This webinar highlights one tool that provides resources to support livestock production and expansion, as well as two others that focus on manure application planning and making the best use of manure available. This presentation was originally broadcast on May 19, 2023. Continue reading “Models & Tools to Improve Manure Management”
Improving Air Quality In and Around Livestock Facilities
Air quality in and around barns can negatively impact animal and worker welfare. This webinar will discuss ways to overcome these challenges. This presentation originally broadcast on April 21, 2023. Continue reading “Improving Air Quality In and Around Livestock Facilities”
Moving Manure and Mortalities after Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
This webinar shares research and guidance on minimizing the risk of virus movement through manure and mortality management. This webinar also explains the roles technical advisors can play in response to an outbreak. This presentation originally broadcast on March 17, 2023. Continue reading “Moving Manure and Mortalities after Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza”
Manure and Soil Health: Current Research and Future Directions
This webinar highlights literature reviews and studies to reveal what is known now and how the results are currently and will continue shape future research on soil health and manure’s effect on it. This presentation originally broadcast on February 17, 2023. Continue reading “Manure and Soil Health: Current Research and Future Directions”
Carbon Markets for Livestock Operations: Manure Treatment and Handling
The first in a series of 3 webinars, this presentation introduces the fundamentals of carbon emissions, as well as technologies, practices and market opportunities available to agricultural producers are critical to that transition on the livestock operation. This presentation was originally broadcast on November 18, 2022. Continue reading “Carbon Markets for Livestock Operations: Manure Treatment and Handling”
Use of Vermifiltration as a Tool for Manure Management
This webinar discusses the science and economics behind the use of worms in the processes of composting (i.e., vermicomposting) and treatment of wastewater and manure liquid waste stream (vermifiltration). This presentation was originally broadcast on May 20, 2022. Continue reading “Use of Vermifiltration as a Tool for Manure Management”
Promoting Manure Composting for Livestock Operations
Purpose
While both raw and composted manure benefit soil health and crop production, there are benefits to creating and land-applying composted manure over raw manure. Product uniformity, volume, weed seed, pathogen and parasite reduction and nutrient stability are just a few of the benefits. However, composting manure in Minnesota and North Dakota have yet to gain popularity.
A group of compost producers, who ultimately became our producer cooperators and partnered with us for workshops, were consulted on the reason composting manure is not more common. One said, “It is lack of understanding and time management that holds most other farmers back from composting manure; they do not know how much composting can help their operation.” Another mentioned, “When I started researching composting for my farm, I took a three-day class in Illinois because there wasn’t anything available in North Dakota or Minnesota. Most farmers are not willing to travel that far. There is a need for composting education programs in the two-state area.”
What Did We Do?
NDSU Extension partnered with the University of Minnesota Extension with the original plan of holding four workshops in two years (two each in ND and MN). When implications from the COVID-19 pandemic ensued, we changed our plans to host an online workshop in 2020 and were able to continue with two in-person workshops in 2021.
The online workshop consisted of 13 videos that were sent to registrants 2 weeks before an online, live discussion was held in August 2020 with the presentation team as well as 3 producer cooperators. One of the videos consisted of on-farm interviews with each of our producer cooperators to show the registrants the ability to manage compost differently with similar results. The videos are still available and have been viewed collectively 1,845 times.
The in-person workshops were held in July and August of 2021. Each workshop covered the same material as the online workshop and all three producer cooperators attended each event. The producer cooperators were responsible for helping attendees with the compost diagnostics activity as well as answering questions during a panel discussion.
What Have We Learned?
Online Workshop
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- 180 people registered for the online workshop and 50 joined the live discussion with presenters and producer cooperators
- 43 responded to the immediate follow-up survey where
- 76% thought the self-paced format was excellent
- 64% thought the amount of material was excellent
- 62% thought the topics covered were excellent
- 15 months after the online workshop, 21 people participated in a follow-up survey and as a result of the workshop, 58% reported they had altered their manure composting practices.
- When asked what manure composting change(s) they made, 58% reported they improved their operations adding,
- “I have more confidence in my ability to compost successfully and have a better understanding of the environmental impacts of composting.”
