposed livestock facility and uses this information to determine minimum separation distances that should be maintained around those facilities and to help in siting decisions.

Air Quality

The University of Nebraska is addressing air quality issues associated with animal agriculture in several ways because good air quality is very important to Nebraskans.

EPCRA Emissions Rule for Livestock and Poultry

On December 18, 2008, the US EPA published a final rule that clarified which livestock facilities must report air emissions from their facilities. Animal agriculture was granted an administrative exemption from reporting air emissions that normally occur from raising farm animals under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Small Farm Issues

Many of the manure management and environmental resources and publications are written for large livestock operations. Yet, most of the farming operations in the US are small. In Nebraska, for example, nearly 70% of all beef operations are less than 300 head and 90% are less than 1,000 head.

Environmental Planning

Large animal feeding operations (AFO's) must follow regulations to protect water quality and preserve the environment. Smaller operations can help the environment as well. Livestock Producer Environmental Assistance Project (LPEAP) works with small farms to implement appropriate technologies and best management practices designed to protect water resources and our environment.

Siting Animal Facilities to Reduce Neighbor Nuisance

Wind direction and speed affect dust and odor risk. A first step in assessing and minimizing potential dust and odor nuisance risk of a livestock operation is identifying the most likely downwind directions. This article will share wind frequency data for 44 Nebraska locations to consider siting options for reducing these nuisances.

Manure Impact on Soil Aggregation

Manure increases formation of larger and more stable soil aggregates. Several benefits result for fields fertilized by manure compared to commercial fertilizer including reduced runoff and soil erosion and increased water infiltration leading to greater drought tolerance.

Manure Impact on Erosion and Runoff

This article reviews the value that results from changes to soil’s physical characteristics. Charles Wortmann and Dan Walters, faculty with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln monitored soil erosion, runoff, and phosphorus (P) loss from replicated field plots over three cropping seasons immediately after manure application and four subsequent years when no manure was applied. Significant erosion and runoff benefits were observed for sites receiving animal manures.

Improved Use Efficiency of Applied Organic Nitrogen

Land application of organic materials for soil management in Nebraska is important. The availability of applied organic N and the fertilizer N substitution values of applied organic materials is not well predicted. The uncertainty of applied organic N availability leads to over-application of fertilizer N resulting in low efficiency of applied N use. Research has been done to validate or adapt canopy sensor guided in-season N application practices for fields with manure or other organic material applied, and to improve the prediction of the fertilizer N substitution values for organic materials.

Manure contains four primary contaminants that impact water quality: nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria and other pathogens, and organic matter. Achieving a nutrient balance will reduce potential environmental hazards often associated with animal agriculture. An annual crop nutrient management plan is needed to ensure an adequate supply of nutrients to sustain profitable crop production, and to balance nutrient inputs (including manure) with crop nutrient needs.