Supplemental protein has historically been the most expensive component in beef cattle diets. However, over the past 20 years with the rapid expansion of ethanol production and distillers grains supply, rations have changed.

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.

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.

The 2021 Nutrient Management Record Keeping Calendars are now available from Nebraska Extension. Tracking manure application rates, part of the calendar’s record keeping tools, is important for getting the maximum crop nutrient value from manure and documenting one’s environmental stewardship.

One of the key rules of manure management is to pump and spread manure whenever weather and field conditions allow so that you can maintain storage capacity in case of inclement weather. Unfortunately, “perfect manure application weather” is rare and seldom lasts as long as you need it to. So, if you’re heading into winter with a manure storage that hasn’t been pumped down as much as it needs to be, consider these tips when planning for application.