Manure Issues: Identifying nutrient overload, odor research report 1

Over-applying manure nutrients to land is considered to be a major cause of nitrates, converted from manure ammonia sources while in the soil, leaching to groundwater and contributes to surface runoff of N and P that contaminate surface waters. If land application rates are limited to agronomic application rates, manure nutrients are recycled by plants into forages, other feeds, or fiber products. Manure is well recognized for its fertilizer value but we don’t often calculate that value. Too often in the past it has been assumed that recovery costs were greater than value and manure nutrients were not fully utilized. However, environmental concerns mandate manure utilization regardless of costs. The plan for utilization needs to use manure resource value to pay for its implementation to the fullest extent possible.