Journal of Nutrient Management (ISSN# 2690-2516) is published four times annually in February, May, August, and November by W.D. Hoard & Sons Company, 28 Milwaukee Ave. West, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin 53538 Tel: (920) 563-5551. Email: info@jofnm.com Website: www.jofnm.com. Postmaster: Send address corrections to: Journal of Nutrient Management, PO Box 801, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin 53538-0801. Tel: (920) 563-5551. Email: info@jofnm.com. Subscription Rates: Free and controlled circulation to qualified subscribers. For Subscriber Services contact: Journal of Nutrient Management, PO Box 801, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin 53538, call (920) 5635551, Email: info@jofnm.com.
We live at a time when we can seemingly track everything with the right technology, from the steps we take to our heart rate to our sleep score. Constant data tracking is not for everyone, but information like this can have a positive impact on people trying to make healthy life changes.
Farmers have always used data tracking in one way or another. Some basics, like average daily gain, calving interval, or annual milk production, have been around for decades. But now, using technology, farms can drill down to the nitty-gritty details, measuring feed intake, water consumption, lying time, body temperature, eating patterns, and much more. Nutrient application involves a whirlwind of data, as we strive to measure the nutrients in manure and what fields need so that every gallon can be best utilized.
This type of information and the technology used to track it may not fit every farm, but it benefits animal health and productivity on operations that have embraced it.
When the government shutdown began Oct. 1, it halted the release of most USDA data reports. These reports shed light on harvest progress, export sales, cold storage inventories, milk production, and beyond. While this data gap is likely not affecting day-to-day farm operations, the broader agriculture industry faces uncertainty in the absence of these crucial reports. USDA collects and shares data used by producers, packers, processors, and traders to make informed decisions about inventory, pricing, and future planning. Without this information, markets must rely on anecdotal evidence and private data sources, which can open windows for speculation and misinformation. This underscores the value of good data.
A need for unbiased, science-based information is what drove W.D. Hoard, our publishing company’s founder, to launch Hoard’s Dairyman magazine 140 years ago. He believed in the value of practical research and impartial advice to help farmers care for their animals and their land and to run a profitable business. To
this day, we strive to include unbiased, proven research in our three magazines.
This does not mean we believe that everything proven in a laboratory or research plot will work on every farm. There are practices we write about in the magazines that would not work on our own Hoard’s Dairyman Farm, and there are things we do on our farm that may not work for others. During countless farm tours, I’ve explained to visitors that our dairy is not a research farm or a demonstration farm — it is part of our business, and it helps keep our editorial team connected to production agriculture. So, like many of you, our farm manager is sorting through data and recommendations to find what works for our farm. What we hope is that the pages of our magazines serve as a trusted source of information for you to find those ideas, practices, and technologies that are just the right fit.
In this season of thanks, I extend my gratitude to our readers who work hard every day to support agriculture in some way. I appreciate the authors who take time to write for us, and I am grateful for the farmers who allow me to share their stories so that others may be inspired to try something new. I am thankful for the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of W.D. Hoard as an editor, and I hope you found some valuable takeaways in the magazine this year. As we wrap up another year, I wish you good health, farming success, and moments of joy this holiday season.
Until next time,
Abby Let us know your thoughts. Write Managing Editor Abby Bauer, 28 Milwaukee Ave. West, P.O. Box 801, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538; call: 920-563-5551; or email: info@jofnm.com.
POLICY WATCH
UNITED STATES
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reopened the nation’s roughly 2,100 Farm Service Agency offices on Oct. 23. Offices had been closed since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1. Limited staff is available to resume core functions such as loan processing and facilitating access to about $3 billion in assistance from existing programs.
Earlier in October, President Donald Trump indicated that his administration was working on a bailout package worth at least $10 billion to provide relief to farmers facing financial impacts from the trade war with China. Details are still uncertain.
WISCONSIN
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals recently ruled that the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has the authority to require that CAFOs obtain water pollution permits. In 2023, the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Litigation Center sued the DNR on behalf of two dairy lobbying groups, arguing that agency rules that require CAFO permits and regulate stormwater runoff from farms were inconsistent with state and federal law. However, last year, a county judge ruled in favor of the DNR, and in August, a three-judge panel upheld the lower court’s decision.
The Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) program mandates a permit for any entity that discharges pollution into the state’s waterways. According to state law, an application for a WPDES permit must be made within 90 days of becoming a CAFO. Permits must be renewed every five years.
WORLD
Several of the world’s largest food companies, including Nestlé, Danone, and Kraft Heinz Co., announced a partnership called the Dairy Methane Action Alliance in 2023. The goal was to reduce methane emissions from their dairy suppliers. However, this fall, Nestlé left the alliance without giving a reason for the move.
Ten companies are still members of the alliance. According to an article in Bloomberg, the group plans to move forward in its efforts to cut methane emissions.
NEW YORK
Over $25 million was awarded to fund 50 projects in 20 counties across New York. This is a record level of funding granted in one round of the state’s Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution Abatement and Control Program, provided through the Environmental Protection Fund and for the first time, the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act. Funded projects include manure storage, vegetative buffers, and cover crops.
Maximizing manureapplied nutrients
Manure is a valuable source of many nutrients, but the ability to use manure nitrogen as a commercial fertilizer replacement offers the biggest bang for the buck.
by Greg LaBarge
s fertilizer prices climb, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, the economic benefits gained from manure-applied nutrients escalate. The ability to reduce fertilizer inputs to the crop enterprise provides an incentive to move manure further and invest in equipment to complete the task in new application windows. Moving manure to new fields also adds micronutrients and organic matter, which improves soil health.
While we know the value that phosphorus and potassium from manure have for soil nutrient management, it is the ability to capture nitrogen to support crop needs that pays the bills for transport and application equipment.
A worthy substitute
Manure-sourced phosphorus and potassium is a pound-for-pound equivalent to commercial fertilizer, and we apply it based on soil test levels. We can target higher application rates (within environmental restrictions) to build low soil test fields or use crop removal rates to maintain soil nutrient concentrations.
One knock on manure is the inconsistency of nutrient levels during application. We can manage rate inconsistency so that crop yield is not at risk by using grid or zone soil sampling strategies and a sampling interval of at least once per rotation (every two to four years).
The ability to utilize manure nitrogen to replace commercial fertilizer is the most economically beneficial use of manure nutrients. The Ohio State University Extension corn and wheat enterprise budgets indicate that the nitrogen
cost for corn will be 17% ($97 per acre) and 22% for wheat ($56 per acre) of the variable production cost for the 2026 crop. If we can substitute manure nitrogen into the system, we can redirect this expense to the manure application.
Manure provides many nutrients, but the ability to use its nitrogen to replace commercial fertilizer yields the most economic benefit.
In nutrient use efficiency, the “four R’s” — right rate, right placement, right timing, and right source — are used to focus on plant uptake efficiency. The amount of crop-recoverable nitrogen from manure application depends on the timing and placement
of the application. The three common application timings of late summer and fall, spring, and during the growing season all impact the amount of manure nitrogen that can replace commercial fertilizer.
