As the number of food companies, restaurant chains, and national organizations making commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions continues to grow, it is likely that farmers will be asked to

No farm or custom manure applicator wants to experience a manure spill incident, but accidents happen. Rather than finding yourself thrown into the unwanted spotlight with no plan in place

Soil productivity is a function of several interacting factors including parent material, soil texture, drainage, pH, nutrient levels, and soil organic matter content

More and more anaerobic digesters are being built on dairies. These digesters capture carbon from manure as biogas

One of the enigmas of manure management is how to account for the nitrogen it provides after application. Some discount it altogether, assuming it has either all been lost or simply “unavailable.”

Mitigating phosphorus loss from cropland is often a balancing act, with numerous environmental and management factors interacting simultaneously

Manure spills are a real obstacle for any livestock operation and any custom applicator. They may stop application for the day or require outside equipment to be hired for quick cleanup

“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.”

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

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

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

To get the most from manure, establish a thorough sampling plan to determine the variability in nutrient content prior to application

Creating a simple budget of inputs and outputs goes a long way toward understanding the complexity of on-farm nutrient flows

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

As we experience more variable weather, like frequent and stronger storms, it has become more crucial that livestock producers check and monitor the integrity of earthen or concrete storage structures

When a red light starts to flash on your vehicle’s dashboard, it usually means something is wrong with your vehicle . . . but not always. It could be a faulty sensor

A newer opportunity in the sustainable energy space is the production of renewable natural gas, or RNG, which is created from organic materials such as food waste or animal manure

Manure composting uses microbes that already exist in manure to break down organic matter such as manure and bedding, and it requires certain conditions to be successful

For several years, Nick Dallmann was interested in adding an anaerobic digester to his family’s dairy farm. “I knew some other people who had one, and I saw the benefits from having a digester,”

There was a period of time when phosphorus was rarely a consideration with manure applications — it was all about nitrogen. Now nitrogen is a secondary consideration and phosphorus is paramount.&nbs