I had the pleasure of knowing a soil scientist with USDA whose last project was completing the soil survey for Darke County, Ohio, where I live. He retired here, and we became good friends, sharing ou
Has the time finally come? I have worked with all types of livestock and poultry projects over the past 46 years and have come to the following conclusion: Nutrient management determines success or failure
Farming can take on many forms. In the early days, full tillage and “plowing it black” was the law of the land. Then came the early conservation tillage tools
Chickens, hogs, beef cattle, and dairy cows all produce manure. These various kinds of manures are valuable, but are they equally valuable? The answer to that question is absolutely not
If you ever want to “trigger” a group of livestock farm managers, ask them — off the record — to discuss how potentially fraught the relationship is with their custom manure hauling
I assumed to have seen everything of importance after 45 years of nutrient management. That changed in 2022. About a decade ago, I assisted a significant client in siting and permitting a fully i
In the last 20 years, many states have added requirements for record keeping of manure applications on farm fields. This is to make sure that applications are used effectively as plant nutrients and t
Historically, reduced tillage — defined as tillage that maintains plant surface residue and where nutrients are surface applied — was touted as the solution for phosphorus loss from agricultural
Large-bore traveling gun and center pivot irrigation systems have been used to apply treated lagoon water, liquid animal manure, and untreated slurry from swine and dairy farms
The concept of a manureshed was developed to describe the amount of cropland needed to use the manure nutrients produced by a livestock operation without negative environmental impacts
There is no certainty when it comes to farming. The only thing we can really plan on is that next year will not be the same as this year. The agricultural markets are a prime example of this. Com
Aaron Augustian said he and his brother, Todd, were looking to try something different with manure application when they were asked to join the Great Lakes Demonstration Farms Network a few years ago
Soil productivity is a function of several interacting factors including parent material, soil texture, drainage, pH, nutrient levels, and soil organic matter content
One of the enigmas of manure management is how to account for the nitrogen it provides after application. Some discount it altogether, assuming it has either all been lost or simply “unavailable.”