Nitrogen applied in liquid manure is in the ammonium (NH4+) form. Ammonium is fairly soil stable, but soil bacteria convert ammonium into nitrate forms, which are subject to leaching and denitrification loss. Because the conversion requires soil bacteria activity, soil temperature can be used to manipulate manure nitrogen retention. At soil temperatures of less than 50°F, bacterial activity slows. Thus, the amount of crop available nitrogen for corn or wheat from summer and fall applications improves when based on how quickly soil temperatures drop to less than 50°F. The closer the application is to soil temperatures below 50°F, the more nitrogen is maintained in the soil.
In the field
A two-year project to quantify spring available soil nitrogen and reduced nitrogen sidedress rates with fall-applied swine manure was conducted at our Northwest Agricultural Research Station. Rates of 5,000 and 8,000 gallons of swine manure were applied on Oct. 7, 2020, and Dec. 8, 2021, and then the acres were planted to corn in the following growing season. The date when the 2-inch soil temperature declined to less than 50°F was Nov. 12 in both years.
Soil samples were collected in June of each year and analyzed for nitrate-nitrogen (N) content. A control treatment of 185 pounds of nitrogen with no manure was used for comparison.
Figure 1 shows the June soil nitrate-N concentrations and the resulting corn grain yield. In both years, the soil nitrate-N concentration was significantly higher than the unmanured control. The fall manure applications were sidedressed with 135 and 95 pounds of nitrogen for the 5,000- and 8,000-gallon rates, respectively. A nitrogen rate of 185 pounds per acre was applied to the control field.
The resulting corn yield was not significantly different between the three treatments in 2021; however, these yields were achieved at a reduced commercial fertilizer nitrogen rate. In 2022, the 8,000 gallons of manure and 95 pounds of applied nitrogen were significantly higher yielding than the 5,000-gallon fall manure rate and con-
trol treatment. Like 2021, the manure treatments produced the same or higher yields with less commercial fertilizer nitrogen applied.
Evaluating the soil
A pre-sidedress nitrogen test (PSNT) is a useful tool for evaluating soil nitrogen in the spring. Previous Ohio research has identified that nitrate-N test result of 10 parts per million (ppm) or less is a background level and a full nitrogen rate is required to meet corn nitrogen needs. When nitrate-N is greater than 25 ppm, no additional nitrogen is required. Between 10 and 25 parts ppm, a reduced nitrogen rate is justified.
Current recommendations reduce the nitrogen rate by 30 pounds when nitrate-N soil concentrations are between 11 and 15 ppm, 50 pounds between 16 and 20 ppm, and 90 pounds between 21 and 25 ppm. The study shown in Figure 1 indicates a rate reduction of at least the recom-
mended numbers, and doubling the reduction for each PSNT category could be justified.
Finding its place
Another factor in preserving manureapplied nitrogen for crop use is to consider placement. Surface applications result in volatilization losses that reduce the crop available soil nitrogen. In a oneyear trial in 2016 where a 5,000-gallon-per-acre rate of swine manure was applied before planting, both in a surface and incorporated placement at the same rate, soil nitrate-N and final corn yields were reduced.
The nitrate-N soil concentration was 13 ppm for the surface application and 37 ppm for the incorporated treatment. Corn yields were 135 bushels per acre compared to 162 bushels per acre for the surface and incorporated treatments, respectively. The lesson is that incorporation conserves nitrogen for crop uptake with spring-applied manure.
June pre-sidedress nitrogen test (PSNT) results (left) and corn grain yields with PSNT-adjusted nitrogen rates (right) using fall-applied swine manure at two rates.
(bu/ac)
Corn yield response to sidedress nitrogen rate for fall manure compared to no manure application. Summary of eight trials conducted in 2022 and 2023 in Northwestern Ohio. The blue diamond symbol represents the agronomically optimal nitrogen rate and the yield achieved at that rate
A study conducted in 2022 and 2023 provides some information for the question of what sidedress nitrogen rate is needed to maximize corn yield after fall-applied manure. The study used eight sites where fall manure was applied and eight sites with no manure application. At corn sidedress timing, a range of nitrogen rates (from 0 to 250 pounds of nitrogen) was applied. Figure 2 shows the average corn yield for both treatments across all the trial sites.
We define the nitrogen rate that maximizes crop yield as the agronomically optimal nitrogen rate (AONR). In the fall-applied manure treatment, corn yield was maximized at an AONR of
120 pounds of nitrogen per acre with a 208 bushel per acre yield. Where no fall manure was applied, the AONR increased to 160 pounds of nitrogen per acre with a 184 bushel per acre yield.
Working with Mother Nature
Applying manure to growing corn and wheat to provide the nitrogen needed from manure has become common in Ohio. In corn, swine manure is a source that can meet the nitrogen and phosphorus removal needs of a two-year crop rotation through the application of manure. Dairy manure requires additional nitrogen, so a manure test will come into play to determine what nutri-
ents are needed to match the crop’s needs. However, the in-crop application hits the four R’s well and is the best use of homegrown nutrients.
The weather dependence of manure application logistics cannot be ignored. They limit what we can do in given windows. Planning to hit application timing and placement to maximize crop available nitrogen is the greatest agronomic benefit we can capture from manure-applied nutrients. ■
The author is a professor and field specialist at The Ohio State University.
Figure 1. Pre-sidedress nitrogen test results and subsequent corn grain yields
Figure 2. Corn yield response to sidedress nitrogen application rate
A CASE FOR KEEPING MANURE CLEAN
Stored manure is packed with nutrients, but it can also contain some unwanted elements. This includes garbage, which will eventually be scattered across crop fields. In a recent University of Nebraska Extension article, extension educator Leslie Johnson offered advice on how to keep trash out of manure.
“We all know that a good, clean manure application is important for soil health, crop performance, and even how our operation looks to others,” she wrote. “But getting there takes more than just spreading what’s in the pit or pile.”
Johnson said it starts with the feed source. A big culprit of garbage in manure is baler twine and net wrap. While it is faster to just grind a whole bale without removing the twine or wrap, when those materials get into the feed mixer, they end up in the feedbunk. Not only is this a health hazard for the livestock eating that feed, but the leftover twine or wrap often ends up in manure. It can damage application equipment and will eventu ally be spread across the field. This can make the farm look messy, and it can also harm wild animals that eat the plastic, leading to injury or death.
“Take an extra minute to remove that wrap or twine properly,” she advised. “It’s a small step with a big impact.”
Johnson also recommended setting aside time for regular pen inspections. Look for dropped gloves, lost ear tags, windblown feed sacks, or broken tools that got left behind.
She also touched on proper mortality management. If not composted prop erly, bone and tissue from decompos ing animals that end up in manure pits can clog up pumps and spreaders.
“When manure is clean, equipment runs smoother, spreader beaters are less likely to jam, and hoses don’t plug as often,” she noted. Foreign objects in manure are not just a risk to manure equipment; materials left in the field can get wrapped around balers, planters, or combines during the next harvest season, slowing
progress during a busy time of year.
“A little bit of maintenance up front saves a lot of frustration down the
road,” Johnson summarized. Prevent breakdowns and future messes by keeping manure clean.
