Tone Ag Consulting Ltd.

The Livestock Manure and Mortalities Management Regulation has been amended again this year.   I haven’t seen a version that merges the new changes into the existing regulations for easier reading, but from flipping back and forth between the documents, it appears that the biggest change for our clients will be that all operations will be required to apply manure on a phosphorous basis after November 10, 2013.  The previous regulation had exemptions for the municipalities of  Hanover and Labroquerie, which allowed for extensions up to 2020.

Here’s how you’ll decide how much manure to apply after November 10, 2013 or right now if you’re outside of Hanover and Labroquerie and don’t have an extension:

1. Is soil test phosphorous less than 60 ppm? Apply manure based on nitrogen needs for the proposed crop
2. Is soil test phosphorous between 60 and 120 ppm? Apply manure based on 2x the crop’s removal of phosphorous.
3. Is soil test phosphorous between 120 and 180 ppm? Apply manure based on 1x the crop’s removal of phosphorous.
4. Is soil test phosphorous greater than 180 ppm? No manure application is permitted on this land.

Cases 2 and 3 (phosphorous between 60 and 180 ppm) are the interesting ones.  Subsection 12.1(3) of the regulations allows you to put more than crop removal of phosphorous on land but you must ensure that this land does not receive any more manure until

(a) a number of years has passed equal to the multiple of the crop removal rate of P2O5 that was last applied to the area; or
(b) soil test phosphorus levels within the top 0.15 m (6 inches) of soil at any place in the application area do not exceed the soil test phosphorus levels for that area immediately before the last application of livestock  manure to that area.

Also, there must not be more than 5 years’ worth of phosphorous applied to the field.

Let’s work out an example here. Mr. Happycows has some land he loves to apply manure on. Phosphorous (P) levels have crept up over the years and now the latest soil test shows 80ppm of P for this field. He still wants to apply on this land using his manure with 50 lbs. N / ton and 40 lbs. P2O5 / ton. This field can use 100 lbs. of N and the crop removal rate is 20 lbs. P2O5 per year. He puts on 2 tons of manure for the 100 lbs. of N, and therefore has applied 80 lbs. of P2O5. 80 lbs. of P2O5 applied / 20 lbs. P2O5 removed per year = 4, so Mr. Happycows will now have to wait 4 years before applying again to this field or keep testing every year till the soil test P levels go below the original value of 80 ppm.

For more on phosphorous, see my earlier post Why Do Phosphorus Levels Rise in Manured Fields?

Other things to note is that composted manure and mortalities can not be spread in winter and manure storages now have a maximum and a minimum size.