Proper animal waste management and the Ba
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Which
is a source of pollution to the
Chesapeake Bay: A farm or a
factory?
Most people would say a factory,
but both answers are correct.
According to the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), of the
more than 146 million pounds of
nitrogen that enters the Bay an
nually between March and Oc
tober, 67 percent comes from
nonpoint (diffuse) sources. Ap
proximately 90 percent of the
nonpoint load comes from
cropland.
like their industrial Coun
terparts, many of today’s farms
are highly specialized. An in
dividual farm may house hundreds
of head of cattle or swine, or
thousands of chickens.
These meat, milk and egg
operations produce a staggering
amount of by-product in the form
of animal waste. This includes the
manure, urine and waste milk
produced by the animals and the
bedding and wash water used to
keep their quarters clean.
According to the U.S. Soil
Conservation Service (SCS), over
10 million tons of manure are
produced on farms each year in
just Maryland.
Where does it all go? Most is put
back on the land as fertilizer.
Applied at recommended rates,
that’s enough to cover an area the
size of Baltimore and Washington,
and a six-mile swath in between,
with a layer a half-inch thick.
Applied to cropland, animal
waste is a resource for the farmer,
says Whitey Secor, a resource
conservationist for SCS.
It provides nutrients for crops,
and improves the physical con
dition of the soil. It also reduces the
need for expensive chemical
fertilizers.
Animal waste is a problem when
it is improperly handled, he says.
Applied on wet or frozen ground, it
easily washes off into streams and
rivers.
“Animal waste contains nitrogen
and phosphorus. If you let it run off
or leach into water, it’ll cause the
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same kind of problems as chemical
fertilizers,” Secor saysl
Nutrients like nitrogen and
phosphorus do the same thing in
water as they do on land
stimulate plant growth. The
problem arises from
overenrichment, says William
Magette, an agricultural engineer
at The University of Maryland.
“The nutrients in animal waste
stimulate the growth of algae.
When the algae die, bacteria work
on the algae to decompose them
and, in the process, consume
oxygen from the water.
“The dead and living algae cells
cause the water to cloud, blocking
out the sunlight needed by sub
merged aquatic vegetation. These
are the plants that provide food
and habitat for higher level
creatures like the blue crab,” says
Magette.
What can be done to prevent
animal waste pollution?
“Proper handling is the key,”
says Secor. “And that means
having a waste management
system that handles manure,
disposal problems and runoff
control.”
An animal waste system in
cludes “best management prac
tices” that are tailored to the needs
of each farmer. It takes into ac
count the type and number of
animals, farm size, feed, crops,
equipment and the farmer’s
budget.
One of the key components to a
good waste management system is
storage, says Secor.
“Without storage, you’re into
daily spreading. When farmers do
that, they tend to spread on con
venient fields, perhaps because
they’re dry or close to the bam.
“This can overload the soil with
nitrogen. Any nitrogen not taken
up by the plants will leach down
into the groundwater and enter a
stream through subsurface flow.”
With a storage structure such as
a lagoon or it, the wastes can be
stored until conditions are right for
disposal.
Storage also saves time and
labor by eliminating the hassle of
daily hauling and spreading, and
saves aggravation during in
clement weather.
Like commercial fertilizer,
animal wastes should be applied
according to plant needs. Nutrients
content in manure will vary,
depending on the type of animal,
kind of feed, type of storage and
method of application. Nutrient
For slurry manure:
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• Handle high volumes of free-flowing manure
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• Moves manure underground through 15" or
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• Large-capacity 7" by 15" plunger and one
way valve for constant manure removal
mean less cleaning time.
• Stroke length offers three adjustments to
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• All moving parts removable for easy inspec
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• Ends daily hauling. Time savings and fer
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content can be analyzed by a
laboratory, or estimated from
standard charts.
Knowing the spreader capacity
and the rate of application is also
important. This is especially
critical with poultry manure,
which is very high in nitrogen.
“Disposing of poultry manure is
a problem,” says Secor, “because
spreaders can’t be adjusted to
apply it at low enough rates.”
The best time to apply animal
waste to fields is in the spring or
fall, when it can be incorporated
into the soil for use by the crop.
In fact, says Secor, SCS designs
waste structures for a minimum of
180 days of storage. “This gets the
farmer through the winter without
having to spread on wet or frozen
ground when runoff is more likely
to occur.”
Care should be taken to apply
animal waste far enough away
from streams to avoid con
tamination.
Erosion control is another im
portant part of a waste
management system, since
phosphorus attaches itself to soil
particles and enters streams, tied
to sediment.
Soil conservation practices such
grass waterways, contour strip
cropping, no-till farming, or
diversions may be needed to
control runoff. Pastures should be
fertilized to assure good plant
growth to hold soil in place. And
animals should be rotated among
For semi-solid manure:
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Tank door opens and closes by air-powered
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Allows handling stored manure with conven
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different fields to prevent
overgrazing.
Pollution can also be caused by
what Secor calls “direct deposit.”
This happens when cattle go to a
stream for water.
“What goes in one end, comes
out the other. That’s direct
deposit,” he explains.
Secor recommends providing
alternative watering sources by
siphoning water from a natural
spring or pond to a watering
trough. If a stream must be used, it
should be fenced and the open
areas protected with stone riprap.
This will keep the animals from
congregating in the stream and
trampling the banks.
Cost is an important con
sideration in deciding whether to
build a waste storage or treatment
structure. The average cost of a
manure storage structure for a 100-
cow herd ranges from $20,000 to
$50,000. Although the government
offers various cost-share in
centives, the farmer has to bear
the brunt of the cost.
“Waste storage and treatment
structures may not be
economically feasible for all
farmers,” Secor says. “But every
farm with animals should have a
waste management system. It
could be as simple as planting
grass filter strips along streams or
practicing good soil conservation.
It’ll pay off in better resource
management and water quality.”
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STREET. MD