By Melissa Wilson and Nancy Bohl Bormann et.al
It’s that time of year when the crops are coming off the field and folks are starting to think about next year’s crop. If you have livestock on your farm, you are also thinking about manure application, which may happen this fall and/or next spring. How can you maximize use of your manure and minimize how much fertilizer you have to purchase?
A manure management plan can help you look at the big picture. Remember, manure is like a multivitamin for your field – it has all the nutrients that crops need, just not necessarily in the right amounts! Just like multivitamins for people, you don’t want to overdo it. So, what information do you need for a manure management plan?
Manure
There are two things you need to know about your manure – how much do you have and what’s in it? If this will be the first year that you apply manure from a new operation, you’ll have to estimate this information.
Source : umn.edu