DIVING DEEP INTO PLANT AVAILABLE WATER
How much can we influence the plant available water in soils? Let’s break down what plant available water is and how it can be improved.
by Izze McNamee, Mallika Nocco, and Amber Radatz
Plant available water is the maximum amount of water a plant can extract from the soil. It can also be an indicator of soil health. Building the water holding capacity of your soil can make your farm more resilient in drought years because the soil can provide more water during dry conditions.
After a big rainfall, when you hear soil squelching under your boot, and it is difficult to walk or drive a tractor through, the soil is at saturation. This means all the air pores in the soil are filled with water (Figure 1, left). Water that drains quickly from macropores (larger pores) after saturation is called gravitational water. The force of gravity is stronger than the bonds between soil particles and water molecules (adhesive bonds) and the bonds between water molecules (cohesive bonds), so the water drains. This can take anywhere from a few hours to days, depending on the soil properties.
Filled to capacity
After draining, the amount of water remaining is the soil moisture at field capacity. Water is held in the soil by cohesive and adhesive bonds that are strong enough to resist the pull of gravity. Macropores drained their water and the mesopores (medium-sized pores) and micropores are full. This is the “upper limit” of plant available water (Figure 1, left dashed line).
The soil moisture held at field capacity is drawn down as water is either taken up by plant roots or evaporated into the air. After time and with no additional replenishment, the only remaining water is held by adhesive bonds between water mole-
Saturation Plant available water
Unavailable water
Field capacity
Permanent wilting point
Thresholds (dashed lines) determine the different categories of soil moisture. Plant available water (middle) is water that plant roots can take up.
cules and soil particles or organic matter. These bonds are so strong that plant roots cannot “pull” the water away from the particle surface, and therefore, this water is not accessible to plants. This is referred to as the permanent wilting point (Figure 1, right dashed line) because plants will wilt beyond rescue in this condition. If you’ve experienced crop loss because of prolonged drought, it is because your soil was at its permanent wilting point.
Crunch the numbers
Plant available water (PAW) is the amount of soil moisture held in the window between field capacity and permanent wilting point (PAW = FC - PWP), shown in the center of Figure 1. It can be expressed as a fraction or percent (volume
of water per volume of bulk soil), or as a water depth (such as inches) for a given depth of soil (for example, 0 to 12 inches). Consider this example: In a plano silt loam soil, the field capacity may be 30% and the permanent wilting point 15%, so PAW = 30 - 15 = 15%. If we know the effective rooting depth of the crop, we can calculate the inches of PAW for that depth. If the effective rooting depth for corn is 36 inches, 0.15 x 36 = 5.4 inches of plant available water. However, even within the window of PAW, not all water is equally accessible to plant roots. When soil water levels deplete to 50% of PAW, photosynthesis can slow down, and the plant begins to be water stressed. This is because the pores in which water is stored are get-
Figure 1. The stages of soil moisture
ting smaller and smaller as plants draw water down. Plants draw water from the larger mesopores first as it is most easily available for passive uptake by roots.
What determines availability?
Soil texture is the single-most important determinant of PAW because it is both the starting point and fundamental limitation over the size and distribution of soil pores. That said, both soil structure and organic matter content can also be determinants of PAW because they influence field capacity and permanent wilting point by changing pore size distribution.
Finer textured soils like clay hold more water at field capacity and permanent wilting point (Figure 2, right side) than coarser textured soils like sands (Figure 2, left side). The distance between soil particles is smaller in clay soils than sandy soils, meaning more water can be held with cohesive and adhesive forces at field capacity. There is more total surface area on all the soil particles combined in clay soils than sandy soils, creating more locations for adhesive bonds between soil particles and water, and thus, a higher permanent wilting point in clays.
Soil structure, or the arrangement of soil particles within the soil, influences PAW through its effect on field capacity. A well-structured soil will have more soil aggregates, creating a greater variety of pore sizes, many of which are the large pores between aggregates that hold a lot of water but do not drain due to gravity. A poorly structured or compacted soil will have more medium to small pores that hold water more tightly and few larger pores that hold more water. Organic matter helps form and stabilize aggregates, creating more pore sizes to store water.
While you can’t change soil texture, you can build soil organic matter to improve aggregation and structure, which could make more water available to plants. This effect is more pronounced in coarser textured soils than in finer textured soils, and increases in PAW are primarily due to enhanced field capacity. Building soil organic matter can also improve soil functions, like infiltration. Practices like no-till and cover crops help build soil aggregates and improve soil structure, boosting the PAW of your soil.
capacity
How soil moisture at field capacity (solid line), permanent wilting point (dashed line), and resulting plant available water (shaded area) change with soil texture.
Source: Brian Huntley
The authors are all with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. McNamee is a Division of Extension Agriculture Water outreach specialist, Nocco is an assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, and Radatz is the Division of Extension Agriculture Water Quality program manager.
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Figure 2. Soil moisture levels change with various soil textures
Sandy loam Loam Silt loam Clay loam Clay
The forgotten FOUNDATIONS OF FALL
There are certain nutrient planning tasks that should not be pushed aside, even during the hectic harvest season.
by Scott Fleming
Fall is the busiest time of year on farms. The “boys of fall” find a heavy load to carry between the planning, persistent dayto-day chores, harvest tasks, application, and tillage added to the regular to-do list. Piling onto the stress of the fall rush, farm decisions made in autumn will have lasting consequences for the year to come.
While data collection may not seem as vital as seeding winter rye, the key to any nutrient management plan is
high-quality data and excellent documentation. And despite our best wishes, if the majority of nutrient management plan data are not obtained during the fall rush, the opportunity to compile this information vanishes quickly.
Update soil tests
Soil testing should be at the top of everyone’s mind when it comes to fall nutrient management tasks, and I’m not just saying that because I work for a soil analysis laboratory. The soil test
and its results are the basis for all planning — whether regulatory or agronomic in nature. In most situations, quality soil samples can be obtained in spring or fall. But when it comes to planning, the majority occurs in the winter months and demands current soil samples for task completion.
The soil is always present in the field, but the ability to pull high-quality, representative samples is not. This is one of the greatest reasons for developing a soil sampling strategy before harvest.
First and foremost, samples should be pulled prior to tillage. Tillage disturbs the soil and makes it difficult, if not impossible, to pull accurate soil samples. The greatest problem with tilled soils is pulling samples at the correct depth due to surface roughness. The fluffy soil also doesn’t sample as consistently as virgin soil, leading to bad soil probe cores and, consequently, inaccurate results.
Samples should also be pulled prior to manure application. The thought process behind this is quite simple: Manure is full of valuable nutrients, and these nutrients will become part of the soil sample if collected after manure application. This leads to an overestimate of the available nutrients in the soil. An artificially high soil test phosphorus value is also likely to lead to increased regulation. While regulations are valuable for fields testing high in phosphorus, the increased regulation would not be warranted because of the artificially high soil test value created by manure application.
Don’t dismiss solid manure
Liquid manure is generally the greatest fall manure application task and, therefore, demands the most attention. Solid manure details are often forgotten when winter rolls around but are just as valuable as liquid when it comes to supplying crop nutrients and need tracking just the same.
