For nearly 18 months, Alberto Dairy has used worm beds to appropriately manage their manure, retain nutrients and reuse wastewater.

Manure is the linchpin of biocircularity in dairy production systems, with the nutrients in cow manure recycled to the land to produce crops that are utilized as animal feed. 

Manure is a gift and a curse for dairy farmers. It becomes the dark cloud for dairy operations, being the source of time constraints, nutrient runoff and financial strains. Finding methods and approaches that bring consistency and flexibility to applications is often hard to find. That was, until conservation agriculture.

As manure applicators, we should know how many gallons or tons we are applying to an acre and should have corresponding documentation. The question is: “How do we determine the rate?”

Completing manure analysis at a certified lab might be more important than expected in 2023.

Manure is a great source of fertilizer in today’s agricultural industry. It supplies a healthy dose of the primary nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). I will refer to P2O5 (phosphorus oxide) as P and K2O (potassium oxide) as K going forward.