DENVER. Colo.—With the end of the year quickly approach ing, now is the time for sheep pro ducers to begin thinking about applying for the 1992 wool incen tive payment. The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service will announce an average 1992 wool price at the end of March 1993, at which time a wool incentive rate will be calculated. The support level for the 1992 marketing year UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Livestock and poultry managers should calculate nutrient management requirements before building a new facility for expansion, say two Penn State agronomists. “Before proposing a new facility as part of a business plan, it’s prudent to evaluate the costs and returns of the fa cility under different sets of nutrient management condi tions,” said Dr. Les Lanyon, associate professor of agron omy. “Different conditions require different manure ap plication practices and perhaps alternative methods of dealing with manure.” For livestock and poultry managers who wish to make their own calculations, the local Penn Stale Cooperative Extension office or conservation district office can assist. Private consultants and companies also can handle these calculations. Livestock and poultry managers should first estimate Changing from one crop to another is a snap with John Deere’s VacuMeter system Simple, low maintenance design lets you change seed disks without tools. 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To ensure that all wool sold during the 1992 marketing year is included in determining the aver age price, ASCS requests that all producers file for payment by Jan. 31. Filing by this date ensures a timely issuance of incentive checks, which will be processed around April IS. The absolute deadline for filing is March 1. To be eligible to receive an incentive payment, producers Great deals on disk hides WALTEMYER'S SALES & SERVICE Rad Lion, PA 717-244-4168 WINELAND EQUIPMENT, INC. Marllnsburg, PA JBl4-793-2109 M.S. YEARSLEY & SONS Was! Chastar, PA 215-696-2990 must own the sheep, which were shorn, for a minimum of 30 days and may only recieve an incentive payment on the net proceeds received for shorn wool. The net proceeds equal gross sales less all marketing charges. Producers also are eligible to receive a payment on all unshorn lambs sold that were owned a minimum of 30 days. Previously, ASCS allowed pro ducers to file sales receipts that the available nutrients in the manure and compare mat to the requirements of their crops. Since the availability of nitrogen in manure varies with how it is handled and ap plied, calculations for different periods before incorpora tion will result in different acreages required to balance the supply with the crop needs. “For example, there is less than half as much available N in unincorporated manure than in manure that is incor porated immediately,” said Lanyon. A nutrient management plan based on nitrogen will re quire more than twice as many acres when manure is in corporated immediately than when manure is unincorpor ated. “Even though a nutrient management plan may call for applying manure but not plowing it under, nutrients might still be incorporated into the soil by rainfall,” said Dr. Douglas Becgle, associate professor of agronomy. Disk Blade... Sis. 62 ' Reg. $23.28.22-in. John Deere quality blade for IH disks. (A 50059) Disk Blade... $l5. 48 ’ Reg, $19.35.20-in. solid blade. John Deere quality for John Deere and many other disks. (B 31318) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 6, 1993-815 were two to three years old. New rules implemented last year now stale that receipts for any wool or unshorn lambs sold must be sub mitted for payment during the same year as the sale. Producers currently holding older receipts may petition their local ASCS office. Additionally, the maximum incentive payment any one pro ducer can receive for the 1992 Incorporation of manure and increased availability of the nitrogen will occur with one-half inch of rain within 3 to 4 days of manure application. This amount of rain is very likely in the early spring when manure is being spread. Calculating the available nitrogen with no incorpora tion followed by another estimate of the nitrogen with in corporation after three days can illustrate the range in ni trogen that likely will be available to crops under different conditions. This figure can help in deciding how many acres will be routinely required to manage nutrients for crop production and environmental protection. Another preliminary calculation would be to estimate ' the balance between the phosphorus in the manure and the phosphorus requirements of the crops to be grown. “Loss es of phosphorus during manure handling and spreading are generally much less than for nitrogen,” said Lanyon. “The area required for phosphorus application can be se veral limes greater than the area required to supply the ni trogen needed by crops.” there’s also a possibility of unexpected costs. The re quirements lor nitrogen and phosphorus management irvay change during the life of the mortgage or loan on a new fa cility. Additional acres may be required for manure appli cation at additional costs, or alternatives to land applica tion at the site of the new facility may need to be develop ed. It’s also important to get an accurate estimate of nutri ents in a planned manure storage. Estimating the actual nutrients to be excreted by the animals is a good starling point to evaluate a proposal for a new livestock or poultry facility. This calculation will indicate the maximum amount of nutrients that will have to be managed. Manure samples from comparable manure storages can be used to estimate,lhc nutrients that will be available to be applied to crops. But if the samples are unrepresentative of tire manure actually in the storage, then estimates of the area required lor manure application may be misleading. “Truly representative samples arc difficult to collect from some types of manure storage structures,” said Lanyon. If there is a large difference between the estimate of nu trients produced and the estimate of nutrients coming out of a proposed storage, the proposed storage and handling system should be evaluated in more detail. The source of the difference between the nutrients produced and the esti mated removal from a storage may be in the estimates of manure production, losses unaccounted during handling, or in the difficulty in sampling comparable storages. If the problem is in sampling, that may signal potential management piublcms. There may actually be more man ure nutrients to manage than arc estimated by the samples. Manure solids that arc dillicult to agitate can accumulate in some storages. The nutrients in these solids will need to be handled in a safe way, as will the rest of the nutrients Problems in sampling also can mean that the nutrient con tent of the manure removed from the storage vanes wide ly. Delivering a dependable amount of nutrients to the crop fields, even when the necessary number of acres is avail able, will be dillicull when this happens. In either ease, more clloit will be required to manage nutrients for crop production and environmental protection. These manage ment demands should be considered before the project is begun. Finally, clillcrcnl projected crop yields can be used in Ihecalculations. “Projected yields should rarely exceed by more than 20 to 25 percent the average yields for the lasi five years,” said Bccglc. It’s also important to do addition al calculations to estimate the different acreages required at average and below average crop yields. The final projected crop area for manure application probably will be a compromise between all the dilfcrcnt calculations, Lanyon and Bccglc agree. “After making these calculations, it may be necessary to modify the busi ness plan for the proposed livestock or poultry facility to cover costs of manure application on a larger number of acres, to develop a management strategy to enhance po tential crop yields, or to find an alternative way to deal with the manure produced.” If these calculations arc done before building the facili ty, the livestock or poultry manager will know the most demanding case from the outset. A contingency plan then can be made in ease of changing on-farm decisions or new marketing year now is $175,000. Producers who meet certain eligi bility requirements, however, may qualify to increase this amount by applying for payments under three different entities. For additional information about the wool incentive payment program, please contact your local ASCS office or the American Sheep Industry Association, 6911 S. Yosemite St., Englewood, CO 80112, (303)771-3500. i'