One of the greatest difficulties in solid manure application is tracking the rate. There are no flow meters or rate controllers when it comes to applying solid manure. It is still old-fashioned speed and flow rate. Giving your nutrient management planner an accurate manure application rate is often an educated guess
when the plan is developed in winter. With proper fall data collection, this estimation can be replaced with accurate details. Calibrating spreaders or, at the very least, citing the number of loads each field receives is vital information to capture at the time of application. Information on calculating the applied rate can be obtained with a quick internet search. It all comes down to knowing the weight of the load and the area covered.
Based on a quick survey of fellow planners, collecting a manure sample from solid manure is the most forgotten item in all nutrient management plans. While it may never be known why solid manure samples are often omitted, it is likely because of the relatively small volume and the difficulty in obtaining an accurate sample. A representative sample requires more effort than just walking up to a pile of manure and grabbing some fecal matter.
The best samples are pulled from the field after the manure has been applied, using the tarp method. Once again, previous articles or a quick web search will yield the finer details of that method. At its core, it involves applying manure on a tarp to get an even mix of what is applied to the field. This will help eliminate the sorting and sample biases created by grab sample methods.
When the depths of fall fury are in full force, the details of solid manure application are often forgotten. When was the manure applied? Was it incorporated? How soon after application was it incorporated? These questions are vital for proper documentation.
Detailed records not only help accurately estimate the risk of nutrient loss but also help determine nutrient credits. All of these small details play a big role
in estimating nutrient credits, especially when fertilizer costs are high — why not account for all applied nutrients?
Land additions and subtractions
In today’s farming climate, land is changing hands at a rapid pace. With the rush to apply manure or perform tillage on recently acquired land, it’s easy to forget that it is necessary to add the new fields to a nutrient management plan. First, be sure to let your planner know that a new farm was obtained. The planner will set priorities in motion to get the land added to the plan and soil sampling started. Manure and fertilizer rates cannot be determined without this scientific baseline.
The other important task on the planner’s plate with any new land addition is developing restriction maps. Restriction maps are not just a guideline, but a rule, when it comes to applying nutrients.
Unfortunately, losing land is also part of the modern farming environment. Inform your planner that land will be removed from the system. The planner can then determine if manure rates must be reevaluated due to the changing land base. The lost land will be noted in the annual nutrient management plan update, but generally, there are no additional requirements.
The fall season is never easy. Details are often forgotten when the “big” tasks are on your mind. Keep these items, and your nutrient management planner, in mind when the rush is on. The farm team will thank you in February!
The author is a nutrient management specialist and sampling director at Rock River Laboratory in Watertown, Wis.
To reduce energy costs, the Freunds installed 1,200 solar panels on their
Manure bloomed into something more
This East Coast dairy has taken manure from the barn to gardens around the world in a unique way.
by Abby Bauer, Managing Editor
n unusual idea shared at a group meeting more than 25 years ago sent the Freund family and their dairy farm down a path of innovation and change that included the addition of a new business and a few brushes with fame along the way. This helped their family farm continue to develop in an area where herd growth wasn’t an option.
“In the early 1950s, it made all the sense in the world to be next to a river,” said Amanda Freund of the location near East Canaan, Conn., where her paternal grandparents, Eugene and Esther Freund, started farming in 1949. “But by 2000, that location was a lot less desirable.”
With a river that quite literally dis-
sects their farm and a feed pad sitting right next to it, the Freunds worked extensively with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) over the years and fully embraced the environmental programs available to them. They also partnered with a group of livestock farmers to form the Canaan Valley Ag Cooperative with a focus on
resource management. The farms were all located in the same watershed, and the state’s governmental leaders were growing increasingly concerned with agriculture and manure’s potential impact on water quality. Their proximity to a large population base in the Northeast made nutrient management even more imperative.
Each year, the group would gather with government officials, Connecticut Department of Agriculture staff, NRCS employees, and others to talk about current problems and possible solutions. These annual meetings brought different
freestall barn.
perspectives to the table, Freund noted. During one conversation about manure processing, a state employee from the Department of Agriculture asked, “Why don’t you make a flower pot out of it?”
The idea went in one ear and out the other for most at the meeting that day, but it resonated with Freund’s father, Matt, whose wife, Theresa, happened to own a garden center. That question got him thinking, “Why can’t we do this with our manure?”
Exploring the possibilities
Matt and his brother, Ben, followed in their parents’ footsteps as owners of Freund’s Farm, and improved manure management has always been one of their priorities. Looking for a way to keep manure in a slurry state year-round, they installed one of New England’s first anaerobic digesters nearly 30 years ago. Manure is scraped from the barn’s alleys and trucked to the plug flow digester. A screw press
then separates the solids from the digester effluent. The solids are used as bedding for the cows, and the liquid is applied to fields using draglines. “The installation of the digester made us more efficient in how we handled nutrients,” Freund explained.
For nearly three decades, the Freunds captured the biogas and burned it as renewable fuel. At its prime, the digester was providing enough gas to heat the farm’s hot water needs and the farmhouse. Today, the digester maintains its own heating needs.
Beyond bedding, the Freunds also started selling the solids as garden fertilizer to customers through their Freund’s Farm Market and Bakery. This is Theresa’s farm store that also includes 10 acres of gardens and a few greenhouses. People purchased the solids a pickup truckload at a time, and while it was not a big money maker, Freund said it moved some nutrient off the farm.
With this fiber source on hand
and idea in mind, the Freunds went through years of trial and error as they researched the fibers in manure to create the perfect flower pot. They did their own research on site and also partnered with professors and students at the University of Connecticut and Cornell to test their prototype.
Eventually, CowPots were born. The Freunds’ patented process forms the digestate into biodegradable pots that are free of weeds and seeds and dissolve in the ground after planting, leaving behind nutrients for young plants. Their first 3-inch and 4-inch pots were sold in 2006. Today, CowPots come in 15 different shapes and sizes and are sold across the U.S. and internationally.
In the early years, pots were manufactured in one bay of the farm’s machine shop until a new building was constructed in 2008. The CowPots equipment was assembled by Matt Freund and a retired engineer. They designed it to be versatile, and all their current
product offerings can be built with this machinery except for two that are made on the original pilot machine.
The production facility was designed to be zero-waste stream, explained Freund, with the only outputs being the finished product and water vapor from drying the pots. All used water is recycled and pots that don’t get packaged are reused as bedding and will eventually return to the manure system, becoming CowPots once again.
Production times have varied over the years depending on demand. The manufacturing facility currently runs five days a week for half the year. Their production employees make CowPots during the fall and winter and then spend spring and summer working in their retail business.
From the barn to the small screen
The Freunds packed their first CowPots into the back of the family’s van and drove around to garden centers trying to build their customer base. Catalog companies were also eager to advertise their product, Freund noted, and that was a great way to make sales back then. Today, CowPots are sold through distributors, retail customers, and their website.
While social media and the internet have many benefits, in some ways, it can be more difficult to capture people’s attention in this digital era, Freund noted. Although finding ways to promote their product to potential customers is still a work in progress, the fact that they are turning a waste stream into something valuable has opened the door to some fun marketing moments
“The whimsical nature of the product allows us to have some really cool opportunities,” Freund said. “It doesn’t take a lot of explanation for people to embrace the appeal of the product.”
