National Geographic had a post a while back: Pig Poop Helps Power Netherlands. It describes converting methane from hog manure into electricity. This is well on its way to being a proven technology. For example, a Hutterite colony in Alberta has been converting methane to electricity for years. As I understand it, there are a [...]
When looking at nutrients for crops, two key figures to keep in mind are crop uptake versus crop removal. Crops require a lot of nutrients to grow but some portion of those nutrients are left behind when the crop is harvested. Crop uptake of a nutrient is the amount of a nutrient used by a [...]
In spring of 2008, the Manitoba Government lifted the moratorium of the construction of hog barns except in three large areas of the province. The problem is that those areas are the exact areas that were seeing the most expansion or construction of new barns prior to the moratorium. This leaves a number of hog [...]
With higher fertilizer prices, a couple people asked us about charging for the manure from their barns. How do you determine what manure is worth? Using the numbers from the Farm Practices Guidelines (FPG), application by injection, and the target nutrient rate of 100 lbs. N/acre, here are some figures for Farrow, Nursery, and Finisher [...]
With the latest revision to Manitoba’s manure regulations, manure application is restricted on fields with high soil test phosphorus. If a field regularly receives manure on a nitrogen basis, the soil test phosphorus levels will rise. N:P2O5 Ratios The biggest factor in rising soil test phosphorus is the N:P2O5 ratio of the manure versus the [...]
I’ve been doing some research on manure sampling protocols lately. I was surprised at how vague a lot of the information is. The best guidelines I’ve found so far are from the University of Wisconsin – Extension in their PDF Recommended Methods of Manure Analysis. Since I’m primarily interested in agitated liquid manure analysis here [...]
Gravity based manure separation has been getting a fair amount of press lately. It’s attractive because it doesn’t require any expensive equipment for separating hog manure into high N/low P and high N/high P fractions. We’re looking at using this on an experimental basis on some high phosphorus land. With changes to the phosphorus regulations [...]
Tagged Manure, Phosphorus, SeparationManitoba Conservation has a list of proposed regulatory amendments (PDF) up on their site. Here is a quick summary of the proposed changes: All livestock operations, including those in Hanover or Labroquerie, will have to comply with the phosphorus (P) regulations as of 2013. That is, N-based for fields < 60 ppm soil test P, [...]
Tagged Manure