- “I no longer have to pay someone to haul away our waste”
- “Although not composting on a commercial level, I manage several community gardens where large volumes of biomass are accumulated. After learning additional techniques, my piles were hotter and decomposed more quickly. The key? More moisture!”
Moving the workshop online for the first year allowed us to fully engage our producer cooperators. The online workshop resulted in participant comments such as,
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- “Well organized and executed. Appreciated that videos were individual by topic area, short, and focused. That allowed me to watch what was relevant and fit it into my day more easily.”
- “Really enjoyed the discussion and interaction between the three cooperators. Also appreciated having enough time to flesh out the information, i.e., didn’t try to squeeze it into one hour.”
Though an in-person meeting would have allowed more hands-on experience, the online version reached a broader audience with attendees from 31 states and 3 countries.
In-person Workshops
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- 31 people attended the in-person workshops in ND and MN, of which 10 participated in a 4-month follow-up survey
- 67% of those who made changes as a result of the workshop stated they started composting manure
- 100% of those who did not make changes were either agency or university Extension/research personnel who reported the workshops impacted them, their work, and/or their relationship with their clients by:
- “Allowing me to be more educated about manure composting so that when producers inquire about composting I am able to give them accurate information.”
- “Using workshop information to inform clients of another manure handling method to consider; composting.”
- 31 people attended the in-person workshops in ND and MN, of which 10 participated in a 4-month follow-up survey
The workshops, both online and in-person, facilitated discussion and mutual learning among experienced and novice composters of livestock manure.
Future Plans
Questions about static composting were asked during both the online and in-person workshops. This practice is not common in North Dakota or Minnesota so there is certainly a future learning and workshop opportunity.
Authors
Mary A. Keena, Extension Specialist, North Dakota State University
Corresponding author email address
Additional authors
Chryseis Modderman, Extension Educator, University of Minnesota; Melissa L. Wilson, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, University of Minnesota; William J. Gale, Extension Agent, North Dakota State University
Additional Information
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- Online Composting Workshop Videos YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnn8HanJ32l6uhwdS9m-G1z8Bq1U0aJzF
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- Two compost-related publications for producers were created for use while at the compost rows:
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- Manure Composting Quick Guide (NM2047)
- Common Manure Composting Problems and Their Solutions (NM2046)
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Acknowledgements
This project was funded by North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NC-SARE).
The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2022. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth. Oregon, OH. April 18-22, 2022. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.
Trends in Manure Sample Data
Purpose
Most manure book values used today from the MidWest Plan Service (MWPS) and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) were derived from manure samples prior to 2003. To update these manure test values, the University of Minnesota in partnership with the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, is working to build a dynamic manure test database called ManureDB. During this database construction, the University of Minnesota collected manure data spanning the last decade from five labs across the country. Trends, similarities, and challenges arose when comparing these samples. Having current manure test numbers will assist in more accurate nutrient management planning, manure storage design, manure land application, and serve agricultural modeling purposes.
What Did We Do?
We recruited five laboratories for this preliminary study who shared some of their manure sample data between 2012-2021, which represented over 100,000 manure samples. We looked at what species, manure types (liquid/solid), labels, and units we had to work with between the datasets to make them comparable. Once all the samples were converted into either pounds of nutrient/ton for solid manure or pounds of nutrient/1000 gallons for liquid manure, we took the medians of total nitrogen, ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N), phosphate (P2O5), and potassium oxide (K2O) analyses from those samples and compared them to the MWPS and ASABE manure nutrient values.
What Have We Learned?
There is no standardization of laboratory submission forms for manure samples. The majority of samples have minimal descriptions beyond species of animal and little is known about storage types. With that said, we can still detect some general NPK trends for the beef, dairy, swine, poultry manure collected from the five laboratories in the last decade, compared to the published book values. For liquid manure, the K2O levels generally increased in both the swine and poultry liquid manure samples. For the solid swine manure and solid beef manure, total N, P2O5, and K2O levels all increased compared to the published book values. The solid dairy manure increased in P2O5 and K2O levels, and the solid poultry manure increased in total N and K2O. See Figure 1 for the general trends in liquid and solid manure for swine, dairy, beef, and poultry.