Some may remember her father on an episode of the show “Dirty Jobs” with Mike Rowe. They also appeared on the “Today Show” and the “Martha Stewart Show,” and CowPots were featured in an article in The New York Times. CowPots’ most recent claim to fame came in the form of an episode of “Shark Tank.” On this show, entrepreneurs pitch their products to a panel of wealthy business investors. If a contes-
tant is successful, one of the “sharks” will make a deal for part ownership in their company.
Freund did not fill out an application to be on the show; her marketing consultant secretly applied for her. But alas, the application for a flower pot made from cow manure caught the production crew’s attention, and they followed up with Freund for a 30-minute call.
Over the next few months, Freund went through a series of meetings with the show’s casting team where they collect details and prepare candidates for their potential pitch. Freund noted that the process was extremely well organized, but it was also very time consuming as she met with the production team frequently and really dug into the gritty details of the CowPots operation. “I became a lot more familiar with the finances of our businesses through this process,” she said.
Freund did not find out she was invited to give her pitch until two weeks before the show’s taping, which took place in Los Angeles in September 2024. She could not tell anyone about the preparation and taping because she signed confidentiality agreements, and the filming experience was fast paced and intense. “It was one of the most stressful things I have ever done,” she shared.
The episode aired on April 4, 2025, at
the height of gardening sales season. While the bump in sales after the show was brief, Freund was grateful to have the media exposure for their business.
If you watched the episode, you witnessed Freund accept a deal from Kevin O’Leary, known as “Mr. Wonderful” on the show. Following the recording, both parties did their due diligence, but a deal was not made between the Freunds and O’Leary after all. Freund said they were okay with that outcome.
“This operation is not a start-up,” she explained. “This is my dad’s legacy.” Before the show, she said they thought long and hard about how much of the business they’d be willing to split off and what they would need from a partner to skyrocket the business. “At the end of the day, I got what I wanted out of the experience,” she noted, which was an opportunity to introduce their product to a broad audience.
The show did open the door to some new business contacts. It also connected them with a family member, her great-grandmother’s niece who lived in California. The woman reached out after she saw the episode on television and ended up making the cross-country trip to visit the farm and family she hadn’t met before. Freund said it was a special moment that would not have taken place if it weren’t for the show.
Connecticut dairy farmer Amanda Freund demonstrates how seedlings can be planted in their CowPots made from recycled manure fibers.
Finding future pathways
Ten years ago, there were five members of the farm’s third generation sitting around the table with hopes to come back to the dairy. But over the years, plans changed, and after much thought, no family members decided to pursue farm ownership.
That opened a door for Ethan Arsenault, a young man from New York looking for an opportunity to farm. In search of someone to take over the farm, the Freunds called their friends Lloyd and Amy Vaill of Lo-Nan Farms in Pine Plains, N.Y. The Vaills partnered with Arsenault to form Canaan View Dairy in 2022. Together, they bought the 300-cow herd and rent the facilities from the Freunds, which includes an automated milking system and robotic feed pusher.
The Freunds continue to be involved in managing the dairy’s manure stream and the CowPots business. While Freund is excited about the future and the potential for their product, there are some hurdles that need to be addressed.
A big one is that the farm’s anaerobic digester, their fiber source, has far surpassed its life expectancy. The digester wears the title as the nation’s oldest operating digester, which is impressive but creates challenges as it does not function at its full potential anymore. The Freunds are looking into a replacement, but it is a huge investment, especially for a farm their size.
As for CowPots, Freund said the past 20 years have been a wild ride. “I wish I could say I had all the things figured out,” she said. However, they continue their uphill climb to build a customer base through avenues such as trade shows. At this time, Freund believes they are the only biodegradable pot manufactured in the United States. CowPots are an alternative to plastic and peat, which takes years to regenerate. Meanwhile, manure is produced on the dairy every single day, and being able to use that manure to make CowPots — and potentially other products in the future — is what excites Freund.
“I think this is the next generation of sustainability,” she said. “There are so many products that make claims about being renewable, recyclable, sustainable, or natural. This is what we are doing. We are taking a by-product from a dairy farm and transforming it into pots, but I also think about all the other purposes this product could serve.”
She is passionate about the impact dairy farms can have in this sustainability movement. “The capacity and opportunity and value that dairy farms can deliver goes well beyond the milk that leaves in a tanker,” Freund emphasized. “There continues to be so much critical attention on animal agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions. It’s such a narrow look at what a dairy farm has to contribute. By design, a dairy farm is meant to produce food, but it is so much more.”
She used Canaan View Dairy as an example. “For this farm to be a source of food, fertilizer, renewable energy, and a sustainable solution to plastic is really exceptional,” she said. “I just wish it wasn’t so hard to get more people on board to embrace this.”
Freund is motivated to carry on her family’s farming legacy and promote agriculture as a whole. Their dairy story has taken some creative turns along the way, and what started as one little idea bloomed into so much more. In a world looking for more sustainable solutions from agriculture, CowPots may be just the beginning for Freund and her family and what they can create with hard work, determination, and a little bit of cow manure. ■
MANURE SEPARATORS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL.
Every dairy farm has one. Every dairy farm needs one. And you have options. But when it comes to the most efficient, highest performance, greatest cost-to-value, there’s only one option. SAVECO products are designed to be the very best. You deliver the milk. We’ll deliver you one of the best business decisions you’ll ever make. Call us at 224.441.4204, and start turning a problem into a better dry solids solution.
When manure becomes an asset
The economics behind dairy nutrient management often hinge on scale, diversification, and stability.
by Yuri Calil, Wang Xiao, and Zong Liu
Manure has changed roles. What was once an unavoidable waste is now a potential source of energy, fertilizer, and income. The paradox is clear: Manure can drain a farm’s finances or drive new profit. Which side prevails depends less on technology and more on economics, scale, and policy.
Farmers invest in manure systems only when the math works. Environmental goals matter, but profitability ultimately decides. Research across the country shows that economic feasibility remains a key driver of adoption. Technologies such as anaerobic digestion, composting, and nutrient recovery can turn waste into value, but only when revenues offset costs and risk.
Scale makes the difference
Size tends to spread out the heavy capital and operating costs of manure management. Research across the U.S. suggests that the break-even point for most anaerobic digesters is around 1,000 cows. Farms with 3,000 or more animals often show positive net returns and even double-digit internal rates of return. Smaller dairies rarely break even unless they receive grants or share facilities through cooperatives.
In simple terms, scale unlocks efficiency. Building and maintaining a digester can cost over $400,000. Annual operating expenses often exceed $50,000. These numbers explain why systems serving fewer than 500 cows often need cost-share assistance to survive, while some larger farms can stand on their own.
Recent industry estimates suggest that the total investment for a dairy
digester can range from $2,000 to $4,000 per cow, depending on design, herd size, and integration with other systems. Once operational, digesters may generate several hundred dollars per cow per year in combined reve -
nues from energy, tipping fees, and co-products, about $600 to $800 per cow per year. Operating costs typically account for a portion of that revenue, often in the low hundreds per cow (perhaps $150 to $350 per cow per year), leaving modest but positive margins under favorable market and policy conditions.
