How do you calibrate a manure spreader?

Calibrating a manure spreader is critical to ensure that the appropriate rate of manure nutrients is being applied to a field. For some livestock operations, this practice may be a required practice as part of their permit. Calibration will differ depending on the equipment and type of manure being applied.

If you know the capacity of the spreader, you need to determine the width of each pass and the distance it takes to empty the spreader to determine the rate …

What’s the P Index?

The P Index is the Phosphorus Index, a risk assessment tool to quantify the potential for phosphorus runoff from a field. The P Index helps to target critical source areas of potential P loss for greater management attention. It includes source and transport factors. Source factors address how much P is available (for example, soil test P level and P fertilizer and manure application amounts). Transport factors evaluate the potential for runoff to occur (for example, soil erosion, distance and …

Manure Application in No-Till

livestock and poultry environmental learning center logo with cow, pig, and chicken sillhouettes over a map of the U.S. with three circling arrows

Novel Approaches to Manure Application in No-Till. This webcast features some of what has been learned about the agronomic, economic and environmental effects of several novel approaches to incorporating manure in no-till systems. This presentation was originally broadcast on September 17, 2010. More…

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Pennsylvania Low Disturbance Manure Incorporation Research

Doug …

Precision Phosphorus Feeding for Dairy Cattle

livestock and poultry environmental learning center logo with cow, pig, and chicken sillhouettes over a map of the U.S. with three circling arrows

Precision Phosphorus Feeding of the Dairy Cow. This presentation was originally broadcast on March 19, 2010. More…

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Dietary Nutrient Management: What Goes In, Must Come Out

Dr. Mark Hanigan, Department of Dairy Science, Virginia Tech (25 minutes)

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Presentation Slides

Precision Phosphorus Feeding

Manure Nutrients, Cover Crops, and Slurry Seeding

Cover crops are being promoted as a way to keep manure nutrients from leaching or running off during ‘idle’ months in the field. Coupling manure application and cover crops: Can it work and what are the benefits? This presentation was originally broadcast on January 15, 2010. More…

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The embedded videos can be viewed full screen by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner.

Coupling Manure Application

Snap-Shot Assessments of Nutrient Use on Dairy Farms Webcast

Snap-Shot Assessments of Nutrient Use on Dairy Farms. This presentation was originally broadcast on November 20, 2009. More…

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The embedded videos can be viewed full screen by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner.

Why Measure Nutrient Use Efficiency and Differences Between Confinement Dairies and Grazing Dairies

Mark Powell, USDA-ARS Madison, Wisconsin (12 minutes)

Presentation Slides
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Data Collection;

Snap-Shot Assessments of Nutrient Use on Dairy Farms

Nutrient Use Efficiency

Escalations in feed and fertilizer cost, and ebbing milk prices are motivating many dairy farmers to find new ways to improve nutrient use efficiency (NUE) on their farms. But how can NUE be determined and monitored easily on dairy farms, and what improvement in NUE can be realistically expected? Over the past several years researchers at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been developing and using rapid assessment methods to provide …

Copper Sulfate Foot Baths on Dairies and Crop Toxicities

Environmental Issues for Land Applying Copper Sulfate

A rising concern with the application of dairy wastes to agricultural fields is the accumulation of copper (Cu) in the soil. Copper sulfate (CuSO4) from cattle footbaths is washed out of dairy barns and into wastewater lagoons. The addition of CuSO4 baths can increase Cu concentration significantly in manure slurry, from approximately 5.0 grams per 1,000 liters to 90.0 grams per 1,000 liters. The Cu-enriched dairy waste is then applied …

Research Summary: Evaluation of a Synthetic Tube Dewatering System for Animal Waste Pollution Control

Research Purpose

The objective of this field study was to evaluate the performance of a Geotube® dewatering system under field conditions by quantifying the mass removal efficiency of solids, nutrients, and metals from well-mixed dairy-lagoon slurry dewatered by this system.

Activities

A Geotube dewatering system was set-up to treat the lagoon slurry mix from the primary lagoon of a 2000-head lactating cow open-lot dairy (Fig. 1). After two synthetic tubes were filled to a height of approximately 1.5 m with …

Ethanol Co-Products Impact on Manure Nutrient Management Webcast

The rapidly expanding ethanol industry is producing increasing amounts of corn co-products that will be used in livestock and poultry diets. Inclusion of distillers grains and corn gluten feed in diets alter excretion of nitrogen and phosphorous in manure and therefore impacts nutrient planning. This webcast will explain how feeding ethanol co-products may impact manure nutrient management. The speakers are Joel DeRouchey, Kansas State University who will discuss the impacts for swine and poultry operations. Considerations for beef and dairy …