r
F
A
R
MANAGEMENT
Roland P. Freund
Regional Farm Management Agent
Penn State Cooperative Extension
How Far Haul Dung?
This is not part of a Confucian puzzle. It’s a
very legitimate question to ask as the crops
come off, and manure storages must be emptied
before winter, or before the hunting season
whichever comes first.
“Can’t afford to haul it far!”
This is what most people say. Since time is critical, many operators
are anxious to get rid of that smelly stuff quickly, so anything which
delays this process is considered to be not affordable. Hence the
natural tendency is to concentrate the manure on or near the “home
40”. These fields become saturated with nutrients, while the rented
fields down the road often remain deficient.
If manure nutrients are spread on a saturated field, they will pro
duce no crop growth response. In fact, they are far more likely to
cause pollution of our water supplies. Unfortunately too much of our
manure finishes up in such a situation. If the same nutrients can be
spread on deficient soil they will give us something in return. This
will be in the form of crop growth and/or savings in chemical fertiliz
er cost
What’s a load of manure worth?
- Theoretically it’s worth as much as the total value of its nutrients
which can be taken up by a crop. So this will depend upon where it is
spread.
- On the saturated “home 40” that means it would most likely be
worth zero.
- On a low fertility field where all available nutrients can be used
by crops, it can be worth as much as $lO per 100 gallons. A typical
liquid-stored dairy situation, hauling 3,000 gallon loads calculated
out at 130 pounds of Nitrogen, 42 of P 2 O s , and 84 pounds of Potash
per load. Valuing these nutrients per pound at 17, 18, and 15 cents
respectively, and assuming that with incorporation half of the nitro
gen is available, we get a load value of $3l.
- On the same type of field but not incorporating the manure within
48 hours reduces the available nitrogen to one fifth, and the value of
the above load to $25.
What does it cost to haul a load?
In the situation outlined above, the 10S horsepower tractor con-
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sumcd 5 gallons of- diesel per hour. Assuming fuel and lubrication
cost of $5, repair cost of $4, and driver’s labor at $5 per hour we have
a total cash cost of $l4 per hour.
Timing the hauling (not including the filling and spreading time)
and empty return trips revealed that this rig could haul a distance of 7
miles and return in one hour. This means that it cost $2.00 per mile to
move those nutrients down the road and farm lanes.
In these calculations we are not including spreader loading and
field spreading costs nor time taken on those tasks. These activities
have to be performed anyway, regardless of where we ultimately dis
pose of the manure. So we use a partial budget approach to look at
costs and benefits from hauling.
How far can we afford to haul?
It is economical to haul those nutrients until the hauling cost is
greater than the value of the manure to the crop. This means that with
these hauling costs our break-even distance for incorporated manure
is 3 1/2 or 15.5 miles.
If the manure is not incorporated it is 25/2 or 12.5 miles. These dis
tances are ONE WAY. So the answer to our original question is that
you can probably afford to haul your manure about 10 miles farther
than you thought!
But we can’t spend that much
time at the job.
As a manager of your operation you may have many pressing
demands on your time. These calculations illustrate that you can hire
someone for $5 per hour to give the extra time to haul the manure, and
still be money ahead.
One case in which this type of calculation was applied to a specific
field situation revealed a potential saving of $4O per acre, after the 7
mile hauling costs were computed. Sure it took time to haul 75 loads
with the tanker truck, but that manager figured that the $2OOO savings
in the cash-flow was quite worth the time and effort.
Do your own figuring- you might
get a pleasant surprise!
Every situation is different Each manager needs to know the
analysis of the manure being applied, and the nutrient requirements of
the fields where the nutrients could be spread. These are the most sig
nificant factors. So, getting soil and manure samples tested is critical
to the management of these valuable nutrients.
With more concentrated manures such as poultry there is already
some trade and longer distance hauling. Checking out the nutrient
value and hauling cost of most barnyard manures will demonstrate
that they can be hauled profitably and supply needed nutrients much
further down the road than current practice would suggest.
Need a worksheet?
Contact:
Penn State Extension York County
112 Pleasant Acres Road, York, 17402
717-757-9657
and request a copy of “Manure Hauling Worksheet”. This gives an
examle (as used to illustrate this article) and the format to help mana
gers push the pencil and calculate their own break-even hauling dis
tance. There is also a sheet to evaluate spreading options on a field
with a known crop fertility requirement.
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Deer Hunters
Encouraged To
Get Bonus Tags
CAMP HILL The Pennsyl
vania Fanners’ Association (PPA)
is calling on sportsmen to take
advantage of Pennsylvania’s first
statewide bonus tag program for
antlerless deer. County court
houses will begin offering unsold
antlerless licenses as bonus tags to
hunters on October 24th. Bonus
tags can be used during the regular
antericss season, December 12 -
14, and/or during the December
26 - January 7 season if a hunter
also holds a archery or muzzle
loader license.
Keith Eckel of Lackawanna
County, president of the statewide
farm organization, said, “Accord
ing to Game Commission statis
tics. Pennsylvania has too many
deer. Game Commission figures
show deer populations per square
mile exceed die carrying capacity
of woodland in all but nine coun
ties. The excess population faces
the possibility of starvation if we
get a hard winter. The bonus tag
program, which our organization
supports, is designed to bring the
state’s deer herd back to a man
ageable level.”
The PFA farm leader said the
state’s large deer herd also causes
problems for farmers. Eckel noted
that Penn State researchers have
estimated deer damage to farmers’
crops to be as high as $3l million
each year. “That’s a big loss
which cuts directly into farmers’
pocketbooks,” Eckel said.
Hunters can purchase a bonus
tag from county treasures over the
counter or by mail. They’re avail
able to county resident and non
resident hunters alike. It’s not
necessary to have a regular antler
less license before purchasing a
bonus tag. “There should be plen
ty of bonus tags available,” Eckel
said, “Last year Pennsylvania had
nearly 158,000 unsold antlerless
deer licenses as of October 23rd.
We hope sportsmen will take
advantage of this unique
opportunity”.
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