These ranges align with broader economic patterns reported in the literature — manure-to-energy projects require high upfront capital but deliver relatively steady, medium-term returns once established. For developers and investors, those margins can appear
competitive; for individual farmers, profitability still depends heavily on program incentives, financing terms, and access to carbon or renewable energy credits.
Stacking revenues for profit
Even big projects rely on multiple income streams. Power from biogas typically yields only $50 to $150 per cow per year, barely meeting the 12% hurdle rate most farmers expect. Successful systems combine several cash flows: electricity or renewable fuel sales, tipping fees for processing food waste, carbon credits, and digested fiber reused as bedding or fertilizer.
The lesson is simple. Projects that depend on one market rarely last. Those that monetize energy, waste, and carbon together stand a much better chance. Modern digesters aim to capture every bit of value, turning methane into fuel, nutrients into fertilizer, and even waste disposal into a paid service. Multiple cash flows also reduce risk when one market softens.
Composting and pelletizing
Composting remains an affordable way to stabilize manure and reduce volume, but profits are thin. Only dairies handling manure from larger herds can typically sell compost competitively after accounting for labor, equipment, and compliance costs.
Pelletizing improves the picture. By drying and compressing manure solids into uniform fertilizer pellets, farmers can reach distant markets and com-
A digester adds value to manure but comes with high building and operating costs.
mand higher prices. Some models suggest payback periods of less than four years for large or regional operations. Success depends on reliable markets and efficient production, but the principle holds: Value-added processing makes manure management cleaner and more profitable.
A practical step forward
New technologies now help dairies recover nutrients more efficiently. A mid-sized dairy can benefit from a solid-liquid separation system, which captures much of the phosphorus and organic matter from manure. These systems reduce hauling costs, improve lagoon management, and lower nutrient loads on fields.
Advanced phosphorus recovery units, such as chemical or struvite systems, typically require a digester to function effectively. Solid-liquid separation, by contrast, offers a simpler and more affordable entry point for smaller farms. It is often the first step toward advanced systems once herd size or financing allows. When operated in compliance with regional water-quality standards such as total maximum daily load (TMDL) limits, these technologies help dairies meet environmental goals while improving operational efficiency.
The hidden engine of adoption
Policy support often determines whether a project succeeds. Cost-share and grant programs lower risk and accelerate adoption. In California, the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program (DDRDP) can fund up to half of the total digester construction costs, requiring producers to match the remainder. In practice, most projects receive closer to 30% on average, with funding per project averaging about $1.6 million per digester. These state-level programs have driven most of the digester growth in California.
At the federal level, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides smaller but meaningful support. EQIP cost-share rates vary widely by state and project type. In some documented cases, EQIP assistance has covered roughly 10% to 25% of total digester capital costs, while higher percentages (up to 50% to 75%) apply to smaller or conservation-focused practices. For most dairies, EQIP is best viewed as partial cost relief rather than full financing, helping close, but not eliminate, the profitability gap for manureto-energy systems.
Carbon markets and renewable energy credits further improve the outlook. Under strong credit regimes, such as those linked to low-carbon fuel or methane reduction programs, a typical digester may generate on the order of $300 per cow per year in credit revenue. The actual figure varies widely depending on carbon prices, capture efficiency, and ownership structure. In favorable markets, this income can exceed the value of electricity itself, turning once-marginal projects into profitable enterprises.
Farmers respond not just to the value of incentives but to their stability. A one-time grant helps start a project; predictable credit prices keep it running. Long-term contracts and transparent markets give investors confidence that returns
will endure. When policy aligns environmental goals with private returns, adoption follows.
Limits and outlook
Economic research is still catching up with practice. Many studies rely on older prices and assume static policy conditions. In reality, technology and markets move faster than the literature. Automation, improved gas yields, and new credit programs have already shifted the economics.
Still, the core truths hold: Scale drives efficiency, diversified revenue builds resilience, and stable policy bridges the gap between private cost and public benefit. When markets reward stewardship, sustainability and profitability can advance together.
Handled wisely, manure management turns waste into value and compliance into opportunity. Poorly structured, it remains a costly chore. As carbon and nutrient markets mature, the economics will continue to tilt toward innovation. Manure’s worth, once buried, is reappearing on balance sheets, reshaping how farms view both sustainability and profit. ■
The authors are all faculty members at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
AGRICULTURAL CONCRETE
A look at liquid manure
Nearly three decades of data show trends in micronutrient availability.
by Chris Clark
Manure is a nutrient-packed by-product with the ability to help fertilize fields. Liquid dairy manure contains a variety of beneficial macronutrients, but its micronutrient profile deserves equal attention. This includes secondary nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and sulfur, and micronutrients such as boron, copper, zinc, manganese, and iron. Micronutrients are vital for crop health, and liquid dairy manure provides a natural, cost-effective source.
Years of data
In a collaborative effort between the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, the Nutrient and Pest Management (NPM) Program, and AgSource Laboratories, liquid dairy manure micronutrient lab test data was reviewed by a team of manure experts. Liquid manure samples are those with a dry matter (DM) content less than or equal to 11%. This analysis included three data sets covering 28 years.
Big data sets can be powerful in identifying trends in variables of interest. Broad data analysis is beneficial for dairy studies because farms are diverse, varying across climates, soil types, management systems, sizes, dairy breeds, crop management, and feed rations. Once trends are identified, they can be investigated more closely on each farm. For this analysis, the exact age of each manure sample was unknown. Samples obtained represent likely scenarios for dairy manure management and ensure a representative and random subsample of dairy manure.
Dive into the micronutrients
Recent data sheds light on the micronutrient composition of liquid dairy manure. While most of our results reflect general trends reported pre-
Micronutrient demands and availability from manure
University of Wisconsin Division of Extension Agriculture Institute
viously, a few new observations were made (see table).
1. Over the 28-year period, three data sets of dairy manure samples from Wisconsin showed micronutrient values that were trending higher for calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, and manganese.
2. The overall highest rise across the 28 years was in iron. The reason for this jump was not determined. Yet, agronomically, slightly higher iron may make more iron available in soils with a pH over 7.5. This includes soils with naturally high pH that are found along Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.
3. Sulfur and boron levels dropped across the 28-year data sets.
Two long-term trends were especially noteworthy. First, manure content of sulfur and boron declined over the data sets, presumably reflecting “cleaner” processing of both dairy trace mineral and crop fertilizer micronutrient products and air quality. Dairies are no lon-
ger obtaining any “free” micronutrients as clean air means little to no sulfuric acid deposition from acid rain as in the past. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the reduction in total sulfur deposition (wet plus dry) in the Midwest was 81% from 2000 to 2002 and 2020 to 2022, a value of similar magnitude to that of wet sulfate deposition of 71%.
Second, the copper content of liquid manure samples continues to rise, reflecting continued or greater use of copper sulfate foot baths. This raises concerns about any long-term soil loading and potentially higher plant levels.
