By Bruce Cochrane.
The Executive Director of the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative, is encouraging farmers to keep in mind the Four-P Framework when considering fertilizer application on tile drained lands.
"Manure Application on Tile Drained Lands" was among the topics discussed as part of Prairie Livestock Expo last month in Winnipeg.
John Carney, the Executive Director of the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative, says with tile drainage the first consideration is where is the water going to go, soil type will affect whether tile drainage is right for you, and the topography of the land and crop rotations are also considerations.
John Carney-Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative:
I think the Four-P Framework of right source, right rate, right time and right place come into play, not only with normal fertilizer manure but also with manure application on tile drained lands.
I think one thing that deserves special consideration when applying manure on tile drained lands is the issue of preferential flow.
What that is where there's earthworm burrows or roots that cause channels from the surface down towards the tile drainage.
If there's either water or liquid manure that gets into those macro-pours it can become a shortcut or a rapid conduit from the surface down to the tile drainage and nobody wants liquid manure going into tiles so preferential drainage would be particular thing to be aware of with manure application and so liquid manure shouldn't be applied when the tiles are running or when there's a precipitation event expected that will result in the tiles running.
The other thing that a producer can do is to till the soil at or just before the time of manure application to break up those macro-pours.
Carney says we want to keep the nutrients on the filed where they're going to help our crops and keep our environment clean so we don't want nutrients wasted or going where they shouldn't.
Source: Farmscape