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Home > AFO Strategies for Source Water Protection > Reactive Solutions for Managing and Treating AFO Wastes

*Source Water Protection

Land Application of Solid and Liquid Animal Wastes

Numerous sources of useful information on nutrient management and manure land application are available below:

AFO Virtual Information Center for Nutrient Management (USEPA website) - includes links to numerous sources of information on nutrient management and manure land application
Managing Manure Nutrients at Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (USEPA. 2004a) - technical guidance implementing CAFO Rule requirements, including land application methodology.
USDA NRCS Agricultural Waste Management Field Handbook (USDA, 1999) includes guidance on land application of manure in Chapter 11
NRCS nutrient and pest management info - nutrient management tools and info
CNMP Watch - is a good source for information designed to help AFOs and other agricultural producers with the process of developing and writing of CNMPs. Includes summaries of state CAFO programs.
NRCS CNMP Technical Guidance - handbook with guidance for Comprehensive Nutrient Management Planning
The Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship (LPES) Curriculum provides a series of articles on land application and nutrient management
Purdue Animal Manure Solutions: Lots of web links, tools and articles on manure management
Ohio State University - lots of links to other related websites
North Carolina State University - a list of related publications
Ohio Livestock Manure and Wastewater Management Guide - descriptions of a wide variety of measures
Best Management Practices: Land Application of Animal Manure - 10-page report from Ohio State University Extension
Manure Management Planner Home Page - a Windows-based computer program used to create manure management plans for crop and animal feeding operations. This planner currently supports 31 states by automatically generating fertilizer recommendations and estimating manure N availability based on each state's Extension and/or NRCS guidelines.
Confined Animal Production and Manure Nutrients - contains USDA farm census data (Noel Gollehon et al., 2001). This publication used census of agriculture data to estimate manure nutrient production and the capacity of cropland and pastureland to assimilate nutrients on a regional and county-by-county basis throughout the US. Water utilities can use this to determine if they are located in a region where nutrient output exceeds input, and thus there may be a reason to be concerned about nutrients from agriculture. Note that the opposite is not a given; i.e., just because there isn't an excess of nutrients does not mean nutrients couldn't be an issue of concern.

Summary:

Land application of livestock manures for plant uptake and crop production is a traditional practice, and most animal waste produced in the US ultimately ends of being applied to crop and pasture land as fertilizer. Nutrient management plans should be prepared and implemented that specify the timing and location of land application of manure nutrients at agronomic rates, and require maintenance of appropriate records. In many cases the nutrient management plans and manure land application schedules are completed with assistance from the USDA NRCS, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and other similar organizations.

Nutrient analysis of soils is used to determine the nutrients already available for plant needs, and analysis of the manure waste provides information on its nutrient content. This information is combined to develop accurate fertilizer recommendations for applying the needed amounts of nutrients without applying much excess. Applying animal waste at the time of maximum nutrient uptake by the crops will help reduce the release of nutrients to surface runoff and percolation into groundwater, and decrease the amount of manure needed to fertilize crops (thus saving fertilizer costs for the farmer). A complete plan will include identification of the fields to be used, design specifications for the waste delivery system, selection of appropriate necessary equipment, determination of application rates, volumes and locations, analysis of the value of the recycled waste, standard operating procedures, labor requirements, and equipment maintenance schedules (USDA, 1999).

Delivery of the manure to the root zone can enhance plant nutrient uptake and minimize residual losses to the environment. If possible animal wastes should not be applied to saturated, frozen, or snow-covered ground. The degree of flexibility for timing of land spreading waste in accordance with these criteria is largely dependent on available storage capacity as well as climate and weather conditions. When possible, it is good to till in manure, especially when land applied in the fall in colder climates. Periodic calibration of solid and liquid manure spreading equipment is also important for ensuring that the correct amount of manure is applied.

In some geographic areas, the amount of animal waste produced is greater than the amount that can be utilized by the crops in the area, at least without overdosing specific nutrients (such as phosphorus). In such cases, alternative uses for the manure may be explored, and programs may be developed to help move excess manure out of the source water protection area to farms that can use the manure. Such a program in the Eucha/Spavinaw watershed in Arkansas and Oklahoma matches the needs of poultry growers with farms outside of the watershed that can use the chicken litter as manure. This program has helped reduce the excessive amount of manure that was being spread within the watershed and causing water quality problems in the drinking water source reservoirs.