It’s best to test
We graphed the data and found trends for rising and falling levels of the secondary micronutrients for which Wisconsin liquid dairy manure is tested for in the lab (see figure). The high variability of manure content, however, indicates that these average values are
not reliable for nutrient management planning purposes. What they do is emphasize the need for on-farm manure data to determine application rates. It has long been thought that dairy manure typically contains enough key micronutrients, making it a beneficial amendment. However, the longterm data from this analysis underscores the need for farmers to check their own manure sources for nutrient value. Iron and zinc are usually present in adequate amounts to support crop growth. Manganese and copper levels are typically sufficient but may require monitoring to prevent toxicity. Boron and sulfur are present in smaller amounts, emphasizing the need for testing manure, soil, and plant tissue in high demanding crops looked micronutrients. By integrating
in dairy manure micronutrients
SIDE-SHOOTER BUCKET
Spreads sand or sawdust into freestalls. FLUFFER
FEED ALLEY SCRAPER
Aerates and levels bedding for maximum cow comfort and safety.
Keeps feed close to the cows. Rubber blade outlasts steel blades. Less vibration. EXPANDABLE SCRAPER
Adjusts to the full alley width, reducing the number of passes needed to clean the alley.
The author is a nutrient and pest management outreach specialist with the University of WisconsinMadison Division of Extension.
INVESTING IN OHIO’S WATER THROUGH H2OHIO
by Ohio Department of Agriculture staff
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine launched H2Ohio in 2019 to improve the quality of Ohio’s rivers, lakes, and streams for future generations. H2Ohio was designed to address the complex water issues facing Ohio, including removing harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, reducing phosphorus runoff from farm fields, and improving aging water and sewer systems.
H2Ohio is a collaborative initiative between the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), and the Ohio Lake Erie Commission (OLEC). Each department strategically addresses water quality with specific funding and projects. However, much of H2Ohio’s work is built around partnerships with the people who live and work on the land: farmers.
A focus on farms
Working closely with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), ODA incentivizes farmers to enroll their cropland acres into H2Ohio and implement proven, science-based, and cost-effective best management practices (BMPs) that focus on water quality. After six years, more than 3,200 producers have enrolled more than 2.5 million acres of farmland across the state, the highest level of participation to date.
Farmers know that clean water and healthy soil go together, and H2Ohio gives them the tools and support to make lasting changes. One of the four BMPs offered to producers is the voluntary nutrient management plan
(VNMP). The VNMP uses soil testing to determine the right amount of nutrients needed on farmland. It is the cornerstone of H2Ohio and is a requirement for all participants. Additional practices offered through the program are overwintering cover, subsurface phosphorus placement, and manure incorporation and utilization.
Putting plans in place
Livestock producers enrolled in H2Ohio are developing and implementing a comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP), which also considers the manure being produced on the farm. This plan aims to manage manure to reduce runoff risk, provide
insight into using manure as fertilizer, and replace inputs of commercial fertilizer on the farm.
All plans within H2Ohio are written and implemented to meet Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations and the NRCS 590 standard. ODA, local partners, agricultural retailers, and certified crop consultants work to ensure fertilizer is going only where it is needed for plant growth to help minimize the runoff risk of fertilizer leaving the field and entering waterways. To help support this work, ODA recently received a $1 million federal grant to fund four conservation agronomists located within ag retail facilities. These positions will assist in the enrollment and develop-
Through H2Ohio, farmers can apply for financial incentives that help them incorporate environmentally friendly practices into their operations, such as planting cover crops.
ment of VNMPs.
At the heart of delivering H2Ohio are SWCD staff on the local level. SWCDs help to administer participant contracts, provide technical assistance, and support producers with the implementation of BMPs. Providing leadership and assistance to farmers in their own community is critical to the success of H2Ohio. This trusted connection has been an integral part of H2Ohio’s accomplishments.
Delivering real results
Based on 2024 completed BMP data, ODA estimates that agricultural producers enrolled in H2Ohio reduced phosphorus runoff by more than 532,000 pounds in the Western Lake Erie Basin, which contributes significantly to the health of Lake Erie.
H2Ohio also incentivizes farm prac-
tices that improve water management and quality through drainage water management systems and conservation ditches. In addition, funding opportunities for agricultural retailers and crop consultants help support H2Ohio’s progress through the Technical Assis-
tance Reimbursement Program.
Clean water doesn’t just benefit farmers. It helps communities, wildlife, and industries that rely on healthy lakes and rivers. For farmers, many of these practices also improve soil health. Through H2Ohio, a voluntary program, farmers are choosing to make changes with cost-effective options and technical support.
H2Ohio has also already expanded from northwest Ohio to the entire state, and momentum is growing. As ODA continues to track nutrient reduction progress with modeling, monitoring, and edge-of-field data, a strong measurement of success is the estimated source reduction of phosphorus. All H2Ohio practices combined are making an impact on phosphorus load reduction from the source, indicating H2Ohio is progressing on the right course for long-term results.
MANURE MINUTE
MAKE IT CLEAR WHO TO CALL
When an emergency occurs, every second matters. Valuable time can be lost searching for instructions or contact information.
All farms should have an emergency response plan, especially one tailored to a manure spill or crisis. On a recent University of Minnesota Nutrient Management Podcast, Chryseis Modderman emphasized this need.
“I recommend everyone has a plan,” said the University of Minnesota extension educator. “Even if you’re a smaller operation, it’s important for your farm, your well-being, and the well-being of your employees and family.”
If your farm is not required to have an emergency response plan in a particular format, there are plenty of templates to work from. Modderman said to search “manure emergency response plan” online to find examples.
An emergency response plan should include important phone numbers. Of course, 911 is the number to call if there is human injury or immediate danger. Modderman said in Minnesota, the duty officer should be high on that list. The Minnesota Duty Officer Program provides a single answering point to request state-level assistance for emergencies, serious accidents or incidents, or for reporting hazardous materials and petroleum spills. The duty officer is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Other states may have similar response units.
When reporting a spill or accident, Modderman said the caller should be prepared to share the following:
• The caller’s contact information
• The location
• The date and time of the incident
• If a spill, how manure was involved and what has been done to mitigate the spill
• Any human or animal injury
The emergency response plan should also list the phone number for the county sheriff’s office and the local fire and ambulance service. Also important is a phone number for the state’s pollution control agency and the farm’s insurance company. If dirt needs to be moved, easy access to the Digger’s Hotline also saves time. Modderman said this is also a good place to list contact information for vendors for machinery, pumps, and so forth.
University of Minnesota researcher Nancy Bohl Bormann added that contact information for key individuals from the farm should be included. This tells people who they can call if the farm owner is not available.
Bohl Bormann also advised having the farm’s physical address listed on that emergency response plan in a visible place. “Applicators are traveling around. Making sure they at least have the address for the farm they are on is super important,” she emphasized.
LITTER BIOCHAR SHOWED BENEFITS
pair of Florida researchers set out to explore the use of poultry litter biochar as a nutrient source for crop fields. What they found were short-term and longterm benefits — especially in soils where nutrient leaching is a common issue.
Biochar is made from poultry litter that is first dried and then heated in a low-oxygen environment using a process called pyrolysis. After cooling, the biochar can be ground into a finer powder. Biochar can be applied to fields as a nutrient source and, because it is dried and condensed, it is easier to transport longer distances than poultry litter.
University of Florida’s Andressa Freitas and Vimala Nair compared the use of poultry litter biochar to fields that received either inorganic phosphorus fertilizer or no additional phosphorus (the control). Two locations were studied: one with sandy, well-drained soil and another with coarser, nutrient-challenged soil. The cropping system included rye, corn, and sorghum.
