Manure Management Issues

There was a time in the not to distant past when farms were relatively small and every farm had some sort of livestock to utilize the crops grown on the farm.  As farms have gotten bigger, producers have specialized and agricultural production on any given farm has gotten to be much less diverse.  This has become an issue especially in areas with large livestock farms and small cropland acreage.  On large livestock farms, nutrients are transported into the system from long distances away in the form of feed.  Some of these nutrients are converted into meat, poultry, milk, and eggs, but the leftovers from the animal's digestive system in the form of manure become and issue in the form of manure.

Traditionally manure has been land applied as close to the source as possible.  Over time, nutrients, especially phosphorous can become concentrated on a small area.  Good livestock farmers everywhere are looking for ways to deal with the issue of nutrient re-distribution.  We support livestock producers in their efforts.  Sometimes it seems that Comprehensive Nutrient Management plans are way to difficult.  A soil test is a good place to start when deciding what to do with manure.

This article in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation gives a government agency viewpoint of manure management in the Chesapeake Bay Area.  One of the issues that they raise is the fact that nutrients from small farms may contribute disproportionately to nutrient loading in the bay.   This information sort of indicates that we are moving closer and closer to almost repressive regulation.  I hope everyone is doing all they can to avoid this.