Table 1. Manure sample trends 2012-2021 compared to MWPS/ASABE manure book values. (+) = trending higher, (o) = no change/conflicting samples, (-) = trending lower
| Liquid | Total N | NH4–N | P2O5 | K2O |
| Swine | o | o | – | + |
| Dairy | – | o | – | o |
| Beef | o | o | o | o |
| Poultry | o | + | – | + |
| Solid | Total N | NH4–N | P2O5 | K2O |
| Swine | + | o | + | + |
| Dairy | o | o | + | + |
| Beef | + | – | + | + |
| Poultry | + | o | o | + |
Future Plans
The initial data gives us a framework to standardize fields for the future incoming samples (location, manure type, agitation, species, bedding, storage type, and analytical method) along with creating a unit conversion mechanism for data uploads. We plan to recruit more laboratories to participate in the ManureDB project and acquire more sample datasets. We will compare and analyze this data as it becomes available, especially more detailed data for each species. We will be designing ManureDB with statistical and data visualization features for future public use.
Authors
Nancy L. Bohl Bormann, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Minnesota
Corresponding author email address
Additional authors
Melissa L. Wilson, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
Erin L. Cortus, Associate Professor and Extension Engineer, University of Minnesota
Kevin Janni, Extension Engineer, University of Minnesota
Larry Gunderson, Pesticide & Fertilizer Management, Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Tom Prather, Senior Software Developer, University of Minnesota
Kevin Silverstein, Scientific Lead RIS Informatics Analyst, University of Minnesota
Additional Information
ManureDB website: http://manuredb.umn.edu/ (coming soon!)
Twitter: @ManureProf, @nlbb
Lab websites:
https://wilsonlab.cfans.umn.edu/
https://bbe.umn.edu/people/erin-cortus
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program [grant no. 2020-67021-32465] from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.
The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2022. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth. Oregon, OH. April 18-22, 2022. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.
Characterization of Innovative Manure Treatment Components
Purpose
Improvements in manure treatment/nutrient management are an important need for dairy farms to move substantively towards sustainability. This project quantifies several individual manure treatment components and component assemblies targeted to address farm/environment needs. Project outcomes should help dairy farms to make better-informed decisions about manure/nutrient management systems.
Societal demand for farms to reduce their environmental impact is driving the need for improved and cost-effective manure/nutrient management options. Dairy farms may need advanced manure treatment systems to be economically, environmentally, and societally sustainable.
What Did We Do?
Specific treatments being evaluated include anaerobic digestion, active composting, sequencing batch reactors, solid-liquid separation systems including, screw press separation, dissolved air floatation, centrifuging, and solid treatment systems including bedding recovery units and pelletization. We are working with a farm that has an anaerobic digester and screw press separators. They have been planning to install a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) system. The farm was approached with an in-vessel composting technology “active composting” to determine if it could effectively convert portions of the digested separated liquid flow to a stabilized solid that could be pelletized and exported, while the liquids could be further treated to become dilute enough to be spray irrigated on a limited acreage.
What Have We Learned?
We learned that although the active composting process was able to quickly produce stabilized high solid content material from a variety of mixes of digested separated liquid and dried shavings, the energy needed ranged from $9 to $14 per cow per day. Through volume/time calculations, the pumping system from the reception pit to the digester and the post digestion pit to the separators varied although the % solids were consistent. Doppler flow meters purported to be able to measure manure did not give consistent volume results. Screw press solid liquid separation can result in a bedding product with relatively low moisture (60%) from anaerobically digested dairy manure. Determining an optimum manure treatment system for dairy manure will be difficult given the variability from farm to farm.