In both locations, the poultry litter biochar matched or outperformed the inorganic phosphorus fertilizer in cumulative crop yields. Corn had a particularly positive response
to the poultry litter biochar compared to the inorganic fertilizer, especially in the second year of the study. Corn is a nutrient demanding crop, so biochar’s ability to release phosphorus gradually may help deliver nutrients to corn at critical growth stages, the researchers noted. Rye and sorghum yield also benefited from the use of biochar compared to the inorganic fertilizer.
Plots receiving poultry litter biochar in the first year of the study had strong yields again in the second year, even with no additional phosphorus added. There was less residual effect from the inorganic phosphorus, making reapplication necessary to maintain yields. Therefore, the long-lasting impact of biochar could reduce input needs for farmers.
The researchers also found soil health benefits from the biochar, including additional macronutrients. Furthermore, its ability to release nutrients slowly reduces the risk of phosphorus runoff and leaching, making it a useful option for sandy soils that may struggle to retain nutrients. The research team noted that more studies are needed to determine application rates and understand the long-term effects in different environments.
Generations working together LAGOONSIDE
It’s never too early to start involving family members in the business if they want to be part of its future.
by Megan Dresbach
We are actively transitioning our family business from one generation to the next. There are two main components of that process: legal and emotional. At the end of the day, the emotional side is harder to work through than the paperwork.
Throughout this entire process, two key components are respect and communication. My siblings and I respect our father, and our father respects us.
My reasons why
I can’t tell you exactly why I wanted to be a manure hauler, and I have been asked that question many times over the years. The best response I have is that I like being outside, and my dad is my best friend.
Manure hauling is most definitely not a 9-to-5 job, and it required my dad to be gone a lot. Maybe at a young age I recognized the fact that if I wanted to spend time with him, I had to go to work with him. That wasn’t a problem for me. As a child, driving big pieces of equipment was fun, and I got paid to do it.
Yes, you read that right. This is a family business, but when my siblings and I went to work, we got paid. Our father’s philosophy was that the job had to be done, and he had to pay someone to be in that role. It didn’t matter if it was his child or someone else — that was the cost of doing the job. If our dad was making money, we made money, and like any other employee, we received a W-2 and paid taxes.
Bringing people in
We emphasize safety in our business. We do not just talk about it — we actually implement our standard operating procedures. As soon as we could vocalize that we wanted to work with
The Dresbach siblings: Kenton, Megan, and David.
Dad, he allowed my siblings and I to do age-appropriate tasks.
The first few years, the only appropriate task was being a passenger riding along in the equipment. As the years progressed, I began to earn job titles: pump operator at 8 years old; secretary and payroll manager at 12 years old; and tractor driver at 14 years old. I was eventually named vice president at the age of 18.
Along the way, my father delegated more tasks, and I consistently let him know I wanted to be part of the business. The communication was very clear that if I wanted to be involved in the business, I was welcome. It was my decision to come back, and I still have a option to stay or go. My father has made it clear that being here is a choice, not an obligation.
These are the steps my father used to plan for the return of children to the business. It involved a series of zones and potential responsibilities that are appropriate at various ages.
Zone 1 (Age 0 to 12): If the children are interested, give them age-appropriate tasks.
Zone 2 (Age 13 to 18): If the children are interested in the business, listen to them, but don’t force them to come back.
Zone 3 (Age 19 to 50): Give potential owners more responsibility, some decision-making authority, and try to make decisions by “committee.”
Put into practice
My brother is in his late 20s and I am in my early 30s, so we are in Zone 3. In almost all situations, my father does not make a decision without talking to us first. Most days, the three of us are in alignment and come up with the exact same solution. Of course, there are some days the three of us have three different plans, and it takes a bit of time to get on the same page. Those discussions can get loud, but we get our ideas out in the open, talk through our opinions, and arrive at a consensus. We are a family business after all, and we are moving our business forward.
This article contains content from my father’s succession speech that he presented to the North Dakota Manure Hauler’s Association. I’ll talk more about how our family is transitioning the business from one generation to the next in future articles.
If you want to go more in depth about what our family has done to aid in a smooth transition process, we will gladly talk to an individual or group wanting to learn more. Our contact information can be found on www. wdfarmsllc.com.
The author is the vice president of W.D. Farms LLC in Circleville, Ohio, and blogs as the Ohio Manure Gal.
AGRICULTURAL CONCRETE
JP Tank
317 Kohlman Rd.
Fond du Lac, WI 54937 920-948-2286
jptankconcrete@gmail.com jptank.com
Pipping Concrete N6106 County Rd. C Rosendale, WI 54974 920-948-9661
If you would like your event included on our list, please send details to info@jofnm.com.
FOLLOW THE FLOW OF MANURE PROCESSING
SMARTER MANURE MANAGEMENT STARTS WITH THE RIGHT PATH
To find success, your manure system must be thoughtfully planned and designed. Whether you’re updating your current manure system or planning a new one, consider the solutions and technology that fit your goals today and tomorrow. Use this guide to help follow the flow of manure throughout a dairy and get a better understanding of the role each component plays in achieving your manure processing goals.
1 MANURE CONVEYANCE SYSTEMS
Smart manure movement. Vacuums, tire scrapers, augers, flumes and flush systems
efficiently move manure from the barn for further processing.
Quick manure collection and removal
Low maintenance and reduced downtime
Consistent and reliable
*If bedding with sand, go to 2A If bedding with other materials, jump to 2B
4
MANURE AND BEDDING DRYERS
Drier bedding. Healthier cows. Happier outcomes. Whether you use manure solids, digester solids or sand, drying boosts bedding quality. Dryers reduce moisture, odor and pathogens.
Increase bedding dry matter
Improve cow comfort
Reuse solids effectively
DESIGN A MANURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR YOUR DAIRY
Scan the QR code or visit mclanahan.com to start a conversation with our team and learn more about complete manure system design and management. We help grow your dairy because we know your dairy.
2A
SAND SEPARATION SYSTEMS
Clean sand. Comfortable cows. Lower costs. Sand separation systems recover high percentages of sand and clean it for reuse, reducing costs and improving cow health. These systems are designed for all types of manure conveyance.
Reuse sand within days
Reduce bedding costs by up to 95%
Keep sand out of downstream processes, tanks and storage
5
STORAGE AND APPLICATION
Store smarter. Apply efficiently. Maximize value. Proper storage and timely application are key to unlocking the full value of manure.
2
ANAEROBIC DIGESTER
Digest efficiently. Manage cleaner. Reduce impact. Untreated manure can create odor issues, raise environmental concerns and complicate nutrient planning. Anaerobic digesters break down the organic matter of manure, reducing odor, stabilizing nutrients and shrinking the volume of material.
More predictable nutrient value
Lower hauling and treatment cost
Reduced nutrient loss and runoff
Better timing for crop uptake
Fewer trips, lower fuel and labor costs
3
SOLID SEPARATION TECHNOLOGY
Separate smart. Handle easier. Store better. Fine solids clog systems and increase hauling cost while reducing manure value. Solid separators, hydroclones and washboxes remove solids for smoother handling and a smaller environmental footprint.
