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Spreading manure in dry conditions
The drought presents an extra challenge for livestock producers when it comes to applying liquid manure. Andrew Craig is a Nutrient Management Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; he deals mainly with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), those operations with 1,000-or-more animal units or 700-or-more dairy cows. “With very dry soil conditions, particularly clay-based soils, large cracks can form,” Craig says often times those clay-based fields also have drain tiles in them. “If they are not careful how they apply that manure, it can go right down those cracks, enter the tiles and go into streams.”
In Wisconsin, CAFOs are required to monitor the tiles before, during and after application of manure as part of their nutrient management plan. If something does come out of the tiles, it is considered a spill which must be contained, cleaned-up and the DNR notified. One suggestion is to till the soil, closing the cracks before applying manure.
Another precaution is a requirement to stay at least 25 feet away from waterways when injecting liquid manure, 100 feet away when surface-applying. A waterway consists of a navigable waterway and the conduits such as ditches or grass waterways which deliver water to the navigable waterway.
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