Future Plans
Specific treatments yet to be evaluated include: anaerobic sequencing batch reactors, solid liquid separation systems including dissolved air floatation (DAF), centrifuging, and solid treatment systems including bedding recovery units (BRU) and pelletization. Covid supply chain issues and travel restrictions have slowed progress. The DAF system can be directly analyzed as it is installed on the dairy. A neighboring farm has a BRU that will be sampled and analyzed. Data from a centrifuge and pelletizer will be obtained from the literature. Putting the process in a treatment train will be explored on a spreadsheet.
Authors
Peter Wright, Agricultural Engineer, PRO-DAIRY, Cornell University
Corresponding author email address
Additional authors
Lauren Ray, Environmental Energy Engineer, PRO-DAIRY, Cornell University
Curt Gooch, Emeritus Senior Extension Associate, Cornell University
Additional Information
We have completed several fact sheets including Manure Basics, Advanced Manure Treatment – Part 1: Overview, Part 2: Phosphorus recovery technologies, Part 3: Nitrogen recovery technologies, and Part 4: Energy extraction. These are available at: https://cals.cornell.edu/pro-dairy/our-expertise/environmental-systems/manure-management/manure-treatment
Publications: Peter Wright, Karl Czymmek, and Tim Terry “Food waste coming to your farm? Consider where the nutrients go and manure processing for nutrient export” PRO-DAIRY The Manager, contained in Progressive Dairy Vol. 35 No. 5 March 12, 2021
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a joint research and extension program funded by the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (Hatch funds) and Cornell Cooperative Extension (Smith Lever funds) received from the National Institutes for Food and Agriculture (NIFA,) U.S. Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS) paid for the sampling that was funded by a grant to RIT from by the Environmental Protection Fund as administered by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.
The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2022. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth. Oregon, OH. April 18-22, 2022. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.
Frequency of Germinable Weed Seeds in Poultry Litters of North Carolina
Purpose
With high input costs in 2022, many farmers are looking for affordable sources of nutrients. Poultry litter is in high abundance in areas of intense poultry production, such as North Carolina. However, a common concern for farmers is whether poultry litter will carry weed seed onto their farms. With the need to better distribute nutrients throughout these areas, the transport of poultry litter is necessary. Overcoming the concern about weed seeds is critical to improve these nutrient imbalances. Therefore, a germination study was conducted on 61 random poultry litters collected across North Carolina to determine the presence of viable weed seeds.
What Did We Do?
A series of 61 poultry litters were submitted to NC State University for testing, collected from industry representatives and Extension Agents across the state. Poultry litters were diluted with potting media to allow for germination of any existing weed seeds at a 9:1 (potting media:litter) ratio on a dry weight basis. Germination studies were then conducted using 20 g of the potting media-litter mix, replicated 5 times. Positive controls included potting media alone, and potting media mixed with poultry litter to verify there was no inhibitory effect of the poultry litter on germination. Both positive controls were spiked with one of three weed species at varying rates: 50 mustard, 50 rye, or 30 sicklepod. Additionally, three subsamples (20 g) of 10 of the poultry litters were wet sieved using three sieves with 2.8-, 1.0-, and 0.4-mm mesh sizes and dried at 35 °C. Seeds were counted under a dissecting microscope, and when located, seeds were removed and tested for viability using the imbibed seed crush test as described by Borza et al. (2007).
What Have We Learned?
Germination studies suggest small numbers of viable weed seeds, as only one seed germinated from unspiked samples. However, total weed counts suggest there can be high total seed numbers in the litters, with an average seed content of 1.17 seeds/100-g. Additionally, approximately 15% of the seeds collected were viable.
Future Plans
We intend to continue researching this topic and hope to further understand the impact of stockpiling, litter management, and handling on viable weed seeds in litter sources.
Authors
Stephanie B. Kulesza, Nutrient Management and Animal Waste Specialist, NC State University
Corresponding author email address
Sbkulesz@ncsu.edu
Additional authors
Ramon Leon, Weed Biology and Ecology Specialist, NC State University
Miguel Castillo, Forage Specialist, NC State University
Stephanie Sosinski, Forage Lab Technician, NC State University
The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2022. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth. Oregon, OH. April 18-22, 2022. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.