Safety. That word encompasses numerous topics when working in the field of agriculture. In this column, I will focus on factors that must be considered while working with manure and the gases it releases

To make the most of manure that is going to be used as fertilizer, analyzing the nutrient content first is a must. Collecting a representative sample is key to this process

“A farm should be built around the manure system,” is the advice dairyman Jim Winn would give to someone planning to build a new dairy. “It’s the most important part.”

Managing nutrients is more than having a Nutrient Management Plan in a binder on the shelf. Daily management of manure and proper land application at the right time and rate for each crop takes a team

When carefully managed, manure is a low-cost source of nutrients and organic matter that improves soil fertility and crop yields

I have developed countless manure management plans over the past 44 years. They all boil down to three basic principles: quantity, quality, and opportunity

Modern dairy production concentrates the number of animals housed in relatively small areas to improve production efficiencies, output per animal, and take advantage of economies of scale

Farm owners realize that responsible manure management is a requirement, not an option. High fertility fields — especially those that test high in phosphorus (P) — can be difficult to manage

As dairy farms grow in herd size, the amount of required bedding also goes up. Dairy farmers often use sand as bedding because of its availability, comfort, and effectiveness in maintaining herd udder

Biochar is a carbon-based product resulting from pyrolysis, where feedstocks (wood chips, corncobs, or even manure solids, for example) are heated without oxygen to high temperatures to produce oils

Between May 1 and July, 13 inches of rain fell at the University of Minnesota’s Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston

The author is the vice president of sustainability initiatives and outreach at Newtrient. The Newtrient Catalog provides a third-party perspective on many farm technologies and solutions.As companies and

Corn silage production offers a great opportunity to plant cover crops for erosion control and water quality benefits. In Northern climates, cover crops can be hard to establish following grain harvest

In their busiest seasons, professional manure applicators are constantly in a race against time to meet the needs of their clients. These farms depend on custom applicators to empty their manure

As farms look for ways to better utilize manure, companies have risen to the task of finding novel solutions. Adoption of these new technologies can be slow, though, often making the manure innovation

In recent years, the window of manure application in the Upper Midwest has been limited by wet or unseasonably cold weather

Sludge is a nutrient-rich by-product of manure storage and treatment. Sludge accumulates at the bottom of the lagoon as a result of two processes: the biological treatment by microbial communities and

Popular media has created a buzz around feeding seaweed to ruminants in order to cut down their enteric methane emissions

When Jay Binversie was a freshman in high school, he traveled to California with his father to visit Maddox Dairy

Abby Bauer is the editor of Journal of Nutrient Management